Own game: Why is it difficult to be a woman in sports?
Text: Roman Moon
"They need to wear tight shorts and T-shirts with a deep neckline. So women's football will become more feminine. ”These are the words of Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, the most powerful man in world football.
Male sport is more popular than female sport - much more money is spinning in it. Sponsors in the know: all 50 participants in the list of the highest paid athletes in the world, collected at the end of last year by the magazine Sports Illustrated, are men. In the United States, a study was conducted according to which male athletes receive about 24 times more air time on women’s largest TV channels than women.
Women's sport sponsors need no less than men's. Training costs money. Trips cost money. Equipment, trainers and doctors - all this must be paid for. Unlike Russia, in many countries (for example, in the USA), the state almost does not provide financial support to Olympians. To go to Sochi, speed skater Alison Dudek, the bronze medalist of the 2010 Olympics, arranged a Kickstarter campaign. Sanity Jamie Grubel worked as a waitress for five years. Many athletes, especially in unpopular sports, simply have no choice: they have to “sell” not only their professional achievements, but also their spectacular appearance.
Sexual attractiveness of athletes excites people much more than their victories and defeats.
Of course, athletes who earn their sexuality, always someone unhappy. Frank commercials, photos in the minimum amount of clothing - all this becomes the subject of discussion and condemnation. On the eve of the London Olympics, The New York Times released critical material about the American athlete Lolo Jones and her many advertising contracts: her advertising campaign, cynical and discouraging. " Jones replied that the four-year breaks between the Olympiads are like a financial desert for her, and she must use every opportunity to get a sponsorship contract.
Tennis player Agnieszka Radvanska had to make excuses for a photo session in ESPN Magazine (she was filmed for free). The example of American alpine skiing, Lindsay Vonn, went for shooting at Maxim and photographs in the image of the heroine Sharon Stone from Basic Instinct (yes, in that scene). Ice skater Ashley Wagner was generally accused of hitting the US team because of her appearance, not her sporting achievements. Wagner wrote a bunch of nasty things on social networks, and she had to make an official statement with denials.
A man can hardly get into a story like the one that happened to Ashley Wagner. Appearance of athletes, of course, is discussed, but in most cases the public is interested in their professional achievements. With athletes everything is different: their sexual attractiveness worries people much more than victories and defeats, sponsors react to it and pay attention to the media. These rules of the game do not suit many, but there is no obvious way out of this situation.
Skier Keri Herman, a member of the US team, came to the Olympics without sponsorship and took tenth place in freestyle. Her result could be better if she did not have to perform in torn shoes and pants, borrowed from a partner in the national team. "It is very painful. It is very difficult. I cannot find a sponsor, everyone tells me that I am too old," the skier complains. Keri Herman is 30 years old, she gets money for training and travel while working in a sporting goods store and in a restaurant.
THE PHOTO: cover photo via Shutterstock