New Leotard, New Attitude
Whenever gymnastics is in the headlines I brace myself for bad news. Sarah Voss, a German gymnast, was the breath of fresh air I didn’t know I needed. Last week she stunned in a leotard with full-length legs.
From her Instagram
Her outfit is not technically against the rules, but it is atypical. Usually athletes only cover up this much for religious reasons.
I was a gymnast growing up, and leotards were a major source of anxiety. During practice we all wore spandex shorts over our body suits, but at competitions we were forced to go without.
Even as 8-year-old regional athletes.
The discomfort started around puberty. As tweens we’d warm up in sweat suits or shorts, stripping down to our leotards mere seconds before our names were called. Finishing a routine meant a brief reprise from being exposed.
Tumbling in a glorified bathing suit is not as comfortable as it looks. Adjusting anything during a performance will lose you points. A bra strap showing, a wedgie, a pushed up sleeve - all can hurt your chances at placing in competition.
The expectation is to flaunt yourself with the utmost confidence at an age when your body is changing. A wardrobe malfunction could ruin your score, but it might also ruin your life.
By 11 we were arming ourselves against embarrassment. We sprayed hairspray on our butts to keep the leotards down, had races to put our spandex shorts on and off, and constantly checked our bikini lines to make sure no hair was showing.
As a result I was hyperaware of how my body looked, especially compared to other gymnasts. I knew how much my thighs jiggled, where I was missing muscle tone, and how bulky pads could look under spandex. The times I remember being most self conscious were at the gym.
A pant option could have made all the difference.
Sarah Voss echoes these growing pains. “In the sport of gymnastics it gets harder and harder as you grow out of your child's body. As a little girl I didn't see the tight gym outfits as such a big deal. But when puberty began, when my period came, I began feeling increasingly uncomfortable.”
In choosing this new attire, Voss says her and her teammates "hope gymnasts uncomfortable in the usual outfits will feel emboldened to follow our example. We women all want to feel good in our skin.”
And - let's be honest - who doesn’t feel good in a cat suit?
Volley of the Dolls
Gymnastics isn’t the only sport with revealing uniforms. NFL cheerleading, for example, is notorious for forcing women into skimpy outfits and body image problems. The Jills team director even went so far as to administer a "jiggle test" before performances
Of course that wasn't always the case. Cheerleading began as a men's sport and was sexualized over time. Since 1967 NFL cheerleaders have been living marketing tools. Girls are cast like Barbies to fit each classic male fantasy: blonde, brunette, red head, bubbly, sultry, etc… Teams have become a collection of hotness.
Other sports have tried to follow suit. Ahead of the 2012 Olympics the Badminton World Federation attempted (and failed) to enforce a new, more feminine dress code for women. Their argument was that wearing skirts in the elite level would create a more “attractive presentation.”
Don’t worry though, the deputy president assured everyone that they weren’t trying to sexualize the sport. In his words “we just want them to look feminine and have a nice presentation so women will be more popular.”
...so glad he cleared that up for us.
One of the biggest dress code debates centres around beach volleyball where the difference between men and women’s attire is often labelled sexist. Women sport tiny bikinis while men play in loose tank tops and shorts. If we’re trying to simulate beach attire, should the men not be shirtless?
According to Olympic regulations, all players have to have identification on their backs, meaning some kind of top is required...if you can call what the women wear tops. That said, the beach volleyball dress code does include other options. Since 2012 female players have been invited to wear shorts and sleeves if they so choose.
..but they don't. The players we see want to wear their tiny uniforms. It's how they've learnt to play and how they feel most successful.
So, is the system actually sexist, or are we trained to see women’s bodies as sexual?
Objectification is a phenomenon that happens inside our brains. We react differently to a fire hydrant than we do to another human on the street. We identify people as people, instantly understanding that they have their own set of feelings, emotions, and experiences. When shown images of women in underwear, however, both male and female participants perceived them more closely to an object.
The more we view women as just their bodies, the more we stop associating them as beings. In movies, advertising, and porn we've learnt to judge women for their beauty. It's not surprising that we can't turn that kind of thinking off.
We see an athlete in a bikini, we think "hot or not?"
A big distinction is that these volleyball players are grown women. They are aware of the sexualization and can choose to accept it, push for change, or even use it to their advantage.
In gymnastics we're talking about children.
Child’s Play
“Women’s” gymnastics is more and more comprised of little girls. In fact, it’s been almost 50 years since someone older than 19 won the women’s all-around gold medal at the Olympics.
Recruiting young athletes isn’t a new phenomenon. Since the 1950s coaches have been training girls under the age of 10 to get an edge. As a coach we were told to scout malleable toddlers. Kids as young as 2-3 were picked from "Baby and Me" classes as potential success stories for elite trainers.
To be fair, young gymnasts have an advantage over their older competitors: they're durable. Kids come with built-in flexibility and endurance. The amount of training (30 hours a week or more) required by high-level athletes isn’t sustainable unless you’ve been groomed to do it since childhood.
While athletically marvelling, gymnastics is also based in poise. Hair ribbons, pointed toes, and beaming smiles are all rewarded. It’s a glittery fantasy world: the more girlish you are, the better.
From day one gymnasts are told to put themselves on display. We parade around in tiny body suits and let coaches manipulate our bodies, catch us in mid-air, and observe every inch of our form. The trust between athlete and coach is unimaginable.
It doesn’t take a genius to learn how to exploit that relationship. It takes even less of a genius to see how the little girl fantasy is toxic.
Sexual abuse is rampant in gymnastics. USA Gymnastics famously failed to protect their athletes from Larry Nassar who assaulted hundreds of children as a team doctor. In Ottawa a coach I worked with was fired for sending topless photos of himself to a 12-year-old girl. Like Nassar, he was never reported by management.
3 years later he was charged with sexual assault at a different gym.
I don’t believe that clothing leads to abuse. It doesn’t matter what a victim is wearing; however, uniforms that are overtly sexual help fetishize and objectify these girls. Why is it that we force children to compete in revealing bodysuits? Clearly it has nothing to do with athletic performance, otherwise we wouldn’t practice with shorts on, and Sarah Voss would never have changed her leotard.
Stick It (To the Man)
Recently there's been a shift in gymnastics. Athletes like Voss are standing up for change in a way I never would have imagined.
To me the change started when dozens of victims were able to address Larry Nassar directly. They represented a fragment of the hundreds of children he abused, but their words shined a light on the dark underbelly of gymnastics. They started a movement of girls demanding more.
Icon Simone Biles recently left Nike to become a partner with female-focused Athleta. Nike has seen scrutiny over their treatment of female athletes over the last few years, and Simone is one of several to cut ties. This new deal will have her focus on a line for Athleta Girl, a brand I wish existed while I was training. In her words, "together, I believe we can help girls to confidently and passionately take on the world in their athletic endeavors and beyond.”
On body image Olympian Beth Tweddle did a video for young girls in the sport to normalize the changes you go through as a female athlete.
I'm not claiming that a full length body suit would solve all the sport's problems, but it is a step in the right direction. No one should feel uncomfortable doing the sport they love, least of all children.
Gymnastics taught me discipline, performance, and the importance of rest. I want the world to understand the power of the sport without the creepiness factor. These women and girls are strong beyond belief - mentally, physically, and emotionally.
Anything you can do, they can do in bodysuits and glitter.
