Confession/shocker: I don’t ordinarily read the Seattle Times‘ sports coverage. This Times link actually came to me via several of the ladyblogs I read, but it’s worth checking out even if you aren’t a sports fan.
The setup: A new web site for Florida State University’s women’s basketball team depicts team members in strapless silk evening gowns and jewelry, seemingly en route to a glamorous gala. The tagline: “Confidence. Strength. Beauty. We’ve got it all.”
Which raises an inevitable question: What does beauty have to do with basketball?
As Broadsheet notes:
There’s nothing subversive about the site. It’s not like they’re shown playing a game in their gowns, makeup smeared by sweat and dresses torn to tatters at their feet, or absurdly attempting to pass a ball between their legs while wearing a floofy floor-length skirt. This isn’t a critical commentary on the sad limitations of beauty ideals, it’s a desperate attempt to conform to them.
Or, as Jayda Evans at the Seattle Times‘ Women’s Hoops blog notes more pointedly, to portray female basketball players as sexually available, feminine, and most importantly, not gay:
I’m just concerned the sexualized look continues a different, damaging constant in women’s hoops—homophobia.
Director Dee Mosbacher was in Seattle in October for the screening of her film “Training Rules.” It’s a documentary about former Penn State coach Rene Portland, who allegedly had three rules for her players: No drinking. No drugs. No lesbians.
The film is fascinating in its inside look at how homophobia has a choke hold on women’s sports in general. How it’s used against each other in recruiting, tagging programs as full of lesbians, and how schools/coaches over feminize themselves to not appear lesbian. All under the “innocent” veil of wanting to show women athletes can be “powerful, beautiful, strong and accomplished.” Or, to put it more simply, heterosexual, too.
Interestingly, most of the glamor photos depict the female players as demure, nonthreatening, passive, even frail—exactly the opposite of what I think of when I think “powerful … strong, and accomplished.”
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Liberals are very narrowminded. Women’s basketball is a beautiful game. The players are beautiful. Lesbians can wear dresses and look beautiful. Quit limiting and labeling.
Wow, Can’t a girl be pretty and talented on the court? Why not just say something nice for a change instead of grumbling. If they had been pictured in dirty sweats the same people would complain that the women should have been able to put on a silky dress. sheesh people!
Strong women can look (and be) physically frail. It’s actually kind of genderist to expect powerful women to look like lumberjacks, or talk like hyped up jocks. Unless you’re simply talking about physical power. But I don’t think you are.
If anything, putting on the demure face can be an act of confidence, as in, “I’m comfortable enough in my strength to put on this faux-delicate facade.” Obviously, when you see the women in question on the basketball floor, their true (tougher) colors show.
Sherman (aka Lester) Alexie
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=631015&hp
A couple years ago there was the LJackson calendar photos supporting an aussie (AU junior women’s team?) that set the local news outlets all a twitter.
I guess the simple fact is that some beautiful people do play basketball. When, where, and why is beauty exploited is a tough puzzle that is different every time the parts are put together.
What do firefighter calendars have to do with fighting fires?
Last I heard, people weren’t up in arms about that.
This is NOT a new issue for women athletes who play what are perceived as “men’s” sports. Back in the 1996 Olympics, when the women’s basketball team was the REAL dream team, the women were featured in a series of Sears ads showing the different players cooking for their husbands/kids, singing in a choir, etc. The implication was that they were wives/mothers/Christian women (i.e., “real” traditional women, and preferably not lesbians) first. I almost threw up when I saw those commercials and I was just a teenager then; even at that young age, I couldn’t understand why the ads didn’t show these women doing what got them to the Olympics: playing basketball.
I agree that homophobia is a problem in probably all sports.
That being said, I echo many of the comments already posted. I’m a super progressive, I love all sports, and for me, this example is not a problem. I actually think it’s kind of classy & cool.
Basketball is a very beautiful game. Playing the game usually helps people learn about beautiful parts of one’s character, and on and on. It sounds cheezy yeah, but it’s true. Balance of strength and beauty is important you know.
What, lesbians can’t wear nice dresses? This makes very little sense to me. I’m all for talking about homophobia in sports, but I think there are more effective means to address the subject.
Women exhibiting their femininity has nothing to do with homophobia.
And sexiness is very much associated with “powerful … strong, and accomplished.”
I for one am very happy to see women basketball players embracing their femininity. I’m not sure why female athletes need to look and act like men when competing. It’s awful. There isn’t anything wrong with embracing one’s feminine side while also demonstrating extreme skill. Get out of the boy’s uniforms and let’s have some fun playing the game.
I for one think that women’s basketball will always lag men’s basketball because we haven’t embraced the game as our own. We’ve put out the same game, but with women as the star players. Don’t be little men, be great women. Dress like women. Play like women and make the game better than the men’s game.
Oh, let’s not do the “dress like women, play like women” thing. The idea is not to dress like women, or dress like men; it’s for women to dress–and do–what they want, just as men have done! What they want shouldn’t be dictated by men or by other women outside basketball, or any sport. I can’t see that the Storm has “lagged” in any way, and they’re not “little men.”
“Embracing their femininity” — geez.
Well, I didn’t mean all that italic stuff.
They might just be trying to sell stuff using pictures of pretty girls. I know this is a weird idea, but I’ve heard it’s very popular in Japan, and I don’t see why it wouldn’t work in this country…
No, you’re right, it’s a conspiracy. Silly of me.
The 1990′s called. They want their feminist rant back.
I guess I’ll be the only one to agree with ECB.
It’s about the bigger picture of women not being able to just “be” without being judged on their level of sexiness.
When the day comes that women can do their jobs without their appearance being mentioned at all, then it’ll be time to the leave the feminist rants behind. We still have a way to go.
Feminists will never leave their rants behind. Anger and/or resentment fuels their lives. They’ll always find something to rant about.
@16. Disagree. One can be a feminist (definition: a female or male who believes in social, political, and sexual equality between the sexes) and not be angry or resentful. Angry femmes give feminism a bad name.
As a former college athlete, I can say that if someone asked me to put on a gown for a website photo shoot, I probably would have said fuck you, as I think most of my team would have. The beauty in basketball players is in their athleticism, their skill, their grace on the court, and that isn’t portrayed in by the players in gowns and sitting in fancy cars. I agree with ECB that this is an attempt to make the team look more heterosexual to fans and potential recruits.
I guess if these players had a choice in this decision, I would have less of a problem with it. But I’m guessing it wasn’t their idea and they were required to participate.
@18:
make the team look more heterosexual
What does a heterosexual look like? What does “queer” look like? I didn’t know that there were physical characteristics that could differentiate the two.
@16: Into global accusations today, are you? Sounds kind of angry to me.
Here’s a recent good story about gays in sports (hockey to be exact).
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=buccigross_john&id=4685761
It sounds like the author isn’t a sports fan, and probably does not appreciate much about sports. How can someone legitimately ask ‘what does beauty have to do with basketball’? There are so many obvious answers to that question. This is like Licata saying there is no cultural impact of having professional basketball here. In my opinion, it’s embarrassing and unprofessional of our leaders (which journalists are included in) to make these types of statements.
Wow, Can't a girl be pretty and talented on the court? Why not just say something nice for a change instead of grumbling. If they had been pictured in dirty sweats the same people would complain that the women should have been able to put on a silky dress. sheesh people!