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Popular Culture Review
perform in several different events—men do the rings, but women do the
balance beam. One event they both do is the floor routine, but even here the
criteria are very different. Both perform impressive feats of tumbling and
flipping, both have to demonstrate strength and flexibility, but the men go
through their moves almost as though they are trying not to be graceful;
whereas, in addition to demonstrating athleticism, female gymnasts also have to
demonstrate sexuality and femininity, to music, by performing dance moves that
are coy, flirtatious, even seductive. All of this despite the fact that many
“women” gymnasts are actually adolescent girls. Until recently girls as young as
thirteen competed in the Olympics, and often did very well by virtue of the
lightness and mobility of their undeveloped bodies. Although girls cannot now
compete in the Olympics until they are sixteen, their bodies are still trapped in a
state of early-adolescent appearance because of the rigors of years of training
and, frequently, disordered eating (Ryan 43). And yet, in their routines, in
addition to displaying impressive athletic prowess, they must also demonstrate
sexualized, feminine behavior, a disturbingly inappropriate, and arguably
irrelevant, requirement.
In all their events, male gymnasts wear pants and tank tops; women are
required to wear body suits with bare legs. The sport’s regulations make some
stipulations for modesty: “the cut of the leg of the leotards must not go above
the iliac crest (hipbone).. . and the line of the leg must not start or drift between
the glutei (buttocks).”^ The leotards must not be too low cut on the chest, and
the “design or transparency of attire must not allow exposure of undergarments,
trunk, navel, or other private body parts”. At the same time, the clothing must be
“skin tight to enable the judges to evaluate the correct position of the body”
(“Competition Attire” 40). And, while there are no specific regulations for or
against it, female gymnasts often wear make-up and hair glitter; even in discrete
amounts, this is an additional element of theatricality that, again, we do not see
matched by anything comparable in the men’s performances.
It is not clearly stated in the regulations why Judges are able to evaluate
the correct position of men’s bodies in their uniforms, which, though slimfitting, are not skin tight and cover substantially more surface area, but cannot
make the same assessment of women’s bodies unless they are more exposed.
Nor do we ever hear discussion, during coverage of gymnastics events at the
Olympics, of why the women are required to display themselves more in every
aspect of competition, why they must manage their appearance in addition to
their athleticism for no obvious competitive reason other than unquestioned and
sexist tradition, why they must wear makeup and glitter even though there is no
rule for or against it. The explanation that I would offer is that the Judges, and
everyone else involved in the production and consumption of gymnastics, are all
seeing the athletes’ bodies in very different ways according to sex, and seem to
be looking for something extra—aesthetic, sexual—in the women’s performance
that they do not require from the men. What this means for the athletes is that
while the men may concentrate solely on demonstrating strength and skill.