As a male blogger, I’m no stranger to objectification. Not a day goes by that I’m not harassed by some random girl trying to goad me into sexually explicit conversations or asking me to view her webcam while calling me “sweety” or “honey”. It’s degrading to say the least, and so I can totally relate and offer my support to my bros like Ryan Lochte, while millions of women ignore his incredible swimming talent in favor of his looks. Same boat, broseph. Same boat.
But I was also unaware that people apparently objectify female athletes in this same way. While this is news to me, I checked with some other Internet gentlemen and they, in fact, assured me that sexism and misogyny are alive and well in women’s sports. This shocked me, to say the least, because I couldn’t help but wonder if my beloved Alex Morgan and Daniela Hantuchova (above) have been the victims of this objectification as well.
The people at talkSPORT Magazine recently made a video that honors the “Sexy female Olympic athletes at London 2012” and it turns out that some people are offended. And I’m not talking about regular people like you or me. I’m talking about true intellectuals – YouTube commenters. After the jump, you can watch the video for yourself and then get schooled by YouTube’s brightest and most reasonable.
Now, let’s commence with the intelligent debate. First point in defense of the ladies:
That’s an excellent point. However, here is a valid counterpoint:
Another commenter would like to defend the talent that these women possess:
Again, that’s incredibly difficult to debate, but perhaps this could change a few minds:
What about the fact that most of these women are white? That is clearly offensive to some people:
And forget white, why are only some countries being represented in this video?
I can’t say that I agree with this response, but one person was very upset by the introduction of race to the debate:
Needless to say, people disapprove of this video for a variety of reasons, from gender equality to race. Also, for this reason:
Additionally, these women don’t necessarily represent the qualities that some people prefer in what talkSPORT calls a “sexy” athlete:
And then there are the people who just don’t understand the Olympics or what goes into becoming a world class athlete.
Whether we like it or not, there are some people who just don’t follow sports, and videos like this confuse them.
But with more than 300,000 views, this video has been seen by plenty of people who like it or disagree with it for whatever reason. Some people, though, just don’t care for any of it.
Thank you, YouTube, for once again handling the most delicate issues facing our society with intelligence and class.
