alexrpt
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
The World Cup is now in full swing. As the knock out round of 16 kicks off today, the entire planet gears up to watch the very best football players compete at the highest level for the ultimate prize in team sports…and to much of feminist’s dismay, the football players are all men. That’s right, men and women, in every corner of the world will be fixated on the most talented male footballers giving it their all on the pitch. Knowing how much love the world feels for the beautiful game, as played by men in top condition, is enough to drive today’s feminist 3.0 hamster logic into overdrive.
As with every sporting event that garners attention because of the men that dominate it, militant and bitter women are left trying to rationalise, with all their solipsistic power, why society does not objectify the male athlete in the same way it does a female athlete.
For this we bring you Amanda Hess and her recent article on Slate.com titled, “Most Bootyful Butts! Best Bulges! Why it’s great to objectify World Cup players.”
Ms. Hess is the latest, in a long line of feminists who has tried, and failed, time and time again to argue that our society should objectify female athletes less while simultaneously objectifying male athletes more. In the eyes of Amanda Hess, men and women are on even ground in terms of athletic ability and performance. Forget biology, physiology and physics, these outdating sciences, and the principles they convey, have no place or standing in the mind of a feminist.
From her Slate.com post:
For some, the World Cup field looks like the pinnacle of international soccer competition. But for others, it’s an explosion at the mancandy factory.
Since the World Cup kicked off earlier this month, the site [Buzzfeed] has celebrated the competition’s “most bootyful butts,” ranked its “best bulges” on “a scale of zero to five David Beckhams,” and invited readers to “match the six-pack to the soccer player.”
Hold on! We feel it is our duty, before proceeding further, we point out that the World Cup does not “look like the pinnacle of international soccer competition,” it IS the pinnacle of international football competition!
Aside from the unlikely scenario where aliens telecast their own universe cup, the men’s competition is by far the top of football athleticism. You cannot argue with the obvious biology that gives these men the ability to perform at such a higher level than their female counterparts. It is this very high level of strength, speed and skill that draws us in.
For Hess this is all about double standards, not science…
These days, clicking through a slideshow of the world’s hottest female soccer players makes you look like a bit of a creep. But admiring the abdominals of male footballers? That just means you have a pulse.
On first (uncomfortably lingering) glance, it appears that we’ve swapped one sexual double standard for another. But the trade-off isn’t actually so clear-cut. “We know that commenting on women’s bodies is fraught in a way that content appreciating male … assets … isn’t,” BuzzFeed Deputy Editor-in-Chief Shani Hilton said in an email. “No one assumes a male athlete is only noteworthy because of the way he looks.” And it’s true that if you can bear to look away from the beefcake slideshows, BuzzFeed offers full coverage of the World Cup; you’ll have to page through dozens of posts about FIFA politics and fan celebrations to even get a taste of its more provocative material. When it comes to coverage of male soccer, sexual objectification is the icing, not the cake.
That’s the big difference. Even when Sports Illustrated isn’t putting actual swimsuit models on its cover, it treats female athletes like they’re models, often photographing them in sensual poses and dressing them in revealing clothing instead of snapping them in the action poses typical of male athletes. And corporate endorsements of female athletes are still disproportionately awarded to the thinnest, prettiest, blondest competitors, not the most skilled. Women’s sports are so under attended and over sexualized, it often seems like female athletes are valued more for their bodies than the feats they’re capable of performing with them.
Yes, most women’s sports (especially team sports) are under attended and their is a simple reason for this. Men are better athletes who compete at a higher physical level than women. There I said it. If I pay money to attend a sporting event, I better damn well see the best of the best go at it.
Women can argue and complain about it all they want, the fact remains that you will not be able to downgrade the biology behind a man’s physique, anymore than you can significantly upgrade the biology behind a woman’s physique. It’s simple logic, people want to see a high level of competition, this means people naturally want to see male athletes compete more than anything else.
Trying to force convince men (and women) to watch women’s sports just because women are playing and not because of the level of competition, would be the exact objectification that women complain about.
The cold hard truth is that it’s ok to objectify female athletes as it is to objectify male athletes. Yes, female athletes will be objectified more because this is the nature and biology of our being. Men are by nature more interested in sports and sporting events, while men and women, in general, are more entertained by watching the best athletes of a given sport perform…i.e. men.
Their is nothing wrong with getting turned on by the athletic form, male or female…to deny that is ridiculous. But please, let’s just stop trying to pretend that the two genders compete at the same level…this too is ridiculous.
The men competing in the World Cup draw attention from men and women because of their talent to play the game at such a high level. Their looks are irrelevant when compared to their sheer talent on the pitch.
Women athletes are great at what they do, but you will never fool me into believing that they are at the same level as men in the given sport they compete in. For this reason my attention span, while watching women play is fleeting at best, unless their beauty draws me into the match a little bit longer (hint…women’s tennis).
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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.