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Clothing and the Olympics Games
Women’s sports have surged the Olympic Games in incidents of all categories from women worldwide. Muslim women’s participation is the most remarkable aspect of these Olympic Games. In 1990, women played in the Olympic Games for the initial time. They put on long sleeves and prolonged dresses which enclosed their ankles, especially in Tennis. Leading female tennis player Suzanne Lenglen modified the design of women’s robes to short-sleeved pleated skirts. The outfit that female tennis players wear today is more competent for the new game’s fast-paced character. Women were not authorized to play football, and the U.K.’s Football Association prohibited them from playing on Fa-affiliated pitches in 1921 because football was relatively improper for females. In 1971 the prohibition was lifted, and in 201T4, FIFA permitted players to put on hijabs for religious purposes. Muhammad was the future Muslim athlete to play dressed in a hijab, and she was nominated the 100 most influential individuals of Time magazine (Ahmed). However, even after their achievement, the media doesn’t portray female athletes most subtly.
In the 20th century, women’s sports uniforms were not built for them to outshine. Their athletic success was influenced, and they were uncomfortable while competing with hats and long robes. This clothing impacted their movement and was overly restrictive. Their clothes got more media scrutiny than their athletic success. For example, the media paid attention to Muhammad’s hijab more than her capacity in sports. In general, the media pays attention to female Muslim athletes’ dressing, leaving out the challenges they encounter in sports. Some challenges include stadiums that prohibit women, regulations against recreation, and hijab in sports. The initial seaside volleyball athletes to play in the Olympics games in pants and entirely sleeves were Nada Meawad together with Doaa Elghobashy from Egypt at the Rio games. They wore this rather than the formerly required two-piece swimsuit.
Still, the media content concentrated on what they were putting on instead of the game itself. These Muslim women’s clothes misguided the headlines. The problem is associated with the fact that nearly 90% of sportswriters are white males. These writers provide an ignorant impression of these athletes and their hijab. Muslim women athletes are criticized for their option to put on a hijab despite the fact that not every Muslim state demands a hijab for its female athletes. These female players motivate women and girls by showing possibilities and thrusting spirits. Hence, new Muslim athletes will keep on wearing their hijabs during sports to empower other upcoming athletes. The media should recognize female players for their athletic potential but not how they dress during sports. Thus, this will heighten sports rapidly for all women in the Olympics.
According to Warner, clothes necessarily took part in the long, slow development of women’s sporting activities, notably the Olympic Games. Current improvements in clothing designs and textiles are crucial for the accomplishment of athletes. According to the TV In 1996, Summer Games, women’s tournament became a media event when they appeared as the notables who would defeat men. In the historical Greek tradition, every modern Olympic Games were men. Women joined the game over the twentieth century. Articles in the prominent press that were evaluated to create female contentment often captioned the aesthetics of their bodies, beauty, and impression in sports rather than women’s athletic accomplishments. In the twentieth century, women were restrained from joining in athletic sports due to clothing and interests in these traits. These American women were deterred from joining occasions by being restricted from wearing proper attire for a particular sport. However, these women exhibited improvement towards withstanding the social constraints that hindered their involvement in the earlier Olympics Games.
Women were not allowed to stand in public and take part in an athletic activity while putting on anything other than the formal long skirt, reduced possibly to six inches to allow the more comfortable game. Women athletes were exceptionally fewer than men. For example, in the 1904 games, there were 617 athletes, and only eight were women. Baron Pierre de Coubertin influenced the involvement of women in the Olympic Games. He gave women physical training programs, and his belief towards women’s participation in sports was indistinctly treated condescendingly.
Later on, in 1904, the secretary of the American Athletic Union (AAU), James E. Sullivan, communicated Coubertin’s opinions on women in sports. He conceded that women should not push to excel, and they should not be clothed in clothes that reached above the ankle to compete in sports. Thus women were enrolled in golf, archery, and Tennis. In the 1908 London Olympics, women were accepted to play figure skating, archery, and Tennis. However, what snatched the British media’s attention were the women’s gymnastics presentation teams from Scandinavia. The journalist provided an unusual illustration of their clothing, thereby indicating how rare the dress was. After World War 1, the Women’s Swimming Association of New York (WSANY) was established in 1971 and commenced equipping swimmers to compete (Warner, p.14). They tested with lightweight clothing to evade the enormous wool uniforms. Moreover, that year the future Olympian, Ethelxa Bleibtrey, was apprehended for naked swimming because she had removed her stocking and shoes to swim bare-footed.
Women received their breakthrough in swimming when Sullivan died. James Sullivan died in September 1914, and the leaders immediately voted to allow women to sign for swimming. Additionally, the committee partners conceded that women would have been disclosed early, but that was impossible because of Sullivan. Lerch and Welch associated the long skirts with Sullivan’s opposition against female athletics. Therefore, participation in sports necessarily for American women relied entirely on clothes, initially like a physical component that hindered movement, and secondly as a societal element for that. Women could not do better since they had to put on a suit that pulled them under the water and absorbed a lot of water. Women sometimes could be forced to wear men’s clothing during the Olympic Games. Therefore, the media has focused on the dress that every woman athlete wore since their excelling chances were minimal.
A lot of individuals were against women’s participation in sports. For example, in 1926, Walter Kuhn, a German, inscribed about women’s horror perspiring for athletics and training. Thus, they were against the equivalence of sexes in sports. In the later century, this belief continues since men in the Olympics outnumbered women. Women have been forced to struggle to attain their own lean, appropriate clothing to play and win. At the same time, mend a benefit since the beginning by being prepared to put on tank tops, bodily-hugging swimsuits, pared-down shorts, and lean, skin-baring clothing during particular occasions, all with no social humiliation (Warner). With the developed stretch cloths accessible nowadays, athletes are starting to conceal them again. Both men and women are putting on the exact clothes to do similar duties. Today, women are allowed to participate in different kinds of sports without gender discrimination. They take leadership positions and participate in relay runs, football, Tennis, basketball, swimming, handball, and volleyball (LaVoi et al., p.150). They have shown tremendous success in all these games. In other words, nowadays, in sports, all sexes are equal.
The author has since been portraying how American women broke free from public restrictions, expanded clothing, and successfully contributed to the Olympics. The site insight informs and correlates the treatment of early women. The author has used quoted words of some of the individuals who were against women participating in sports. For example, Coubertin said, “Women have but one task, that of crowning the winner with garlands.” The author has also provided evidence by stating the actual names of old female athletes who participated in fighting for their sports involvement—for example, Margaret Abbot, from Chicago, who joined the nine-hole golf competition and succeeded.
The author also provides photographic images of these athletes in the previous century. Examples of photographs, a photograph of men in 1904, marathoners, St Louis Olympic Games, wearing tanky tops, different from the long skirts and high body collars women dressed in during sports and shorts and also, a photograph of a U.S. swimmer, dressed in “athletes” without the covering suit at the 1912 Olympics. The author has also stated specific years of various Olympic activities. He provides a clear indication of the year’s various events that took place. For example, in 1913, the president of AAU, James Sullivan, jotted down a letter to the American Life Saving Society. Thus, this gave evidence of the year the letter was written.
In conclusion, Muslim female athletes should not be forced or instead denied to play with hijabs. The media should ensure that it concentrates on the critical aspect of female sports other than their clothes. Women have struggled to be in their position today; hence they should be appreciated and fully supported. The author of the reading “When the Girls came out to play” has provided supportive evidence of his work differently, making it informative and easy to comprehend.
Works cited
Ahmed,” Stop it with the Bikini vs Burka Headlines”: Let’s Focus on Women Athleticism.
Warner, Women Enter the Olympic: “A sleeker swimsuit.”
LaVoi, Nicole M., and Anna Baeth. “Women and sports coaching.” The Palgrave Handbook
of Feminism and Sport, Leisure, and Physical Education. Palgrave Macmillan,
London, 2018. 149-162.