The overview of raunch culture presented in the introduction and Raunch Culture chapter of Female Chauvinist Pigs made me reflect upon the extremely strong presence of the sexuality and the female body in popular culture. Many of the examples she presented, namely the various television shows and celebrities who have contributed to the raunch culture were familiar to me, which I think is a testament to its obvious prevalence. In particular, Ariel Levy referenced the relationship between athletics and athletic women and sexuality throughout the chapter “Raunch Culture”; as an athlete, this jumped out at me. Levy uses the examples of Olympian swimmers Amanda Beard and Haley Clark posing nude and next-to-nude in magazines, commenting that the “collective effect of these pictures…made it almost impossible to keep sight of the women’s awesome physical gifts” (20). Later, Levy speculates, “why can’t we be sexy and frisky and in control without being commodified?” This immediately made me think of Brandi Chastain, a prominent member of the 1999 U.S. women’s national soccer team. Though she is a phenomenal athlete and scored the penalty kick versus China that gave the U.S.A. the gold medal in the 1999 Women’s World Cup, rather than being known for having a good athletic career, she became notorious as a result of her World Cup celebration:
http://thesportsunion.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/brandi-chastain.jpg
This picture was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Time, and Newsweek. Her celebration was reacted to like an incident, despite the fact that male soccer players often remove their jerseys in celebration. Following the World Cup, Brandi Chastain posed nude for Gear magazine, a decision not unlike those of Amanda Beard and Haley Clark. Levy asks, “if you really believed you were both sexy and athletic, wouldn’t it be enough to play your sport with your flawless body and your face gripped with passion in front of the eyes of the world?” (44). To me, that is exactly what Chastain’s celebration imparted on the thousands of people who witnessed it, yet it sparked some controversy, and she still posed nude. Levy’s explanation is that to be sexy the athlete has to be taken out of the context of their sport, that “sexy” and “athletic” are not yet mutually inclusive, yet I don’t see why they can’t be.
Response to “Raunch Culture Post:
ReplyDeleteAs a competitive swimmer myself, Amanda Beard was always someone I looked up to in the swimming world when I was very young. Amanda qualified for the Olympic team for the first time in 1996 when she was only 14 years old—the youngest member of the Olympic team that summer. She won a gold medal and two silver medals in the breastroke events that summer in Atlanta. In 1996 Amanda Beard was well known in the swimming world for her amazing accomplishments at such a young age and her trademark teddy bear, which she brought with her to every swim meet.
That image is something that I personally held on to for a very long time. When she took the Olympics by storm in 1996, I was only 7 years old and I was just beginning my swimming career. As a very young swimmer, her story of qualifying for the Olympics was inspiring and motivating to me. (I even have her autograph!) But apparently it wasn’t enough for the rest of the country…
I would argue that very few people outside of the swimming world knew of Amanda Beard before she left her innocent teddy bear behind and became a “model”, posing for Playboy and FHM magazines, to name a few. I was unsuccessful tonight on my search to find a picture of Amanda and her teddy bear. Instead on a google images search I found countless pages of Beard mostly naked and rarely infront of a competition pool. I also found biographies of her on websites such as chickipedia.com and another cite where her “Hotness” was rated at a 83.
Now some may argue, the reason they didn’t hear about Amanda Beard before she made some waves by posing nude in Playboy is because the swimming world is too small for our heroes to become popular. While that argument has some validity to it, I still have to disagree. For example, Michael Phelps has never had to pose nude to gain popularity. In fact, “Not one male Olympian has found it necessary to show us his penis in the pages of a magazine” (Levy, 33). Yet, Amanda Beard probably won’t gain the popularity that Michael Phelps currently possesses. After considering this, I have to disagree with those people who believe they are gaining respect by flaunting their sexuality in a post-feminist world. To me, Amanda Beard's athleticism should have been enough to gain fame. As a swimmer, I prefer to hold on to my image of Amanda Beard with a teddy bear than without clothes.
My Response:
ReplyDeleteBeing a collegiate athlete I have heard many times that when you wear the school’s apparel you are not only representing your team, but you are also representing your school. Well doesn’t this apply to Olympic athletes who are supposed to be representing their country? When I googled beach volleyball one of first images that popped up was a close-up of Team Brazil’s backside with Brasil written across their butt. Is this image properly representing the strength and power of these two Brazilian female athletes? What this image does represent is the fact that these two women are in great physical shape. US beach volleyball players Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh have defended the sport’s revealing uniform by claiming that the bikini uniform is “functional”. According to Walsh, “I love our uniforms…that’s what we need on the beach. You don’t want to be wearing big, baggy shorts. They get in the way” (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/summer/2004-03-04-may-walsh-10_x.htm). However, Walsh does go on to acknowledge that their uniform is an “alluring part of our sport.” Thus, would it be almost safe to say that if these women were less exposed they would have fewer followers? As cliché as it sounds sex sells. Unlike most female athletes who go unnoticed, May and Walsh have gained a large following. Yes, these two women are phenomenal athletes there is no question of that (I am a huge fan), but I believe that a large portion of their success and popularity is a direct result of the amount of skin that they show. If these two women are admired solely because of their athletic success, including their 2 Olympic gold medals, why has no one heard of Kimberly Rhode? She’s won 2 gold medals too.
Image of Team Brazil:
ReplyDeletehttp://whichendbites.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/beachvolleyball.jpg
Great ideas here! You've done a nice job of expanding Levy's discussion of raunch culture generally and athletics more specifically. The examples you offer are thought-provoking, to say the least. Are these nude photos and bikini-clad volleyball players perhaps representing American culture in a frighteningly accurate way? On a practical note, in the future it would probably be best to stick pictures, etc. in the body of the blog, even if it means starting a new post. Then you won't have to rely on links. Check out the class blog for instructions.
ReplyDelete