Serena Williams has been in the news a lot as of late, from her now banned catsuit which she wore at the French Open to her tirade against umpire Carlos Ramos in which she called him “a thief”.
It is the reaction of officials of the sport have me wondering if sexism isn’t in fact getting worse and just learning to hide itself in more insidious ways.
I’m not here to talk about the match between Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka and how the call of Umpire Carlos Ramos disrespected both women while punishing Williams for things her male counterparts get away with and robbing Osaka of the chance to play and win against her idol with no interference.
I’m here to talk about the way we treat our female athletes.
In most areas of life and in most countries in the world women and men are held to different standards, oftentimes standards are associated with ‘proper’ presentation in terms of beauty and behavioral standards.
According to Samuel Lovett of Independent UK, Bernard Giudicelli, French Open president, said Williams and other players, will need to be more conservative at future editions of the tournament.
“I believe we have sometimes gone too far. Serena’s outfit this year, for example, would no longer be accepted. You have to respect the game and the place.”
Giudicelli’s statement on respect for the game rings even more untrue when male tennis players have been known to play without shirts in the Open.
From Washington Post’s Briana Ellison US Open player Alize Cornet retreated to a back section of the court to switch around a shirt which was backwards and got punished for it.
Therefore, we’re all just going to ignore the fact men are allowed to play shirtless and yet somehow it is the full body suit disrespecting the game.
The US Open later apologized to Cornet but has issued no such apology to Williams.
The catsuit is more than just a fashion statement.
The full-length, skin-tight outfit is designed to protect against blood clots which Williams suffered from following her pregnancy explains Forbes writer Bruce Y. Lee.
Even if the suit wasn’t designed for medical purposes, which it was, it was a full body suit exposing almost no skin.
What was disrespectful about it, how tight it was?
Are we supposed to penalize women for their own bodies now?
People talk about a big game about respect for the sport, respect for the integrity of game well how about some respect for your female athletes?