Team GB rugby stars wearing dental floss thongs does NOTHING for young girls in sport – it’s just 50 shades of misogyny
“WHAT on earth does being sexy have to do with encouraging young girls to stick to sports?”
That was my first thought when I saw the new #StrongIsBeautiful campaign pictures with Team GB Rugby Sevens players Jasmine Joyce, Celia Quansah and Ellie Boatman wearing dental floss-inspired knickers on the pitch.
The new drive, in partnership with lingerie label Bluebella, sees the sportswomen clad in lacy lingerie with their rugby boots and socks.
However, the campaign has received mass criticism on social media for sending the wrong message to young girls – particularly from furious parents.
One mum called it “utterly shocking”, saying: “My 15-year-old daughter is strong and body confident from sport, and would be offended by the suggestion that beautiful has to be validated by lingerie.”
Another accused the campaign of “reducing female athletes to pornified sexual objects”, calling it “absolutely disgraceful and disrespectful”.
“This does nothing for female sport,” they slammed.
The pictures, fronted by the incredible Team GB athletes, are meant to encourage girls to not drop out of sport.
I must’ve missed the cultural shift where peek-a-boo bras and floss-like thongs became synonymous with being a budding sportswoman
Josie O'Brien
All I can say – as someone who played competitive sports for 11 years – is: “Sorry, what?!”
I must’ve missed the cultural shift where peek-a-boo bras and floss-like thongs became synonymous with being a budding sportswoman.
Nearly half of school girls drop out of sport after they turn 13 and cite body image concerns as a key reason, a Women in Sport survey found.
What better way to encourage pre-teens to keep active than by subliminally telling them they need to be beautiful – dare we say, sexy – while doing it?
The campaign makes absolutely no sense.
Get your kit *on*, girls
Young girls shouldn’t be concerned about the way their bodies look – it’s that simple.
The snaps of Team GB’s female Rugby Sevens athletes were released ahead of the Paris Olympics, due to start on July 26.
It doesn’t matter how strong you are, how talented, how skilled; your entire worth is based on how you look in lingerie inspired by 50 Shades of Utter Misogyny
Campaign Critic
Lingerie brand Bluebella said it wants to “show girls how they can look muscular and strong, as well as feeling feminine”.
And while the Olympians look beautiful and powerful, I can’t help but feel it’s sending that age-old message to young girls: being attractive is all that matters.
The Most Controversial Lingerie Campaigns Ever
Kylie Minogue for Agent Provocateur
Australian pop princess Kylie Minogue riding a mechanical bull was a lingerie ad absolutely destined to get banned – and it did after uproar in 2001.
However, the video of gyrating on the bull was once voted as the sexiest cinema ad of all time.
Princess Diana Lookalike
When a Chinese lingerie company unveiled a new range of underwear featuring a Princess of Wales lookalike model on the 13th anniversary of her death, Brits were not happy.
The controversial poster was splashed on giant billboards, in shops and in airports throughout China for millions to see back in 2010.
Devote yourself to sports, build camaraderie with other girls and courageously take on opposition teams – but ONLY if you look fanciable while doing it.
An eye-watering 64% of secondary schoolgirls give up sport before they turn 16, often because of negative body image.
What’s more, eight out of 10 girls with low body esteem avoid trying out for a team or club for this reason.
Porn-inspired pants are not feminine
When I was a pre-teen at school, I remember feeling worried about my body being seen the changing rooms by my peers and doing all sorts of clothing contortions to cover as much of my flesh as possible.
So even if the ad does make a case for strength as beauty with the athletes, it’s likely going to further alienate young girls from sports if they didn’t already feel “pretty” enough.
According to Bluebella, the campaign seeks to challenge the idea that female athletes are “masculine” and “unfeminine”, all while encouraging young girls to stay in sports.
Devote yourself to sports, build camaraderie with other girls and courageously take on opposition teams – but ONLY if you look sexy while doing it
Josie O'Brien
Does that mean the only way women can strive to feel feminine is by adorning barely-there bras and suspenders?
I feel pretty feminine without racy underwear – and so should any woman of any age, both on the sports field and off it.
But let’s not forget, Bluebella is set to benefit from any sales made off the back of this lingerie-centric campaign.
’50 shades of Utter Misogyny’
I’m not the only one who can’t stand it.
Twitter has been rife with debate about the controversial pictures since they launched.
“Femininity is just what you happen to be when you’re female, no effort required – this campaign is regressive and distasteful. Get your kit *on*, girls,” one angry user tweeted.
Another added: “Does this really say #StrongIsBeautiful? Because to me, it says ‘it doesn’t matter how strong you are, how talented, how skilled; your entire worth is based on how you look in lingerie inspired by 50 Shades of Utter Misogyny.”
“As a mother of two sons who play rugby and two daughters, who play tennis, I am appalled at the idea that these photos would enhance the sport,” Joy Tucker, a mum-of-four, penned under the campaign pictures on Instagram.
“These women are talented and strong, role models for our daughters – please stop sexualising them.”
How does showing up in lingerie encourage young girls into sport? If anything, this would turn talented young girls who might be shy, away from it
Matt Harrowsmith
“How does showing up in lingerie encourage young girls into sport?” one social media user asked.
“If anything, this would turn talented young girls who might be shy, away from it.
“As a father, this does nothing for me to help encourage my two daughters to play sports.
“All it does is sexualise women in sport.”
And I couldn’t agree more with these parents – I doubt a campaign encouraging more young boys to take up sports wouldn’t feature a successful sportsman in their undies.