Why do female athletes wear skimpy clothing?

The women who wear revealing clothing do it for a number of reasons. To fit in, everyone else does it. To get attention. Women love to show off anything sexy they have. To compete with other women. A woman wants to be sexy, and will try to out-sexy other women. Not all women are like this.

This comes from personal experience, as I have a beautiful and very sexy wife. People, both men and women constantly hit on her. She's the type that makes any clothing look sexy.

Men want to look and feel sexy too. But the perception of male sexiness is different in the eyes of a woman. Many times less is more with them, and they look at other things.

All of these pictures in the thread I don't think adds up to the beauty of my wife though. They'd all probably just be jealous.

a reply to: chrismarco I can not believe that a couple of ounces of cloth would make up for any kind of advantage. Especially in the track and field events. Now look at female swimmers they where full body suits because the material used creates less drag in the water. That creates a faster time.

originally posted by: grainofsand

originally posted by: AndyMayhew
Of course, in the original Olympics they were (and were all men).

And Gymnasium/Gymnastics derives from the Greek gymnós meaning naked ...

Though I can see an advantage to men wearing jockstraps

Lol, wrestling would be dangerous [shudders]

Could it get any worse.

a reply to: iNobody

Your totally right.

You cannot fight thousands of years of evolution. Its in built.

They look great.

a reply to: grainofsand

Great post, now you get it.

I should have added you train in what you wear at the event. If I was in Sweden I wouldn't be training in a crop top that's for sure. I need gloves and knee guards to prevent injury in colder weather due to poor circulation in those areas, so can run far in more in those cases.

There's also the fact that the more at home, comfortable and confident you feel will help to increase performance and injury - while men can seriously benefit from compression style clothing, females generally lack the muscle mass for it to be worthwhile.

They wear their team's uniform, which is selected by administrators from choices available by retail/wholesale based on what manufacturers produced. a reply to: grainofsand

Well men have these thingies that women don't have that tend to hang. Plus men hate the feel of pants below their waistline.

originally posted by: grainofsand
With all the feminist discussion around sexual objectification of women these days I started wondering why female athletes at the highest levels wear skimpy clothing such as briefs and sports bra's while male athletes do not.

I considered a possible improvement in aerodynamics, and wondered why male athletes do not take advantage of the same tactic if that were really the case. Fashion considerations would certainly be ignored if it were proven that even a 10th of a second could be gained by males showing their midrift.

So, if the choice of skimpy clothing has nothing to do with performance, why do female sprinters & pole vaulters show more skin than their male counterparts?
I considered comfort, and the different 'shape' of female bodies, but again I couldn't see any practical reason to show the midrift and wear sports briefs/panties. Supportive sports tops do not have to stop just below the breasts, and I can't imagine that females have some unusual condition that requires lycra bottoms to be briefs instead of shorts due to discomfort.

It left me with only one conclusion, fashion and image, but with a further question, who for?
Perhaps the relatively lower paid track and field female athletes gain more sponsorship showing a bit of skin?
If that is the case then I wonder what is the difference between a 'popstar' using her body image to sell records, and an athlete doing the same to gain sponsorship?

For the record, I'm not complaining at all, I love the female form and part of the attraction of watching female athletes to me is the skimpy clothes they wear showing off their fit bodies. I just wonder why females show the skin and males do not.
Oh, and this topic is about skimpy clothing, not tight clothing, so if you want to mention tight revealing lycra shorts of male athletes I respectfully ask you to please start your own thread as that is a totally different issue. This is about women unnecessarily showing skin in sporting activities, and why.

All opinions welcome, especially from any strong feminists who may have thoughts on the issue as sexual objectification, female empowerment, or neither?

Regards,

GoS.

Thoughts?

Maybe some MEN athletes become WOMEN athletes so they can (in part) wear the "skimpy" clothing?

Look at this before/after photo of "Lia".

www.foxnews.com...

Television ratings. The LPGA used to encourage women golfers to wear revealing clothing to attract a certain demographic. That demographic was based on their advertisers. In recent years certain advertisers have changed that demographic even at the expense of loss of business due to pressure placed on them by certain vocal groups.

a reply to: Sremmos80

I don't know. When we practiced, the guys routinely went shirtless and wore compression shorts. They actually showed more skin at practice than we women did because we wore compression shorts and sport top. That was day to day training. Now if they were using equipment, they would likely put on a tank to protect against equipment/mat on skin, but so would we.

**EDIT**

You also reach a point where you really aren't thinking that much about sex. The body is a tool. So a state of dress that would be highly "exciting" in different circumstances (clubbing for example) is just business and impersonal.