Call It an Issue I Have With Women's Gymnastics

Okay, here goes: I got into a discussion with two women last night about women's gymnastics and … it's just better that I move my thought processes to my page, because it really was off-topic of that post. Or rather, move it to my blog. Because it's gonna be a long ride.

My women friends understandably support women's gymnastics and are … I really don't want to put words in their mouths, but they're audibly happy that the ladies performed so well, and are miffed at the poor coverage. They believe the women deserve respect. As I said, this is understandable. Because they're right. Those gymnasts do deserve respect and aren't getting their due, and I should have left my comments to my own devices page and my own topic.

Because, meanwhile, I am perpetually miffed at the sexism in the sport, and rather pervy sexism at that, both from the standpoint that the men get insufficient coverage, and the standpoint that men's gymnastics emphasizes “power and strength” whereas women's emphasizes “agility and flexibility”. Or as I like to phrase it, men's gymnastics emphasizes athleticism where women's emphasizes pretty girls dancing.

Please bear in mind, I do not *want* it to be that way. I *see* it as that way. And don't make the mistake of thinking that women getting more coverage is “reverse sexism”. It's actually *not* (in my considered opinion) a victory for women that women's gymnastics gets more attention, but another example of the sexism in sports overall, where men still make all the rules, and men like to look at pretty pixies; where the men on Sports Illustrated are football, baseball, basketball and hockey players, and the women are swimsuit models. (Not all inclusive, and I'm getting off-track. Sorry.)

But enough of the hyperbole. Let's look at the differences between the men's and women's programs, starting with the superficial:
Men wear a sleeveless, satiny (but sometimes just stretch cotton) leotard, with separate pants, on rings, high bar, parallel bars and pommel horse, and they wear the leotard with baggy shorts (covering the pelvis) on the floor and vault. Women wear shiny, sequined leotards with sleeves, with as much of the pelvis and legs exposed as is legally possible.
Women are heavily made up. Men? No.

Men are on average aged 20 to 24. Women are on average aged 16 to 20. This is only because they've prohibited anyone who hasn't turned 15 by the start of the Olympic year from competing*. In 1996, Kerry Strugg was the old woman of that group at 20. This is why I referred to them as “girls” above. And I'm not alone. Although he seems entirely fine with it, American coach John Geddert said “Without sounding condescending to young women, this is a little girl’s sport,” to the Washington Post on November 9, 2012 (and we'll each decide for ourselves whether you're being condescending or not, thanks.) Of course, it wasn't always that way. In the 1950s and 1960s (I can't find records for an Individual All-Around before 1952), the female all-around champions were aged 30, 21, 25, 22, 26, and 20, in order.

* I keep seeing that the age limit was raised to 16 in 1997, but I also saw an article that claimed that all of this year's Chinese girls meet the age requirements, but that same article listed one of those girls as 15.
Oh, and this year's US men are aged 23 through 29.

Men compete on 6 apparatuses: floor, vault, high bar, parallel bars, still rings and pommel horse. Women compete in 4 apparatuses: floor, vault, uneven bars and balance beam. The vault is pretty much equivalent for both today, though they may do different vaults and only have to compete within their genders. Once upon a time, however, the men had to vault the length of the apparatus, the women vaulted the width (that's at least one improvement). On the floor, the men move from tumbling run to tumbling run, taking small, controlled step sequences between, except when they stop to either balance on one foot, do a handstand or do leg flairs on the floor;
 the women make a tumbling move, then dance across the floor, then another tumbling move, then they preen and stick out their butts, et cetera.
Do women's gymnastics take athletic skill? Yes, absolutely and for sure. But it is hidden behind unnecessarily decorated with makeup and sequins and dance moves, which take away from that athletic skill. And the unfortunate fact that even though it takes an incredible amount of skill to jump from having one foot in front of the other on a four-inch wide beam and land in the exact same spot, it looks … kind of silly,

 especially in the middle of a routine. And especially compared to the flairs on the pommel horse. Although, yeah, scissor kicks look pretty silly, too.
And when you compare gymnastics to other sports, the differences are glaring. Even though the costuming in women's volleyball is ridiculous, the sport is the same as for men. They may not compete against each other, except in equestrian (where let's give the horses the credit they're due) but Archery is Archery, Cycling is Cycling and Water Polo is Water Polo. (Although, I'm not quite sure why the women's cycling road course is so much shorter than the men's or the women swim 800 m when the men swim 1500.) You can also contrast this to winter's figure skating, another heavily artistic sport, where, even though there certainly seem to be problems of sexism there (especially in the fondness for pixies), both the women and the men are required to show footwork as well as jumps. Mind you, I don't want to see the men dancing to the music and exaggeratedly sticking out their butts between tumbling runs. No, I'd like to see, and I think the sport would get more respect if, women's gymnastics rid itself of the prancing and preening. I'd also like to see collegiate women's gymnastics be the training ground for our Olympians that men's collegiate gymnastics now is, instead of the place Olympic girls go to retire.

I'd also like to see men's gymnastics get more air time, but that's a different topic.