-- Download Rogers Cup Tennis Championship Sexism as PDF --
“Come for ladies, stay for the legends”?
Leave it to Rogers Sportsnet/cellphone/baseball/stadia to set feminism back another decade with their recent Rogers Cup. Are bikinis next?
The Rogers Cup tennis tournament ended yesterday.
I am quite sickened, but not at all shocked, at how they portray male and female tennis players. Listen closely for the voiceover at the end:
The ladies we are supposed to come for, are merely the opening act for the legends. And I don’t need to go into the sexual double entendre with come.
T
hen, let’s look at bums in promotional graphics. Whose bum do you see? A man’s bum or a woman’s bum?
Then we have some sexy poses from the women:
Several weeks ago on this site, Julie wrote about sexism in women’s soccer in Sporting a Uterus, with the FIFA president once suggesting that female soccer players should wear tighter shorts and uniforms more like volleyball.
When the producer of Rogers Cup tennis continues to market female tennis players as sex objects, we are drifting backwards.
Enough already.
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February 4, 2014 Jesse Ventura Is On Our Side On Racist Team Names
January 29, 2014 Mental Health and The Hypocrisy of #BellLetsTalk
January 21, 2014 Can We Stop Treating Women Like Meat? Now? Maybe? Please?
Stephen Elliott-Buckley
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I take “Come for the ladies, stay for the legends” as meaning the opposite of what you suggest. It’s encouraging you to stick around after the main show (“the ladies”) to watch the old guys play (likewise, in the ad Serena beats McEnroe in the spliced together footage).
The graphic at the end is problematic, for sure, and you’re right to make noise about it, but why not pick your target more pointedly, rather than spread your argument thin?
nice take on the main show. i never thought of it that way. but i still think of the PR my way. 🙂
which particular argument would you think would be the better pointed focus instead of the collection of sexist representation?
I’m just saying focus on the images, not the catch phrase or the use of “come” – which I suspect says more about your mind than the minds of the ad execs 😉
yeah, the images certainly are a valid focus.
and my mind is, sadly, my mind. but it seems i’m in good company on the text [if not the double entendre]:
http://feministing.com/2011/07/13/rogers-cup-come-for-the-ladies-stay-for-the-legends/
it seems my desire to post my piece after the tournament missed the timeliness window that others hit last month. 🙂
If you would like to read the above clip, in English, click on the link in a browser like Google Chrome which will give you a translate option of the text from the Finnish.