Sprinting 100 meters with a wig and long colored nails, scoring goals adorned with neon pink or blue hair, receiving your trophy with red lips… Some athletes do not go unnoticed on the field.
External signs of coquetry far from being superficial as we know that they can have a real impact on their sporting career.
The race for sponsors
“The image and body of a woman athlete have an influence on her search for sponsors and on the speeches we will make about her,” explains Natacha Lapeyroux, researcher in sociology of media, gender and sport, which specifies that, until the 2000s, “those who presented themselves in a very feminine way and who corresponded to Western beauty standards, that is to say especially white and slender women, did the best”.
The image and body of a woman athlete have an influence on her search for sponsors and on the speeches that will be made about her
Natacha Lapeyroux, researcher in sociology of media, gender and sport
According to teacher-researcher Béatrice Barbusse, author of the book
Sexism in Sport
(Ed. Anamosa, 2016), “the pressure is even greater today than fifteen or twenty years ago”.
In certain disciplines, high-level female athletes have always had much more difficulty finding sponsors for competitions than their male counterparts, because they are asked to highlight their aesthetic assets.
Charlotte Lembach, Olympic vice-champion in women's team saber in Tokyo, experienced it while looking for support for the Paris Olympics.
“It doesn't matter if you win medals, if you are not in the codes sought by the brands, and what's more your sport is little publicized, it's complicated.
On the other hand, athletes who do not have half of our track record but who are prettier, taller and slender manage to find incredible contracts,” laments the fencer.
A point of view shared by Mélina Robert-Michon, Olympic vice-champion in the discus throw at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and twenty-two times French champion: despite all her victories, she too struggled to find funding.
“Those who match the standards can pursue their careers in better conditions.
In addition, there is always a more important look at the physique in an athlete than in an athlete, at an equal level... while the promotion of performance will always be a priority for men,” she adds.
Being sexy, a choice
However, a break took place after 2005, continues sociology researcher Natacha Lapeyroux, “when we began to publicize the women's world championships in boxing, football and rugby, historically masculine sports.
These competitions were broadcast on mainstream television channels, and we saw the emergence of new female sporting models.
Equipment brands have carried out subversive campaigns by highlighting bodies that do not meet current beauty standards in order to promote diversity, such as those of Caster Semenya or Serena Williams.
Serena Williams during a match at the US Open Tennis in New York City.
(September 2, 2022) Tim Clayton -Corbis/Getty Images
A development also observed by Sandy Montañola, researcher at the CNRS Arènes laboratory: “Before 2012, the Olympics were not open to female boxers.
Today, we publicize them.
This calls things into question and we move forward, even if the archetypes persist.
We accept that sportswomen have an athletic body, provided they show signs of femininity.”
We accept that sportswomen have an athletic body, provided they show signs of femininity
Sandy Montañola, researcher at the CNRS Arènes laboratory
The work of sociologist Catherine Louveau has thus shown that those who practiced “boys’ sports” tended to wear makeup and do their hair more than others, as if they had to give “guarantees” of conformity to sponsors and the audience.
Also read “You can feel like a woman and have trapezius muscles”: when bodybuilding shapes a new femininity
Some athletes use this hyperfemininity as a way of claiming their freedom and reclaiming their body.
A form of
empowerment
which has, in particular, been seized by the Afro community, as described by journalist and writer Jennifer Padjemi in her book
Selfie.
How capitalism controls our bodies
(Ed. Stock, 2023).
“Thanks to their short or long nails, natural or coated with gel, with or without design, simple or elaborate, black women are showing off their claws.
I think of the athlete Sha'Carri Richardson, who competes with her long nails, her false eyelashes, her wigs.
She pays homage to those who came before her: Florence Griffith-Joyner, her incredible looks and extraordinary manicures;
Christine Arron and her wonderful short blonde;
Inika McPherson and her fabulous tattoos;
Muriel Hurtis and her beautiful cornrow braids;
and all the others,” she explains.
Also read: The short story of sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson's extra-long nails
Jamaican athlete Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
Erick W. Rasco / Sports Illustrated/Getty Images
A springboard for self-affirmation rather than subjugation?
“On the one hand, this individual freedom leaves everyone the right to do what they want, but, on the other hand, this choice perhaps does not favor the progress of collective struggles by potentially giving reason to the injunctions to be sexy.
The limit between the two is complicated,” notes teacher-researcher Béatrice Barbusse, who nevertheless concedes “that having a choice is the cry of the new feminists.
Athletes should also have the right to wear what allows them to feel good to perform.
More and more athletes are also questioning their outfits, like during the Tokyo Olympics, where some chose a full jumpsuit rather than the traditional low-cut leotard.
Same story with the Norwegian beach handball players, fined after refusing to play in a bikini during the European championships in 2021.
Also read "Sexualized", obsolete... at the Tokyo Olympics, athletes' outfits continue to be debated
Nevertheless, “these remain exceptions and this only concerns disciplines where the place of women is assured and publicized”, underlines the researcher Natacha Lapeyroux, “the more they are financially protected and supported by federations, the more they can be in a strategy of resistance, daring to do things and allowing oneself to transgress norms.
And to mention the case of the disruptive footballer Megan Rapinoe with her multi-colored colors…
American soccer player Megan Rapinoe.
DeFodi Images/DeFodi Images/Getty Images
Boost confidence
So what can we expect from the next Paris Olympics?
“We are not here to play a role, we should not feel obliged to force the line just to say that we are feminine.
The most important thing is above all to show the diversity of sporting bodies so that young girls can identify,” insists discus thrower Mélina Robert-Michon, who says she likes to do her hair, put on makeup or paint her nails in the colors of France. before a competition “for pleasure and to feel good, even if the priority remains performance”.
The most important thing is above all to show the diversity of sporting bodies so that young girls can identify.
Mélina Robert-Michon, athlete, discus throwing specialist
The same goes for the vice-champion of France in Heptathlon Célia Perron, specialist in combined events and Avène ambassador, in the race for qualification for the Olympics.
The one who, on the runway, always sports a ponytail, eye makeup and semi-permanent manicure spends a little time in her bathroom to feel comfortable in front of the cameras.
“This allows you to put yourself in the shoes of the performer.
In front of the mirror, in front of ourselves, before going to fight, we need a little boost of confidence, and this step helps us do that.
Once on the track, all we have to do is focus solely on our goal, without worrying about our image.
With effort and perspiration, the naturalness is still there!”
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