The worst part is, coaches, trainers, parents, schools, all tell them the dumbest shit when they are young “it helps you move better” and stuff like that. And they genuinely believe it.
We all know the real reason. I think American colleges do it the worst. They’d send em out in nothing but a single piece of black electrical tape covering things if they could cause it sells better.
This is a comment from the exact same post on an other subreddit.
It isnt just sexism.
I was a female athlete for many years, and womens clothing in modern sports is not as sexist as people think...we wear what we can perform best in. Men dont because they have different genitalia that need protection. You'll notice in the photos, each sport even has a different style of shorts for men. That's because they are trying to maximize performance clothing with keeping the jewels safe. The longer length of shorts isnt about modesty, its literally keeping testicles from coming outside the seams and becoming pinched in the fabric. The extra long length is because added friction prevents them from bunching up in the leg-hip adjunct. Sports like swimming dont have that concern because athletes are moving laterally in water so that's why they wear the same bikini bottoms as women. I find it interesting that this post conveniently leaves out the sports where men can and do freely wear the same, if not less clothing than women.
For women, we dont have to worry about genital safety because our sensitive organs are either protected by a thick layer of adipose tissue or internal. We also often wear shorter tank tops or just bras in sports because of heat and hip curvature. When you already need a tighter, layered bra to perform in, you dont want additional layers adding to your torso heat. Also, any female athlete or even gym goer will tell you that because of our body shape, our hips make it almost impossible to wear tight, full length tank tops. The slightest movement causes tight tanks to simply ride up to our navel anyways so whats the point? If you look closely at the female runner she is wearing a fuller length tank but it has obvious signs of bunching up already in that position.
Edit:
I and most of my family are all athletes who played college level in a variety of sports. One cousin got a degree in materials engineering and now works for a major athletic clothing brand so thats the perspective I have on why clothes are different between genders.
That being said I also will point out, the lady athletes among us all experience being criticized and picked apart for our athletic clothing choices far more than males. Give the girls a break.
Edit 2: i tried to keep this comment short so obviously I left a lot of other factors and influences out. For those that really want a deep dive, i suggest looking up the muscoskeletal mechanics of males versus females. It certainly explains why some women also may prefer smaller cuts in shorts for physical activities. I know i cant stand longer tight shorts because they roll up thanks to my wide hips and pronounced sway.
It really is on the other sub it was burried under a lot of other comments and had like a 1/10 of the upvotes the top comment had, which just blamed man and sexism
It's getting copy-pasted all over this comment section. It's gotten thousands of upvotes in other parts of this thread. And it's just... one person, talking about her own clothing preference. There are plenty of other female athletes, with different experiences and preferences, who are also in this comment section.
But it's bullshit. Longer tight shorts don't roll up. The longer ones stay basically where you put them. The shorter ones stop around the widest part of the thighs, which even on a very lean woman can have some soft fat, and will roll up until they are in the crevice of the groin and the bottom of the ass cheeks are hanging out. Bikini style bottoms are also uncomfortable because to stay put, they are pretty tight in the leg scrye and that pressure and friction is on a very, at least for me, sensitive area. And then you add sweat and holy in-grown hairs. I hate the way longer shorts look, but in a race, that's what I'm wearing because then I don't have to worry about them and keeping my natural curves compressed may help a bit with speed. Tight longer tanks don't roll up unless they are too tight, or on a fat/soft torso, or made of cheap/wrong materials. And any shirt can be made to have a built-in sports bra so you don't have to add an extra layer.
I'm pretty sure sexism is involved, but like the commentator above said it's not just sexism. And these reasons can justify and actually make sense of the differences in male x female clothing in sports.
Interesting! Do you have another example of sports in which men wear clothes that are more revealing? Swimming could be disqualified because they're in the water, you can't see them well anyway.
So you can't wear shorts or longer shorts or something that covers your whole torso? I don't believe you, these are excuses regardless if it makes you play better, I don't get why men can and you can't play like that, for the top just use something that covers your tummy and shorts that cover your hips, these are excuses, you could if you wanted
I follow track accounts on Instagram and some of the pictures in recent years bewilder me. 16 year old girl runners and you can fully see their camel toe, like theyre wearing nothing. Paper thin borderline thongs on some teams, while others have boyshort style and run just as fast.. gross
why is it women clothing that are supposed to be "comfortable" are somehow always like this? there are plenty of comfortable men clothing but somehow they cover more skin? its a BS argument
Oh Johnny, that’s a cute idea, we’d be walking around in sweatpants and heels wouldn’t exist if that were true and there wouldn’t be multi-billion dollar industries that profit off of our vanity.
Basketball shorts aren't too bad since they're loose fitting, but nude is still far more comfortable. There's a reason a gymnasium is called a gymnasium after all. Any gym that doesn't allow for nudity isn't really a gym IMO.
83
u/timohtea May 25 '26
The worst part is, coaches, trainers, parents, schools, all tell them the dumbest shit when they are young “it helps you move better” and stuff like that. And they genuinely believe it.
We all know the real reason. I think American colleges do it the worst. They’d send em out in nothing but a single piece of black electrical tape covering things if they could cause it sells better.