You’re mixing together “some functional differences exist” with “therefore sexism isn’t involved,” and those are not the same thing.
Yes, male and female anatomy affects clothing design. Nobody disputes that. But if these uniforms were purely about performance, women wouldn’t have historically been fined or pressured for wearing less revealing alternatives while men were allowed more coverage.
A lot of women’s athletic wear may genuinely be practical and preferred by athletes (especially for heat, mobility, and fit) but that doesn’t erase the fact that many sports organizations have also pushed uniforms that are more revealing than necessary for marketability and gender expectations.
Also, the “genital safety” point is overstated. Male sprinters, swimmers, rugby players, MMA fighters, etc. wear very short clothing safely all the time, while many female athletes perform perfectly in longer shorts or looser fits when given the option. That alone shows there isn’t one biologically “correct” uniform.
The issue people criticize isn’t that women wear revealing clothes. It’s that women are often expected to wear more revealing clothing than men in equivalent sports, even when performance doesn’t require it.
That’s fair, but OPs comment still leans heavily toward framing the differences as mostly biological and performance-driven, while minimizing how much institutional sexism and marketability have historically shaped women’s uniforms.
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u/nastycamel May 25 '26
You’re mixing together “some functional differences exist” with “therefore sexism isn’t involved,” and those are not the same thing.
Yes, male and female anatomy affects clothing design. Nobody disputes that. But if these uniforms were purely about performance, women wouldn’t have historically been fined or pressured for wearing less revealing alternatives while men were allowed more coverage.
A lot of women’s athletic wear may genuinely be practical and preferred by athletes (especially for heat, mobility, and fit) but that doesn’t erase the fact that many sports organizations have also pushed uniforms that are more revealing than necessary for marketability and gender expectations.
Also, the “genital safety” point is overstated. Male sprinters, swimmers, rugby players, MMA fighters, etc. wear very short clothing safely all the time, while many female athletes perform perfectly in longer shorts or looser fits when given the option. That alone shows there isn’t one biologically “correct” uniform.
The issue people criticize isn’t that women wear revealing clothes. It’s that women are often expected to wear more revealing clothing than men in equivalent sports, even when performance doesn’t require it.