Especially for someone as decorated and lauded as sensational athlete and gold medal soccer player Mia Hamm. In 31 seconds all of their hard work and successes have been cheapened. Girls around the world who worship these symbols of incredible sacrifice in making a dream come true can now shoot for the grand goal of: scoring a killer deal shopping? Is that the message they really want to send to younger girls? Wrong β Lindsey loves the campaign.
Heaven help us when a smart real female role model comes along and says I like myself for who I am and screw anyone who wants to paint me into a dumb pretty girl corner. See my post on SFGate about this campaign and the gender discrimination in endorsement options offered to male versus female athletes.
Are women athletes celebrated more for what they can do or for how they look? Have women athletes made any progress winning endorsements, acclaim, recognition, and money for their skill rather than their appearance? Legs parted, head thrown back, eyes closed, she smiles. Sports Illustrated features Olympic swimmer Jenny Thompson topless with her hands covering her breasts. One step forward, two long jumps back.
At the Summer Games in Sydney, more women will compete in more sports with more media coverage than ever before.
With 4, participants, women will represent a record 42 percent of the competitors. Most exciting, women will be competing in what were once exclusively male domains. New categories for women include weightlifting, pole vaulting, water polo, tae kwon do and the triathlon. But the slew of wet T-shirt pictorials reveals a powerful cultural bias. The American public is still uncomfortable seeing women as successful athletes and celebrating them for embodying the qualities that athletes possess.
