Badminton’s top female players forced into skirts

On May 4, the Badminton World Federation released new clothing regulations that require all female athletes competing in the highest levels of the sport to wear skirts.

Players can still wear shorts or leggings or whatever they like, I guess, as long as the female players wear skirts over them.

“Neither are we asking women to play in short skirts. It has never been the intention of the BWF to portray women as sexual objects, and nor is that what we are doing. Players can still wear all of the above and from the guidelines it should be clear that these do not push any women to wear clothing they are not comfortable with. However, they have to wear a skirt over these articles of clothing, which is already commonly used by many female players.

“We need to be able to differentiate the women’s game and the ruling is part of a larger campaign to enhance the presentation profile of the sport. This is to help attract a wider target group amongst both younger and older people, and amongst both women and men, where an aesthetic and stylish presentation of the players is certainly an important factor.  As such, the BWF has developed guidelines to ensure the Member Associations and players fully understand the new rule.”

What cracks me up about this quote, from the BWF website, is that they feel the need to “differentiate the women’s game.” What does that mean? Judges won’t be able to tell if it’s girls or boys playing, if the girls aren’t in skirts? Or maybe the officials are concerned about observers not being able to tell the difference. A wider audience will be attracted by female athletes who wear skirts over their shorts? Really?

The Independent reports that the decision came “in response to a report by sports consultants Octagon, which found that the competitors’ attire was considered boring and unfashionable by potential television viewers.” And that badminton trails in popularity behind tennis, with its glamor girls.

Apparently, no one cares what men wear when playing sports.  Does that mean that when men play sports, we pay more attention to their skill and the game than we do to their clothes? Do you think that glamming up female badminton players will bring in more viewers? Would you watch badminton, if only the girls were more stylish? Should the girls take one for the sport, if it does mean more exposure? Was there a way for BWF to update the look of badminton without placing the burden entirely on its female players? What do you think?

Take a look at the picture at the top of this article. Is it really fair to ask athletes to do that in a skirt?