Badminton Rule Requiring Ladies to Wear Skirts and look Sexy gets Shut Down Ahead of London Olympic Games!

Australian badminton star Tania Luiz

A controversial rule requiring all professional women's badminton players to wear skirts will not go into effect as The Badminton World Federation caved as a result of outside pressure that branded the rule as sexiest and outdated. 

The Badminton World Federation (BWF), looking to raise its profile and glamorize its image last year wrote into the official rulebook that women were now required to compete in skirts. Paisan Rangsikitpho, deputy president of the Badminton World Federation previously defended the rule, claiming that The BWF was not using sex to promote the sport. “We just want them to look feminine and have a nice presentation so women will be more popular.”

The rule was developed by The BWF in collaboration with Octagon, an international marketing firm with the idea that women players should wear skirts or dresses "to ensure attractive presentation." The rule was quickly slammed for being sexist and outdated.

BWF Super Series Finals: Saina Nehwal

"You can't make demands like that to make women more glamorous...it is ridiculous; tennis certainly doesn't have this problem so why should we have to put up with it?" - Top 20 badminton player Imogen Bankier.

 "The point of going into competitions is for us to be champions...And we have to feel comfortable while playing." - Vita Marissa, Indonesia’s mixed doubles player. "

The rule also raised the issues of religious discrimination as religious governing bodies in Pakistan, China, Indonesia and India also criticized the rule. But right now I choose not to deal with that element of this whole argument. Basically, these countries are saying don't make our women wear one thing because you are contradicting what we told them they are allowed to wear (in general).

I defend the BFW as this was an attempt to garner popularity for women's Badminton which would ultimately lead to higher revenue for both The BFW and the athletes. It is not as if the women were asked to wear g-strings or perform naked on stripper poles before their games. Now that would prompt me to immediately start watching Badminton even though I would have to concede that the rule was inappropriate.

Athletes have many different types of fans; the actual lovers of the sport and those that just watch athletes because they think they are attractive. Women have been watching male athletes because they are cute for years (see: Rafa Nadal ----> see: My Sister). Both sets of people bring money into the sport and there is nothing necessarily wrong with people that watch athletes because they think they are hot, aside from the fact that they usually annoy people who watch sport for sports-related reasons. Most other sports have uniform dress codes and it improves the aesthetics of the game and makes it look more credible. At Wimbledon women are required to wear a specific color of sports clothing which oncludes shorts, little dresses and little skirts and nobody is complaining. The skirts and dresses that were proposed by the BWF are regulation, appropriate sporting apparel and not leather mini-skirts or peddle pushers.

Tennis star Maria Sharapova who is idolized (by me) both for her match winning temperament and cute factor.

Furthermore, I am tired of this idea that sexualizing a woman is bad. I am tired of looking at a lady, finding her to be sexually appealing and being made to feel guilty about it. I am a dude, I happen to be hardwired to do that. It doesn't mean I only consider women as sexual objects nor do I not respect or revere their achievements. The fact is, you could even be in a space suit fully covered and it is possible for a guy to still think you are sexy.

Women can't have it both ways and at times wear clothing with the intention of "looking sexy" then turn around and persecute men that respond it. I may think you look sexy and that is a primal response that is not in my control. Whether or not you have anything else to offer is up to you. Which is why I always favor an insightful well read woman to compliment her sex-appeal. As David Beckham and other moderately talented male athletes have done, women (that play Badminton) should take their physical appeal and make people actually pay money to see it ~ and they will.

Category: Sports