Women's Athletic Apparel

I have been fuming about this since the Olympics this summer, and am pleased to note that in retrospect, the rules on bikinis were ultimately changed. However, sexism, as well as misogyny, is alive and impressively disgusting at the highest level of sports. I have loved the Olymics all my life and yet this year I did not watch any of the events. Why? It was too hard to ignore the fact that the Olympics, with rules and regulations still largely controled by men, are perpetuating control over women and their bodies. The women's beach volley team from Norway was fined for wearing shorts rather than the regulation bikini bottoms “with a close fit and cut on an upward angle.” Could anyone possibly enjoy watching a woman compete without being able to actually see her unclothed ass? And if she refuses to be practically naked, then she should be fined or disqualified?

It is disgusting at best. The older I get the more I understand that this is unlikely to change substantively in what is left of my life, and that there is little to nothing that I can do about it. I am heartened that my children's generation seems to be taking gigantic strides in the arena of equal treatment. Additionally, the previous administration taught me that about a third of United States voters, both men and women, but mostly men, mostly white, think that the old sexist, racist, homophobic ways really suit them. Those are things to deal with, but what I do not have to do is watch. Entering my curmudgeon stage, it seems.