Reader\'s Digest India - 09.2019

of podium girls, not least that it’s a

well-paid modelling job, and that

the women are often performing a

range of practical duties. However,

while podium girls are not the only

examples of sexism in European

sport, they remain a highly visual

reminder that women in these arenas

are primarily objectified.

It’s all so avoidable. Men, women

and child mascots are all perfectly

capable of presenting prizes. As

podium girls have practical duties,

presumably they could have practical

uniforms to go with them. If some

events are felt to be too male-

dominated and in need of ‘feminizing’,

more women could feature in official

capacities. Or would such changes

thwart the unofficial diktat that all

visible women at major sporting

events must be docile and decorative?

Certainly, it seems depressing

and strange that in the 21st-century

sporting arena, stuffed as it is with

cutting-edge training techniques,

this one area is stuck in a tacky,

chauvinist time warp. Do celebrated

sports personalities even enjoy having

reluctant young women grudgingly

kiss them on the cheeks as if they are

elderly aunts?

Are these men so desperate for

female attention, their egos so easily

bruised, that these stilted encounters

must continue?

For all these reasons and more,

time really must be up. Rather

than representing glamour, podium-

girl culture is exposed for what

it truly is—a big, thick, sexist cobweb

choking up modern sport. It’s time to

sweep it all away.

Barbara Ellen is a columnist for the

UK’s Observer newspaper. She has

also written for The Times, Elle and

dmi Marie Claire.

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A ring-card girl in action

In My Opinion

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