Lingerie Shoots in the Basketball Court: Sports Activists as Sex Symbols

Last updated on: January 3, 2008 at 11:00 am by Guest Contributor

Lingerie Shoots in the Basketball Court: Sports Activists as Sex Symbols 2008-01-03T11:00:00-04:00 Guest Contributor

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This originally appeared as part of a larger post at the blog Pedestrian. It has been edited for length, but you can read the entire version at the original website.

I don’t know whether this is considered a virtue or a vice: Laleh Sedigh’s showing up for a sports race with a face full of makeup – not to mention plastic surgery. It is certainly not overdone, but would Erin Crocker or Giovanna Amati end up at NASCAR or Formula One with a hint of the stuff?

If she were from anywhere else (anywhere else either than the Iranian, Arab or Turkish world of course) there would not have been a drop of foundation, lipstick, mascara, eyeliner or blush on her face.

And this is nothing. I remember seeing a picture of Iran’s 1971 national female basketball team. These ladies were there for a photo shoot, but goodness me, you thought they were there to model lingerie. They were so heavily pancaked in makeup, their hair was so extremely overdone and their basketball uniforms so skimpy that lingerie came more to mind than sports.

At first, I thought that the pictures were dedicated to a special shoot. But, I consecutively saw their pictures in numerous magazines and newspapers and that’s the way they always looked.

I look at Sedigh’s pictures and I can’t help but think that it just doesn’t feel right for a race car driver to show up at a match with all that makeup.

On another level, somebody would argue that she is combining her “race car driver-ness” with her “Iranian-ness”. Good or bad, Iranian women love a face swarmed with makeup and she’s just walking in consent to that desire. Her makeup is not even overdone and so what’s the problem?

Of course, sexism towards females exists all over the world. And you can always raise an eyebrow at the choices female athletes make: Amanda Beard posing for playboy is certainly not something you hear everyday. Female athletes often become sex symbols – sometimes even by their own choosing. That phenomenon is non-existent in our country simply because of governmental restrictions.

But I still think there’s a subtle difference here. Yes, female athletes can become sex symbols – they can choose to do so, amongst other reasons, because it creates a gargantuan jump in their salaries. But in Iran, this has nothing to do with cash, fame or recognition. It’s just the way females think they should be.

People like Ms. Sedigh or those basketball players only work to establish those beliefs.

Of course, these are all personal choices. Whether you are a student, a race car driver or a Yoga instructor, your main aim is to get the job done. What attire you choose while you do so is nobody’s concern.

And yet, I can’t help but think that it all stems from a deeper insecurity. That indeed no matter whom you are, a race car driver, [a professional shooter like Shama Al-Muhairi (pictured here)], or a student, you’re only worthwhile if you look pretty – and “pretty” here has a strict definition. No matter who you are or what you aspire to be, you need layers on top of you to consider yourself presentable in your society.

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, the observer – or the man in this case. But for change to occur in the observer, the observed has to do something about it first.

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