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December 19, 1999
IN THE NEWS...
Top women athletes take clothes off to get more exposure for their sports
By Randy Starkman
Toronto Star Sports Reporter
In the ever-competitive sports marketplace, female athletes are finding there is one surefire way to get attention and generate some income: remove the duds.
Call it the era of the Bare Naked Ladies.
Those choosing to pose au naturel include U.S. soccer player Brandi Chastain, past and current women's figure skating champions Katarina Witt and Maria Butyrskaya, Romanian world champion gymnast Corina Ungureanu, American high jumper Amy Acuff and the entire Australian women's Olympic soccer team.
The Aussie women, known as the Matildas, have created a huge stir with their calendar, which includes several full-frontal nude photos of the players. The calendars have been flying off the shelves, but the team has been criticized in some corners for peddling ``soft porn.'
Motivated by the Australian soccer team's success, the New Zealand women's rowing eights crew has produced a similar calendar to fund their preparation for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Rower Jude Ellis describes it as ``tastefully' done.
``In most of the photos, we've got the whole kit off but we've used rowing props and things like punga ferns to conceal the bits we didn't really want photographed,' Ellis told The Dominion newspaper. ``It's all pretty tasteful. . . . it'll make a great Chrissy present.'
Punga ferns aside, the trend certainly invites a question: Just what does it mean for women's sport?
The Star polled some of the top women Olympians in this country, as well as some officials and media experts, and it appears The Naked Truth is in the eye of the beholder.
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Marnie McBean said that most of the nude photos of athletes she's seen have been very artistic.
``Athletes are working their bodies all the time,' McBean said. ``They're proud of what they've done. It (posing nude) can be like the equivalent of an architect putting up a picture of a building they've drawn; some of their work they are proud of.'
But McBean said it's a shame if athletes are stripping to get the bare necessities.
Synchronized swimmer Claire Carver-Dias of Mississauga can't see anything to be gained by grinning and baring it.
``I think for women in sport it's been a battle as it is to gain the credibility, respect, integrity from the sports world,' she said. ``This just may be taking away from that and putting the focus on women's bodies and the sexual side of things instead of focusing on the athletic side.'
But most of those interviewed by The Star didn't view the issue in such black-and-white terms.
The mixed emotions are reflected by Kristine Drakich, a beach volleyball player from Toronto who has battled with her sport's federation over rules that dictate the skimpy uniforms the athletes must wear in competition.
Drakich has an interesting take on Chastain's exploits at the Women's World Cup this past summer.
When Chastain tore off her jersey after scoring the game-winning penalty kick for the U.S., there was much more focus in the media on her actions and sports bra than on her team's athletic exploits.
Chastain, who also posed naked but well-concealed by a soccer ball for Gear magazine, drew far more attention for removing her shirt than for scoring the goal.
But Drakich thought it was a wonderful moment. She didn't see it as anything sexual or a way to sell Nike sports bras, but rather as a show of strength.
``Did you see her arms?' said Drakich, a coach at the University of Toronto. ``They were so strong and so flexed. That's what I noticed. The fact she took her shirt off, so what?'
However, Drakich believes women are forced into exposing more and more because it's their only guarantee of getting media coverage.
``Female athletes don't get that much attention and press,' she said. ``Their images are not that accessible. The times that you know the press will be interested is the time that they are not fully clothed. That's the saddest part of all.'
The topic of athletes using their sexuality to market themselves came up at a recent board meeting of the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity (CAAWS), which has come down hard in the past on male sports reporters for sexist coverage of female athletes.
Marg McGregor, executive director of CAAWS, said there was no real consensus on the issue.
``CAAWS encourages athletes to rely on their skill and ability (to raise funds) and not their sexuality,' McGregor said. ``With these sorts of things (calendars), they're not looking at skill and ability. It's based on sexuality.
``Unfortunately, it's becoming more than a one-off thing. There are better ways to raise money. . . . You don't want women athletes to have to get naked to get funding.'
She said it's encouraging that a lot of high-performance athletes are comfortable with their bodies and pictures of muscular women are a good thing, but she believes there should be a limit.
``You can still show that with a short and T-shirt,' McGregor said. ``I don't think you need to strip off to the next layer. You become less of an icon. The ideal role model that you want girls looking up to is not female athletes naked in calendars.' She concedes all this naked ambition could make things more difficult for her group.
``As an organization, we're encouraging media to report on these athletes as strong athletes - they are not `sexy' and `perky' and `10-car pileup gorgeous,' ' she said. ``When certain athletes choose to focus on their sexuality, there is an irony there.'
But Susan Auch, Canada's double Olympic speed skating silver medalist, said she doesn't see a problem ``with women showing off their bodies.'
Auch thought it extremely unfair of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation to penalize the 19-year-old Ungureanu for posing nude in that country's edition of Playboy. The federation withheld a financial reward. It also initially excluded her from awards for the top 10 gymnasts of the year, but later relented.
``Part of the problem is we're striving to get to a level in sport men are at - and we're not men,' Auch said. ``We're women in sport and we're different, very, very different. We can be strong and aggressive and I don't see why we can't be proud of our bodies.
``The real critical thing is: Is it tasteful? That's a very gray area. One person's idea of tasteful can be very different from another's.'
Auch is torn about many aspects of the issue. She is worried a precedent might be set and women will have to pose naked to make money in sport. She's also concerned that younger and younger athletes will be used in such pictorials.
Auch said the key is that the power rests with women athletes to decide if they want to use their bodies to promote their sport or themselves.
``If the international volleyball federation can sell their sport by getting the athletes to wear skimpy outfits, why shouldn't the Australian soccer players take it into their own hands and make money?' Auch asked. ``If they feel comfortable enough doing something like this, go for it.
``I would probably not have the nerve or the guts. I don't know what I would do, offered the chance. But I don't think it's that big a deal, as long as it's not vulgar. I thought when Katarina Witt did it, it was beautiful.'
As Auch noted, athletes in sports such as hers are wearing racing suits that don't leave a lot to the imagination. ``You're standing on the skating line and you're basically naked. You can see all the curves and see through these skintight suits. What is the difference?'
The New Zealand rowers reasoned their calendar was the only way to guarantee the necessary funding, but Canadian synchronized swim team captain Kirsten Normand doesn't buy that rationale. Normand said she and her teammates put a lot of work into getting sponsors for themselves.
``We went out and we looked hard for them,' she said. . . . ``I know on our team we have our values and our morals and we would never choose to do that. It has never in my head been an option. It's a bit mind-boggling to me that they would go that route.'
Carver-Dias said the Australian synchronized swim team had an offer to pose for Playboy after they experienced a huge funding cut, but rejected it after some serious consideration.
``As a synchro swimmer and their colleague, I was upset because we've really struggled to build up the integrity of our sport and say, `Hey, this is a sport. It's not about women in bathing suits,' ' she said.
``I was afraid something like that might make synchro take a turn for the worse.'
Margaret MacNeill, who does sports media research at the University of Toronto, said she expects females athletes would be divided on the issue. On one hand, it can be viewed as a sign of women feeling better about their bodies and celebrating their musculature, but it also plays into the hands of marketing female athletes as a male fantasy.
``Where it is a setback is we take away from the celebration of athletics and go back to saying if the athlete's aesthetically pleasing to look at, she's going to get media attention and advertising,' MacNeill said.
``That's the sad part.
``You could be the ugliest guy in the NBA, but if you're good you're going to still get the attention.'
Drakich dreams of a day when no female athlete would resort to taking her clothes off to get attention and sponsorship.
``I wish women wouldn't have to do that,' she said.
``In my Utopia, the fact you're a strong volleyball playe
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