from: https://goo.gl/qK7iit
Did you watch the ‘fight of the century’ yesterday? I did. What a show – big, buff dudes punching each other in the face. And the “stunning ring girls“… I had heard of the ‘ring girl’ before, but I’d never really witnessed it. And I have to say I was shocked.
Are you SERIOUSLY telling me that this grotesque image of women is being broadcast t0 literally millions of people around the world?! The post-fight numbers don’t seem to be out yet, but promoters claimed that the fight would be available “to more than 1 billion homes in 200 different countries“. So millions of people, from almost every country, are tuning in and this is what they’re seeing? Do we live in 1957? Did I miss the memo? What the f***?!
I feel like I don’t even need to explain this, except yesterday happened, so therefore I guess I do. This is textbook objectification of women. Why aren’t they wearing clothes? Look at the image above. There are the two fighters, athletes, whose actual fight gear does not include a shirt. And yet, there they are in suits. Meanwhile, there are two women in tiny, Corona-branded two pieces. Um, why? Are they going to the beach? Oh wait, no, they are JUST THERE FOR PEOPLE TO LOOK AT THEIR BODIES. They literally just stand there like some sick kind of decoration. Mayweather/McGregor’s value: their fighting skills. Ring girls’ value: their bodies.
Lets just gender reverse this for a minute. Wouldn’t it be hilarious if there were two buff women in suits, with two half-naked men (sorry, boys, ‘ring boys’) in the background? What a joke! Everybody would think it was really weird. So why is it okay for women? Are we so desensitized to stuff like this that we can no longer think critically? This is really f***ing weird! And what about you, Corona? Is the objectification of women less important than your bottom line?
By all means lets have women there! But how about this revolutionary idea: include some female fighters? Maybe they can even be half-naked (if that’s their fighting attire), but only if the male boxers are half naked too. And how about all the young people that must have watched this fight i.e.millions. This is how they see women being broadcast around the world? We are teaching them the wrong thing here; in 2017, we’re still teaching girls and boys that a woman’s main value is her looks.
So I say this: please lets do better next time. Please America, please Corona, please boxing. Ditch the ring girls.
P.S. I’m never drinking Corona again.
