What's Wrong With a Thong?

As a young female athlete, I have been commended, stereotyped and discriminated against. Through both my University career and in various points of my life I have personally experienced and witnessed the role sex appeal and appearance play in the popularity of female sports and individual recognition within it.

I would first like to give you a brief background of my sports career. I just turned twenty and I have been playing squash professionally since I was 18. I have been a member of Canadian Women’s Senior and Junior Squash Teams. I have traveled across the world competing since I was about 12 years old. As I mentioned earlier, squash is definitely not a mainstream sport. Little recognition is given to the world’s finest players, despite being named the most physically demanding sport ahead of boxing and swimming numerous years in a row. It is barely broadcasted on sports networks and receives minimal attention in News Papers and magazines.

When I was about 13 years old a female squash player made the front page of Sports News Papers across Europe and North America. But she didn’t make headlines for being the best, or winning some grand tournament. Vicki Botwright was the 16th seed in the Women’s Squash British Open when she showed up wearing a just a thong and sports bra to go on court. She argued "You can get hot and sweaty playing this game…and the clothes can stick to your skin. I would like the chance to wear something that is less restrictive." The Women’s International Squash Players Association (WISPA) after much debate ended up not allowing her to wear her “thong” outfit, arguing it would throw off the refs. But Botwright and squash received national and international press which was unheard of to the sport, before and after the decision. Websites have been dedicated to pictures of Botwright in her thong outfit and Botwrights homepage actually got more hits that Anna Kournikova's.

Botwright has since than reached fifth in the world and growing up she was one of the more popular female squash players because of the publicity of her British Open stunt. As a 13 year old girl, I was old enough to recognize that wearing a thong on court was a little weird and over the top, but it didn’t stop me from admiring her because she was good at the sport I loved. I was still blind to the fact that it was the sex appeal that was giving her attention, and not her talent.

As I got older, I would reminisce on the Vicki Botwright scandal, and I began to detest her behaviour. I was disgusted that someone would actually do that to get some sort of attention. I thought it was embarrassing as a young upcoming squash player. But, I recently made a discovery, that altered my opinion on the entire event.

While reading a blog on Sex and Sports, I learned that that WISPA and the British Open representatives came up with a plan to help media coverage. . . It was to find a girl withi the tournament who was basically willing to strip down for her sport, and then watch as the press flocked to the sport. Botwright 23 at the time, volunteered and became the naïve puppet in their grand scheme. She got kicked off of her local Manchester team and was treated foully by a number of people and press.

Ranked 18th in the world then, she received a ton of publicity for the event. Now seven years later, she is ranked 10 spots higher but she is keeping her clothes on... focussing more on the athletic aspect or her sport. Today, you will rarely see her name mentioned in her local paper, let alone on an international stage.