Raising her bow and arrow, aiming for her target, recurve archer and TikTok content creator “Kels” wrote a simple caption on her video. “This is for all the women who are sexualised when they are simply doing their sport,” she said.
The video received nearly four million views on the video sharing platform and a tsunami of comments from women athletes sharing their own experiences of being sexualised in sport.
There were volleyball players recounting being harassed for wearing spandex, equestrian athletes sick and tired of the “riding” innuendos, and even a figure skater who recalled a man “pulled up my skirt” to see the sparkles on her leotard.
While shocking to read, these are familiar stories.
According to a 2022 World Health Organisation study, 85 per cent of adolescent girls do not get enough exercise. Research and analysis by England hockey player Tess Howard cites clothing and uniforms as “the most underrated cause” of lack of participation, making them feel “sexualised”.
The sexualisation of women in sport goes beyond the sporting field and, in this day and age, is rife in the online world. A new study from Deakin University recently found nine in 10 elite sportswomen have experienced some form of gendered online harm. Thirty-nine per cent said they specifically experienced online sexual harassment.
Kels admits she “didn’t mean to start a war” by posting the video. But the so-called war started long before her viral TikTok, and it’s one that is yet to be won.
#1 Serena Williams
Arguably the greatest tennis player of all time, it hasn’t been easy for the 23-time grand slam winner, Serena Williams.
As a Black woman, racist remarks in an overwhelmingly white dominated sport have intersected with abhorrent sexism from commentators, governing bodies and more.
In 2006, The National Post published a column that discussed Williams’ weight, including the size of her butt. Other columns in that same year alone included sickening comments about her breasts.
In 2018, Williams took to the court during the French Open tournament wearing a black cat suit that set off a wave of commentary about Williams’ body. Later, the French Tennis Federation president Bernard Giudicelli stated the outfit would be banned from future tournaments.
“One must respect the game and the place,” Giudicelli said.
#2 Norwegian beach handball team
There are several sports where women are required to wear tight, revealing clothing, including beach handball.
In 2021, the Norwegian national team appealed to the beach handball governing body, the European Handball Federation (EHF), asking to wear less revealing clothing. The requirements established by the governing body require women players to wear bikini bottoms.
By July, at the European championship bronze medal match against Spain, the team took to the court wearing bike shorts.
Astonishingly, the EHF fined the team 1,500 euros ($2487.74 AUD) for wearing “improper clothing”, claiming the shorts were “not according to the Athlete Uniform Regulations defined in the IHF Beach Handball Rules of the Game”.
Thousands of people took to the team’s Instagram page commenting their support for the team “standing up” against “blatant sexism”. Following the incident, the Norwegian federation for beach handball also showed their support.
“We at NHF stand behind you and support you. Together we will continue to fight to change the rules for clothing, so that players can play in the clothes they are comfortable with,” the statement read.
#3 Tayla Harris
It was 2019, the third season of the AFLW. Tayla Harris was at the peak of her game, and the most incredible photo of her kicking the footy went viral. It highlighted her athleticism, power and skill, representative of just how strong the women’s game was becoming.
But the photo was also met with vile, sexist attacks online. Some trolls online even edited the image to make Harris appear half naked. Harris’ body was sexualised to take away from her strength in her sport.
Following the incident, hundreds of women and girls around Australia participated in the #taylaharriskickchallenge to show off their own athleticism, power and skill, and to defy the reductive online abuse.
Later, Tayla Harris reshared the picture on her Instagram.
“My hamstring is ok,” she wrote in the caption, “but derogatory and sexist comments aren’t.”
#4 Maitlan Brown
“You’re a little Barbie yourself, aren’t you?”
This was a comment thrown at Australian all-rounder cricketer Maitlan Brown, who was playing in a T20 tournament in the UK.
Instead of asking her about her sport and the game she just played, BBC commentator and former Love Island contestant Chris Hughes chose to sexualise the athlete.
“You’re a little Barbie yourself, aren’t you? With your blue eyes,” he said.
“She’s blushing now.”
Chris Hughes received a warning from the British broadcaster and continues to be a TV personality in the UK.
#5 Emma Pallant-Browne
She’s an 18-time half ironman champion, she’s podiumed 33 times at world championships, and last year, British triathlete Emma Pallant-Browne celebrated an impressive fourth place at The Professional Triathletes Organisation’s European Open in Ibiza.
But fellow male triathlete Xavier Coppock ignored all that and instead chose to comment on her body in the image she posted to celebrate. The picture showed a spot of blood from her period.
“Not the most flattering pic… surely you can crop it better,” he wrote.
Pallant-Browne tactfully responded to the reductive comment on her Instagram post.
“Thanks for caring but definitely something I’m not shy to talk about because it’s the reality of females in sport,” Pallant-Browne said.
#6 Elizabeth Carr
Unfortunately, being sexualised in sport isn’t just the reality of professional sportspeople in the public eye: it’s the reality for most women.
In 2022, Perth local Elizabeth Carr was running along Scarborough Beach when three men, sitting on camp chairs, raised whiteboards with numbers written on them.
The men were rating her out of 10. Not just her, but other women running in the area too. The men were also whistling and yelling at women running past.
Carr caught the group on film who, while hiding their faces, doubled down on their actions, with one calling out “yeah the boys”.
Speaking on ABC Radio following the incident, Carr said she was incensed to do something against the blatant sexualisation of women just wanting to exercise in their local area.
“When you see something like that, that makes you feel small and scared, you sort of want to laugh it off to make everyone feel comfortable, but then I got angrier and angrier as I ran along,” Carr said.
“Because I thought about friends, and my sisters and other women who might not ever want to go for a run again after feeling so scared and embarrassed by these guys, and I just didn’t want it to happen to other people.”