A man doesn’t throw himself hard onto the ground in a Speedo for the same reason he doesn’t straddle a balance beam.

My point is that women have similar anatomical/wardrobe issues that we just buck up about because it’s so expected that we do things in certain garb. I must admit that, while I do know what cups are, I don’t often come into contact with them (my husband wears a jock strap in judo, not because of strikes but because when he falls, it helps keep everything from flapping around). I’m not sure if you were, therefore, being serious or facetious about wearing cups + speedos. I’m sure they do nothing for aerodynamics.

Also? Totally with you about gymnastics. That one’s even creepier.

Fair’s fair,and I’d have no objection to the men playing topless. But hey, there’s always diving. They wear skimpy little Speedos. And back before the LZR, the swimmers did too. Check out some archival Mark Spitz footage.

Beach volleyball may be the only women’s sport that successfully appeals to the beer-chugging male demographic. It has a pro circuit, so it’s not as if the competitors are being dragged into the arena kicking and screaming. More like they running into the arena thinking “big endorsement contract.” Otherwise, it’s not men watching all the synchronized pixies-in-tight-uniforms sports, including the most pornorific fake sport of them all–rhythmic gymnastics.

Incidentally, I was googling about and chanced upon the “Women’s Sports Foundation (founded by Billie Jean King).” There on the front page: women’s beach volleyball! With pictures!

Eugene: why are speedos TV-unfriendly but nipple-showing bikinis aren’t? Oh, that’s right, porn is for men, not women. I forget that men’s bodies are ugly.

I think it is interesting, however, that especially in places where women think men probably aren’t listening/watching, women can be as objectifying of men as men are of women. And often aren’t any more subtle about it.

Today’s Jesus and Mo strip on this very topic.

I saw it, of all places, on the knitting site I frequent.

Anyway, my point is, if the women are being objectified, then the men are beginning to go down that same road. Doesn’t make any of it respectful, of course.