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Hey cycling, what’s wrong with this picture?

Anthony Sharwood

by Anthony Sharwood

27 Jan 01:55pm

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Filed under: Cycling, Sexism, Sport, Tour Down Under

25 comments

Great news, girls and young women of Australia. You too can aspire to be a podium bimbo who wears figure-hugging, delectable smoked salmon-coloured dresses just like these hotties.

Ladies in frilly dresses and curly wurly hair curls perform the vital function of sucking dust off the winner's cheeks

It’s true! Road cycling may have a blind spot the size of Belgium when it comes to drugs, but the sport is at the forefront of the fight against sexism.

While the men do all that silly riding, you gals can do the much more meaningful cheering. The men are forced to wear lycra, but you can experience true empowerment by dressing like a maid at a strip club. And while the men grimace in pain, you have the wonderful opportunity to practise your air smooching and general perkiness.

In all seriousness, what’s with podium girls? Yeah, yeah, I get that the Tour Down Under girls are our version of the Tour de France ladies in their tasteful yellow dresses which mirror the race leader’s maillot jaune.

This stuff’s been going forever in Europe, and there’s a certain elegance to it all.

But is this 2013 or 1913? I mean, I know the Tour Down Under takes place around Adelaide, but still.

If you break it down, the chick-as-ornament thing seems an incongruous fit for an Australian cycling race for two pretty obvious reasons.

Firstly, cycling is not a boofhead sport. Indeed, it is the very opposite of sports like motor racing where a dose of T&A, rightly or wrongly, has long been part of the deal.

Secondly, women race bikes too. And they do it extremely well. When Anna Meares wins a gold medal, you don’t see two blokes pecking her cheeks on the dais.

There are bigger issues in the world. There are countless more graphic and serious examples of sexism. But when I showed the family this pic today, my wife and nine year daughter thought it sent an old school kind of message and so do I.

A final thought. The AFL has no cheerleaders. Anyone ever wonder why it boasts the highest attendance – not to mention the largest female attendance – of any Australian sport?

@antsharwood

Comments on this post will close at 6pm AEDST Sunday, then reopen on the holiday Monday

Most commented

25 comments

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    • crumpy gunt says:

      12:59pm | 27/01/13

      Nothing wrong with the picture, and how do you know they’re bimbos. You’re just jealous.

      Reply

    • GREEN MONSTER says:

      02:23pm | 27/01/13

      Completely agree Anthony is jealous !!!

    • Thomas says:

      09:51am | 28/01/13

      There is nothing wrong with the picture. It must be a very boring existence for this ‘reporter’.

      But alas, being a man, I know that this is a veiled attempt to sound new aged, thus scoring points with the ladies.

      Being a normal man who lusts after women has not worked for him, and now he is going to give this tact a go.

      This article would not get any air time in Europe, because Europeans love their women and celebrate them.

      And yes Anthony, the real reason AFL has such high attendance is because there are no cheerleaders.

      Total drivel.

    • Kathy R says:

      01:24pm | 27/01/13

      Do you think Anna Meares would like two ‘bimbams’  (what is the masculine of bimbo) pecking her cheeks? I think you are on to something here Ant.

      Reply

    • Terry Hills of Terrey Hills says:

      02:02pm | 27/01/13

      what is the masculine of bimbo?

      I think it’s a “himbo”.

    • Femmotard says:

      01:27pm | 27/01/13

      The misogynists must have forced them to do it !

      Reply

    • Keen observer. says:

      01:53pm | 27/01/13

      I’ll have to have another look at that photo. Was there a guy in the middle?

      Reply

    • Ridge says:

      02:12pm | 27/01/13

      You’ve answered your own argument anyway - girls have the option to be models or athletes.  If anything, you’ve exposed sexism against men - we’re only worthy as athletes and can’t be models kissing the female winners on the podium

      Just because you can rationalise something to fit a certain narrative, doesn’t mean it’s right, or even good.

      Reply

    • Tubesteak says:

      11:38am | 28/01/13

      Yes, men are only worthy if we achieve something of great importance/endurance etc.

      Women just have to roll out of bed in the morning.

      A couple of models might actually make cycling interesting.

    • Gordon says:

      02:39pm | 27/01/13

      Just got back from a quick spin on the bike path. No smooch. Damn!

      Reply

    • Geronimo says:

      03:03pm | 27/01/13

      If this bloke thinks he’s Prince, just give the girls a few pictures of Frogs and let them sort it out for themselves.

      Reply

    • Gregg says:

      04:19pm | 27/01/13

      ” A final thought. The AFL has no cheerleaders. Anyone ever wonder why it boasts the highest attendance – not to mention the largest female attendance – of any Australian sport? “
      You’re on to something there Ant, must be that the AFL is a great game.

      Actually, there have been times when there were a few AFL cheerleader types, Fremantle when they first came into the comp., not too sure about now and then Sydney also at one time might have had a few, possibly in the good doctors day and when Capper could hardly fit into a pair of shorts.

      And then of course, the streamer wavers for AFL all just congregate behind the goals either end and spend all day blowing kisses to their favourites and whatever they do for the opposition.

      But just because you’ll not be on the podium anytime too soon and you love cleavage, I’d not be too concerned about the downunder mob doing all they can to get a bit of le tour hype going.

      Reply

    • Lauren says:

      04:44pm | 27/01/13

      You’ve hit the nail on the head there Ant.

      If girls decide to become cheerleaders, or podium girls, or award presenters etc, then good luck to them. I just won’t be watching the sport.

      Cheer squads beat cheerleaders any day, IMHO.

      Reply

    • Paul M says:

      04:50pm | 27/01/13

      Girls can easily be cyclists - all it takes is massive injections of steroids.

      Reply

    • paul says:

      10:35am | 28/01/13

      Anthony is this for real? Things like this are captions of your history. A kid watching medals 40 years can hear from his Dad how normal that used to be yada yada.

      Reply

    • Grace says:

      11:34am | 28/01/13

      You say you’re against sexism, but have no qualms calling women “bimbos”? Please fix your own casual sexism before you patronize women with grandiose gestures like an op-ed piece.

      Reply

    • Nilbog says:

      11:58am | 28/01/13

      Oh geez here we go…

    • Pavlo says:

      01:12pm | 28/01/13

      Like almost every east coast journalist you’ve always gotta throw in the mandatory, cheap shot, ‘Adelaide put down’ don’t you?  Douchebag. And a sexist one at that.

      Perhaps to keep it all PC enough you should be kissing the riders on the cheek instead.

      Reply
    • Anthony Sharwood

      Anthony Sharwood says:

      03:17pm | 28/01/13

      Two points.

      1. I come from Canberra so I know about home city put downs

      2. My boss and another of my colleagues are Adelaideans. They expect the bagging and deserve it!

    • Daylight Robbery says:

      01:18pm | 28/01/13

      We should ban all trophy girls etc from sporting events.

      Cues, modelling agencies pouncing in defending their earnings revenue.

      Is it really that hard?

      The AFL doesn’t have the highest attendance of women because there are no cheer leaders.

      The AFL has the highest attendance of women because the AFL is full of drugs, alcohol and bad behaving players.

      And while your there pull the player girlfriends from events like the Brownlow medal. Its seriously so shallow that they over shadow the players with their Twiigley outfits in what is essentially a bling parade for the fashion industry.

      Its just so shallow…

      Reply

    • Chris says:

      01:38pm | 28/01/13

      Another finger pointer pointing his finger. There’s nothing wrong with a pretty girl kissing a guy who’s won a competition. What next, photos of pretty girls kissing horses for the newspaper during Spring Carnival week banned too?

      Reply

    • Daylight Robbery says:

      04:25pm | 28/01/13

      Exactly Chris, its perfectly fine. Theres more validity to the above picture than the Twigley bling at the Brownlow medal which has become a vehicle for selling fashion instead of a medal show.

    • lumpage says:

      01:56pm | 28/01/13

      What a ridiculous article. If this is the most ‘sexist’ thing you can find in a sport, I’d say cycling is doing pretty well.

      Besides, all three of them have shaved their legs.

      Reply

    • Steve says:

      03:06pm | 28/01/13

      Just a minor correction to the article if you would please, for the benefit of the uninformed. There is actually a whole lot more T&A in a few seconds of a bike race than you will find in a whole weekend of Bathurst.

      And that includes women’s cycling equally as well.

      Just saying ...

      Reply
 
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