In 2020, several rule changes were made by the NCAA for women’s volleyball, and one was subtly tucked in at the end of the list. It was a rule that may seem insignificant on the surface, but in reality, has a greater impact on the progress of the game than the highlighted addition of a third official for video challenge reviews.

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Of the several rule proposals approved for women’s volleyball, one allowed players “to wear shorts or leggings, provided all teammates wear the same color.”

This season, several Tennessee players have worn leggings in games off and on, for a myriad of reasons. Rightside hitter Morgahn Fingall likes the look of leggings better with the team’s sleeveless jerseys and said leggings were more practical when diving and sliding on the court. Full-length leggings also provide more protection when diving and “some of us don’t like to have floor burns at the end of the day,” middle blocker Danielle Mahaffey said.

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It all comes down to preference. Some players are more comfortable in leggings, others not. Under the previous set of rules, the entire team was required to wear uniforms of the same color, style, cut and trim, including sleeve and pant length. The new rule allows for individual decisions when it comes to uniform bottoms, and the whole team is not required to wear one or the other.

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“I think everyone should have the option to wear whatever they want,” outside hitter Breana Runnels said. “Obviously the most important thing is having that number on the back, so whatever they prefer is really great.”

A mechanism for misogyny

Erin Whiteside, an associate professor at Tennessee whose research focus is gender in sports, said when there are distinct differences in the uniforms for men and women in the same sport, it becomes clear that the practical element is not prioritized as much as “showcasing the female athletic body in a way that meets expectations of femininity.”

“Uniforms have been constructed to showcase these features (of femininity), and really remind people that these are women first and athletes second,” Whiteside said.

Men’s volleyball players typically wear lose tank tops and shorts. Women’s volleyball players most often wear tight-fit long sleeves and short spandex.

The choice of leggings is not the only new development in women’s volleyball uniforms at the college level – more and more teams are adopting the sleeveless tank tops, similar to the men’s style, including Tennessee.

“With the tank top jerseys, I feel like that’s a way to express how powerful we are as women,” setter Natalie Hayward said. “You see the men wearing tank top jerseys, you can see the muscles, you can see the veins, but it’s an opportunity for us to show how powerful we are.

“Not just as women who play the sport, but women who are athletic and strong, who have built bodies that work really hard to put ourselves where we are.”

With the growth and empowerment of women in sports, a concern has grown in tandem about what a truly empowered athletic women would mean for sports, Whiteside said. As a result of that fear, uniform regulations for women athletes have been used to restrain that empowerment “to remind people that women in sports pose no threat to kind of shared understandings of masculinity and patriarchy,” Whiteside explained.

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That reminder plays a key role in maintaining the idea of sexual difference in sport, which is the belief that male and female athletes are so fundamentally different in the athletic context that female athletes couldn’t overpower male athletes in any context. Whiteside said the difference in volleyball uniforms reinforces this idea – an idea she called “a complete myth.”

Objectified instead of appreciated

A change in rules won’t fix all the issues with the culture in sports said Patrick Grzanka, the chair of the women, gender and sexuality program at Tennessee. But eliminating the double standards in rules is a key step.

“When it comes to athletics, I think it’s one of the most dehumanizing and insulting parts of our society that we don’t value women exclusively for what they do, but how they look when they’re doing it,” Grzanka said.

One of the more obvious impacts of the short spandex uniform standard is the sexualization and objectification of women’s volleyball players.

“I definitely think that’s a part of it,” Fingall said of the sexualization of female volleyball players. “I think there is an un-comfortability when it comes to spandex … so having leggings as an option is a good thing to have if players do feel uncomfortable wearing spandex.”

When uniforms in sport do not necessarily align with the practical needs of the sport, Whiteside it amplifies the objectification of the athletes rather than inviting the fan to see the athleticism and power of the athletes.

The most significant aspect of the rule change is the ability of the players to have autonomy over their bodies by choosing if they prefer leggings, shorts or spandex.

“It is significant, it’s a challenge to the regulation of women’s bodies,” Whiteside said. “Anytime that happens, I think we’re chipping away at some of the deeply embedded forms of patriarchal structures that help make gender roles seem real and normal.”

Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHY