Fierce And Nerdy: Does Sex Sell Tennis?
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 18:46
When not looking at you coquettishly on the beach in her bikini, Maria Sharapova likes to play a little game called tennis.
This is a cross post with Fierce And Nerdy.
So apparently, the officials at Wimbledon have admitted to taking looks into consideration when making court assignments at Wimbledon. This “sex sells” practice isn’t so surprising, as much that a group would actually admit to doing this in the 21st century.
And while I agree with many of the points in this Jezebel article decrying the sexualizing of women sports, as far as tennis goes, I can’t agree that this is a feminist issue, because in my opinion, sex is also selling men’s tennis.
I mean, c’mon, who from my generation doesn’t remember when Andre Agassi burst onto the pop culture radar in the early 90s with a commercial series for the Canon Rebel EOS camera? He rocked a mullet and wasn’t afraid to take his shirt off or wear neon pink shorts — hey, what was sexy in the 90s isn’t so much now, but trust me, Andre definitely moved Wimbledon tickets back in the day.
Homely Nadal poses for New York magazine in a cover photo that focuses mostly on his tennis skills
Andre eventually lost all his mulletastic hair, got creakier, got married (twice!), stopped taking his shirt off and lo and behold, we needed new Wimbledon sex peddlers stars.
Now we’ve got Federer and Nadal. Both extremely talented players, and I’m sure their rarely-cited sex appeal didn’t attract any new eyes to Wimbledon. Their legions of female fans are a testament to their skill, not their looks, right? Oh, wait…
So while I agree that sex perhaps shouldn’t be used to sell tennis.. I don’t think this is a women-only phenomenon. In fact, if men were suddenly allowed to play shirtless at Wimbledon, I’d be interested to see how many of them would do so. After all, sex does sell, whether you’re a man or a woman. And those ad deals won’t be attracted with skill alone.
4 Responses to “Fierce And Nerdy: Does Sex Sell Tennis?”
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Gairzo
says:
July 15th, 2009 at 4:28 am
Thank you, Ernessa for admitting women are as perver—I mean, interested in sex appeal as much as men.
The great thing about it is we may soon see the day when an excited female athlete celebrates a victory by baring her chest and no one will think twice about it.
I'm a real big fan of equality.
Nate Barlow
says:
July 15th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
I think there's always a line past which using some sexiness (whether that be men or women) to sell the game is okay, and beyond which it is too much.
The big question is, have we reached that point yet?
Nothing done so far bothers me.
ernessa
says:
July 17th, 2009 at 4:25 am
You're funny, darlin. And going back to your hockey post, m/b a few hockey players should do a few topless ads and/or photo shoots to attract more female fans.
ernessa
says:
July 17th, 2009 at 6:05 am
Me either. It seems like a lot of fun. And let's face it, tennis isn't interesting enough to sell itself w/o sex. You kind of have to trick people into becoming fans. Kind of like the skimpy dresses on "So You Think You Can Dance."