Yet it does.

Beauty of a player is among the things taken into consideration when deciding on the court selection at Wimbledon and it has been confirmed by All England Club spokesperson Johnny Perkins.

"Good looks are a factor," said Perkins, and added
that court selection is "a great big mixture of where the players are
in the draw, who they're playing, what their ranking is".

- Women's Tennis Blog

Wimbledon of all places! Of all tournaments! Wimbledon who has equal payouts for male and female champions. Tennis, of all sports... women's tennis, who celebrated Billie Jean King for being able to beat Bobby Riggs because he was a man not because of her short skirts or her breasts or because she grunted like a porn star when she was playing a tennis match.

I am outraged. I know I should just let it go. The Wimbledon committee is probably going for television ratings and advertising revenue. I understand business, I understand that women's tennis isn't necessarily what people all over the world are choosing to watch this weekend.

Wimbledon promoters called it "The Battle of the Babes" when Victoria Azarenka, seeded 8th in the tournament, took on Cristea, seeded 28th, at Centre Court on Friday. The same day, second seed Serena Williams, undoubtedly one of the great players the sport has ever seen, was relegated to play her match on the No. 2 court.

The American superstar got lost on her way to the court and was 6 minutes late for her match.

Many
of the seats on Centre Court for the "Babe" match remained empty.
Die-hard tennis fans who came to the event seemed to know better -
which indicated the move had more to do with television ratings.

- Kate Nocera, New York Daily News

Maybe I am just shocked that they admitted it. Diane at Women Who Serve wasn't surprised at all. She says:

Some of you may have seen the Daily Mail feature, "Babe, set and match: Why looks count for more than talent when Wimbledon decides which girls will play on Centre Court."
The title of the story itself is sexist, since the majority of the
players are women, but one would not expect the British press to care
about that. It surprises me a bit that this story has gotten so much
attention...

 

Before I sat down to write this post I was talking to my mother-in-law about it. She was surprised, but then she brought up how beautiful and athletic the William's sisters were.  I said "Yes, and they are also relegated to the second court because they aren't blonde haired and blue eyed."

So here are two beautiful superstars. Venus and Serena Williams faced each other last year in the Wimbledon finals and they will do so again. Yet Serena's match took a back seat to "The Battle of the Babes". And why?

Megan has a guess.

This is wrong it so many ways, where do I start?  First of all, that
definition of attractiveness is the white, male All England Club's
definition.  Venus and Serena Williams are some of the most gorgeous
ladies out on the court.  But see, this is about being blonde and
leggy.  If you're not blonde and leggy, you're not attractive.  Never
have been, never will be....

- Megan's Minute

and so does Diane.

In other words, it came as no surprise to me at all to read about the
Centre Court selections; I find this news to be part and parcel of the
sexist culture of my nation and other nations that produce tennis
players, as well as the sexist culture of sports in general. As ugly as
the sexism is, however, there is more than sexism in play in these
selections. The "babes" selected to play on Centre Court--except in
situations in which the selections are default--like the "babes"
selected as the tour's hottest women on the Australian Open website,
have one thing in common--their skin color. Serena Williams is not a
babe. Li Na is not a babe. There are a lot of people, incidentally, who
think these two women are beautiful, but they do not qualify for "babe"
status. And while I realize that consideration of beauty is very
subjective, it is hardly a coincidence that African American and Asian
women do not ever appear on the list. The world's most beautiful
lesbian could be on the tour, too, and--if she were out--you can be
assured she would not be on the list, either.

- Sexism at Wimbledon - Not so Shocking

I agree with them.

It makes me sad. It makes me sick. Fortunately, for Wimbledon and for the WTA no matter who they put in the spotlight, the cream still rises and I will still be watching the Williams sisters battle it out. Even if the Wimbledon Committee would rather see Gisela Dulko play against Victoria Azarenka I can't wait to see Venus and Serena again. They are the best and that is why I will be tuning in to the finals.

Contributing Editor Sarah also blogs at Sarah and the Goon Squad, Draft Day Suit and MamaPop.

The other day I was going through pictures trying to decide which ones to use for my website. I came across a picture of me in a bathing suit from a photo shoot I did not too long ago. It was a good picture and I wanted to use it, but I was hesitant. Was it too revealing? Was it unprofessional? Could I post that picture and still be considered a role model? My uncertainty about a simple picture got me thinking about a much bigger issue: Can a woman realistically expect be seen as a great athlete AND a sex symbol?

  This is the picture Chantelle was talking about.

She is right. It is a great picture, but it doesn't exemplify her toughness. The picture below does, but it doesn't do justice to how pretty Chantelle is.

I have written about this kind of thing before. I have strong feelings on this subject. Athletes spend a lot of time working on their bodies. Most of them look fantastic in swimwear. Here is the rub, there is a difference between wearing a bikini to showing off a physique that you have worked hard to achieve and wearing a bikini to bend over a car for a men's magazine cover.

As females we are judged by our looks anyway. We are commented about and ridiculed if we don't meet other people's standards of physical attractiveness. So if our looks can work against us, we should have the option of allowing them to work for us too - without being looked at as a traitor to our gender or our sport. Also, societies' definition of beauty is dangerously narrow, often convincing young women that they must be stick skinny and always "put together" to be attractive.

Anderson is saying two things here. First, if women athletes are judged by their looks, shouldn't they be able to benefit from them? That would be fair, wouldn't it? Then she brings up one of my favorite subjects - society wanting women to all be skinny with huge breasts. (If you don't believe me just scan the magazine covers next time you are at the grocery store.) This is why so many Americans suffer from eating disorders.

But I digress,  Chantelle goes on to say "As long as the pictures are classy and not raunchy, I don't have a problem with it at all."

I agree. It is a fine line, but it can be done. I think that a woman can look sexy and tough at the same time. I think it can be done without be skanky or oiled up.

Do you want to know how I know?

 Contributing Editor Sarah also blogs at Sarah and the Goon Squad and MamaPop.

More on this:

Chicks in the Huddle

Athletic Women Blog

Because I Played Sports

Pictures courtesy of Chantelle Anderson.

I am talking about Women's Professional Soccer in North America. As of March 30th there is once again professional women's soccer in the United States.

Leyla was there:

For all women soccer fans March 30, 2009 marked a new day in history.
After six long years women’s professional soccer finally returned to
the USA.  As a fan and player I was so excited. I was eager to finally
watch my hometown team the LA Sol finally take the field, especially
Marta. I was so pleased by the crowd turnout of almost 15,000 people.

She also has some amazing pictures from the first game on Women's Soccer Show.

My hometeam team, The Washington Freedom, lost the inagural match to to L.A. Sol 2-0. Apparently the Freedom didn't make the best showing their first time around.

 ...I caught the inaugural Women's Professional Soccer
match between the Los Angeles Sol and the Washington Freedom. I was a
little disappointed, but also relieved not to see any skorts on the
field. While Washington played very disorganized, it was the Sol who
came out prepared to play getting the first goal off of a free kick in
the 5th minute by Allison Falk. Washington played sloppy in the first
half and was barely able to complete a pass. In the second half,
Washington played better with more shots on goal, but wasn't able to
get the equalizer - thanks to Sol goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc who played
very well along with the Sol defense. Los Angeles was able to extend
their lead to 2-0 on a fast break goal by midfielder Camille Abily to
give the Sol its first victory of the season.

-Women's Sports Nation

Ann Gaff also got to go to the Inaugural Match in Los Angeles. She had the privilege of talking to Olympic gold medalist and World Cup winning goalkeeper Brianna Scurry after the game.

"Were you a little frustrated with your team at the end there?" I'd
noticed Scurry hollering at her teammates after a close call late in
the game, when it seemed LA had started to spend much more time in the
Freedom's box than they had all game.  Of course, I don't know what she
was yelling exactly, but she looked ticked.

Her answer was immediate and without hesitation, "No, not
frustrated.  I just knew that we could do better than we were doing.
 LA was making runs and aggressively trying to score and I knew that my
team could do that as well, but we weren't."

A veteran answer.  Do not say "frustrated" in regards to your teammates.  But do not spout nonsense either.  You can be honest and respectful...

..."So you've only been practicing as a team for a month or so?"

"Yes. And after today, we will go back and work on what we learned from today's game." 

Another veteran answer.  Don't take the bait and use excuses for why
you lost.  Talk about how you're going to improve for the next game.

She went on to elaborate on my question regarding the contract to
say "I plan on staying in DC and spreading the word about our team to
the community."

- From Women Talk Sports

Ann's entire post is extremely well-written and I think you should all go read the whole thing.

Fortunately for you, you have plenty of time to read to read it before the second game of the season. The Saint Louis Athletica host the Boston Red Stars tomorrow night (Saturday, April 4th) at 8:00 PM. If you don't live near St. Louis you can watch it on Fox Soccer Channel or Fox Sports Net.

While you are doing that, I will be here trying to figure out if I can score some tickets to the Freedom's first home game on April 11th.

Contributing Editor Sarah also blogs at Sarah and the Goon Squad and Draft Day Suit.