Speaking of Olympians, today USA Gymnastics announced the members of the 2008 U.S. Women’s Olympic Gymnastics Team. Coverage here. I find the accompanying team photo (at top, above) quite annoying. Why are the athletes in the front row bending at the knees and lifting up their backsides? Did the photographer ask them to do that? Did they choose to strike that pose?
Would a photographer ever ask a group of male athletes to pose like that? Would male athletes ever pose like that? I doubt it.
Members of men’s team (above), while (or perhaps because) photographed with the victors’ bouquets, mostly adopt the “my-penis-is-too-big-to-close-my-legs” stance.
-Bridget Crawford
I think they’re bent over to give full view of the back row of faces. And the male gymnasts aren’t in a publicity photo, they’re at some event or something (action photo).
That being said, it’s still ridiculous to be posed like *that* — why not kneeling?
I can’t speak for Bridget, but I think the point is, if the men’s team needed to pose in two rows, those in the front would be sitting or kneeling, rather than sticking their butts in the air like that.
Saw a TV show today on the “irongirl” triathalon. The dominator men can’t deal with empowered women and so it is easier to sexualize and minimize them. This photo is just another example of the preferred position for women, submission.