Burqa beach volleyball?

The International Volleyball Federation has robbed millions of viewers of the chance to watch athletic, bikini-clad women spike volleyballs this summer.

Ever since the sport became an Olympic medal event in 1996, female beach volleyball players have had the option of wearing either a one-piece bathing suit or bikini with a maximum side-width of 2.76 inches. They also had the option of adding a full-bodysuit underneath the bikini in cold weather. In an attempt to broaden participation in the sport beyond the United States, Europe and Brazil, the international governing body for beach volleyball has now added the option of “shorts of a maximum length of (1.18 inches) above the knee, and sleeved or sleeveless tops.”

Why do we need a maximum short length? Not because longer clothing gives the players some sort of competitive advantage—based on Olympic bronze medalist Holly McPeak’s experience, a one-piece only traps excess sand. It’s far more likely that the minimum skin requirement is a result of the need to preserve the sport’s Baywatch aesthetic. One can only imagine the horrors that would ensue if the magnificently ripped bodies of two-time Olympic gold medalists Kerri Walsh and Misty-May Treanor were shrouded in loose-fitting shirts and basketball shorts.

I somewhat understand that part of the fun of watching sports is watching the athletes’ muscles ripple and their skin shine with sweat as they score the game-winning point. Olympians spend decades molding their bodies into ideal forms as they fine-tune every move to near perfection. If Misty-May Treanor, Kerri Walsh, Holly McPeak or any other Olympian wants to show off the fruit of her labors and wear a skimpy bikini in competition, she can go right ahead. Restrictions on the maximum size of competition clothing, in cases where the added skin coverage does not confer a competitive advantage, seem ridiculous. And I won’t even begin to broach the topic of discrepancies between men’s and women’s athletic clothing—I don’t know of any sport where men are compelled to wear Speedos.

And then there are the accusations of conservative commentators, such as Debbie Schlussel, who wrote, “The Olympics are encouraging Muslim countries, like Saudi Arabia, to send female sports teams to this summer’s London Games, to meet certain feminist-imposed standards. And here is the result—burqa beach volleyball.” I may be a brainwashed feminist liberal, but I don’t cringe at the thought of making Olympic beach volleyball accessible to Muslim women. I will concede that it is a form of pandering to the greater standards of modesty in Muslim communities, but isn’t the current bikini standard a form of pandering to the American and European sexualization of the female beach volleyball player? Beach volleyball is unique in that it is popular for both the impressive athleticism necessary to spike a volleyball on a sand court and the incredibly revealing outfits. This powerful combination of talent and aesthetic made beach volleyball one of the first events to sell out at the Games. The disincentivizing of certain groups’ participation in beach volleyball certainly doesn’t line up with the International Olympic Committee’s stated purpose of encouraging participation in sports and encouraging and supporting the development of sports. Contrary to what broadcasting companies might hope, a central goal of Olympism “is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.” Selling tickets to watch half-naked bodies jump around on a sand court, while excluding those who don’t wish to bare quite so much skin, doesn’t seem to demonstrate the Olympic spirit.

So how are we supposed to deal with the reality that there is pressure to change dress codes for certain sports in order to give athletes from more conservative cultures a chance to participate?

I would argue that, as long as there is no competitive advantage to wearing more clothing (as in the case of swimming, for example) and there are no safety concerns, it is not necessary to impose such a regulation. If someone wants to swim an Olympic event in board shorts and a t-shirt, that’s his or her choice. If a woman wants to play beach volleyball in a burqa, she should be allowed to do so. If a woman wants to box in a skirt, then that’s her prerogative. If a man prefers to run the marathon in high heels, then there’s nothing stopping him. If anything, there should be minimum clothing requirements … just to avoid any embarrassing wardrobe malfunctions.

Joline Doedens is a first-year law student.