Killarney,

That's hilarious.....wow they covered up their upper body!

.....but their lower body costume doesn't convince me they they're in any hurry to "cover up" to stop the perves.

(maybe it was only cold above the three foot mark)

It's kind of you, Killarney to repeat, for the benefit of people who may have overlooked them, points I made on page one – specifically the changes to rules that have been part of enabling women athletes from repressive regimes to attend international competition.

To reciprocate, I'll quote one of your sentences from Saturday: "Having said that, however, it’s too nitpicky a point to back up Ms Scutt’s claims of deliberate Olympic sexism."

So we seemed to share agreement with my sentence above: "At least we're starting to rule out any regulatory discrimination at an international organisation level." But…

I don't pretend to share your point that "this is something of a hollow victory for Western feminism".

Since I can't for the life of me regard Western women in general – and internationally competitive women athletes in particular – as so lacking in feck as to be incapable of achieving whatever victory they decide they need to.

Poirot

Check the pic again. The two women in the background are the Australian team and they're both covered neck to ankle.

Wm Trevor

'I can't for the life of me regard Western women in general ... as so lacking in feck as to be incapable of achieving whatever victory they decide they need to.'

Probably because you vastly underestimate both patriarchal intransigence and the degree to which Western women have been brainwashed to believe that sexual objectification is liberating. Without all the recent pressure from the 'modest' dressing countries, I'm sure the bra-and-pantysising of women's sports uniforms would have continued unimpeded.

And btw, thanks for teaching me a new word. I hadn't come across 'feck' before. (That is ... assuming it's not a typo.)

Killarney,

Right you are.

I still find it telling that the US team chose to strut their volleyball ability in brief bikinis...even stranger that they chose such a comprehensive covering for the top and next to nothing for the bottom.

Still, it will be interesting to see how the trend goes in the next decade or so regarding women's sporting attire.

As to "feck" - it's quite a beauty. I know it from watching "Father Ted". Perhaps it originated in Ireland.

We're all doomed to perceive the world based on our own experiences, Killarney, and I can only reassure you that mine has been that intransigence is very much gender neutral – but if I "underestimate… the degree to which Western women have been brainwashed to believe that sexual objectification is liberating" it's because those I know are too self-aware of such a process and too smart to have been so.

No, not a typo… Mostly only appears as feckless these days – Scottish origin I believe; 'worth, value, effect'. Thank you for pantysising – amusing and multifunctional. I think I'll use it as in: the delusion of anyone who thinks their bum doesn't look big in skintight jeans.