What the ban on Serena Williams' catsuit says about the sexualising of black women's bodies
(definitely a facepalm moment)
What the ban on Serena Williams’ catsuit says about the sexualising of black women’s bodies
Chitra Ramaswamy
When the tournament banned the tennis star’s bodysuit, it was disrespecting one of the greatest athletes of all time. Here’s why
‘A warrior’ … Serena Williams at the French Open. Photograph: Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty Images
If Wide Awoke were invited to come up with a list of feminist moments of 2018, Serena Williams in a black catsuit winning her first grand slam match since giving birth would top it. Williams, probably the greatest female tennis player of all time, said the bodysuit she wore on court at this year’s French Open made her feel like “a warrior”, as well as helping her cope with the blood clots that threatened her life when she gave birth. It was fun, it was functional, it was fabulous. It made returning to work from maternity leave look like the stuff of superhero movies, which it basically is. Minus the kudos. The catsuit has been banned from future French Opens. “I believe we have sometimes gone too far,” said the French Tennis Federation president, Bernard Giudicelli. “Serena’s outfit this year, for example, would no longer be accepted. You have to respect the game and the place.” But how exactly does a full bodysuit go too far? This has nothing to do with respecting the game; in fact it shows deep disrespect to one of its greatest players.
What this is really about is the policing of women’s bodies and, in particular, the way in which black women’s bodies are othered, sexualised and dehumanised. In Williams’ case, this happens to an appalling degree, whether it is fellow players stuffing towels down their shirts and shorts in a mockery of her physique or commentators banging on about her “aggressive” play. Sometimes the language is coded, such as when Williams’ race is used as an explanation for her athleticism. Sometimes less so, such as with the American radio host who said of the Williams sisters: “I can’t even watch them play any more. I find it disgusting. They’re just too muscular. They’re boys.”
Is banning Williams’ catsuit racist? In and of itself, no. Clothing in sport has always been governed by strict rules. The problem is that the same rules don’t apply to everyone, especially if you happen to be a black woman at the top of your game. As Afua Hirsch writes in her book Brit(ish), comparing the treatment of Maria Sharapova with Venus Williams, “a white woman’s sexuality is cheeky, fun and tasteful; a black woman’s offensive, off-putting and indecent”.
What makes Serena Williams even more awesome is that she keeps doing what she does in such a hostile and ungracious environment. As she wrote in response to racist comments made by Ilie Năstase about her then unborn child, quoting Maya Angelou: “You may shoot me with your words … you may try to kill me with your hatefulness, but still like air I will rise.” Ideally in a black catsuit.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/aug/27/what-the-ban-on-serena-williams-catsuit-says-about-the-sexualising-of-black-womens-bodies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Response to niyad (Original post)
Forget the fact that people have worn white catsuits with no issue to Wimbledon, this is all about Serena.
Forget about the rules requiring pure whites on the court, exceptions must be made because Serena wants to sell a product.
This is not about the fact that different clothing like a black tutu is a distraction, this is obviously about Serena.
Only common folks like you and I have to go by dress codes and rules.
Anne White was also told to get rid of the catsuit:
...and finished the match in a different outfit.
be trim, young and attractive. Oh, and refined, of course. The old women's tennis uniform, with its very short skirt, was just fine, see, because it displayed those young women's taut, firm, shapely legs very nicely. That's what women's tennis is supposed to look like, you understand.
Serena Williams is so, you know, large and muscular, not trim and delicate, like women should be, see. And she's not, well, what we're used to seeing on our lovely courts, you'll recognize, too. Tennis is a refined, dignified, polite sport, we believe, and Serena Williams does not quite project an image that recognizes tennis's heritage in some ways. Tennis is essentially an aristocratic sport, not a sport of the general hoi polloi, we think.
Now, understand, it's not a matter of race, by any means. No, we all appreciated that polite young Arthur Ashe, you'll remember. Serena Williams would do well to study him and look less coarse and, shall we say, primitive.
Response to MineralMan (Reply #6)
I had no idea. Really...
There was a great discussion on NPR about this topic (a long while back) from a slightly different angle. It is important to look at how these attitudes actually affect black people within our own communities as well.
Here's a snippet of the transcript:
Prof. MILLER-YOUNG:
We have, like, a deep history that has kind of been articulated through homophobia and through erotophobia. And it's understandable. I mean, you know, what Dr. Samuels was speaking of, that we have to understand from the beginning. Slavery existed as a sexual economy, and that black bodies have always been (unintelligible) both breeders and concubines. They have been erotic - kind of illicit erotic commodities in an economy that is built upon our labor.
And one of the ways in which black communities try to deal with that is through kind of this culture of dissemblance or scholars discuss it. Which is basically about disidentifying with sexuality, you know, in total, in order to protect their selves from that kind of symbolic and actual threat that, you know, being hypersexual posed, particularly, you know, for example, the kind of scapegoating of black people in lynching as being, you know, sexual animals.
So, you know, we can have understand the kind of politics of respectability, then, as a way to kind of, you know, protect the community. But ends up - the problem is that it polices the community and disallows us to even talk about sex. Sex becomes the unspeakable. And it's so shocking and taboo within our own community for many people to talk about sex, let alone sexual labor, which my interest is in drawing a kind of genealogy to talk about. There's been a long history of black women and men participating in sexual labor as one kind of labor option…
CHIDEYA: Let me…
Prof. MILLER-YOUNG: …(unintelligible) kind of space.
CHIDEYA: Let me get Herbert back in here, because I was really struck by Mereille talking about the way that African-American folks, we may disidentify with sexuality as a whole in order to protect the image of the community. Do you think, Herbert, that the struggle between this view of the hyper-sexualized black man and black woman and the kind of correct, you know, right path walking person creates a space where people who are not strippers and not necessarily anti-pornography crusaders just feel like, gosh, you know, what can I do as a person in order to express myself as a full person, but also, you know, sort of be a standup person. Does that make any sense to you?
Prof. SAMUELS: Oh, sure. It makes perfect sense. And there's always been a split within the black community about accepting your sexuality for what it is and in what it might be presented to a larger community. And again, it goes back to the hyper sexuality of black men and black women. And you walk a fine line where you want to have a satisfying sex life yourself but you don't want to be perceived as being overly due it.
Full article and transcript: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10057104
I loved her catsuit! I thought she exuded power and confidence. I am, however, a bit of a fan girl over Serena who believes that she can do no wrong.... so, there's that. 
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If they don't like the way tights make the players look:
Perhaps I could understand if Serena had been wearing something akin to a ballroom dancing outfit, but what's seriously wrong with a bodysuit?
I'm an old, fat, white guy, and kinda knew before looking that this French Open nonsense came from an old, fat, white guy. 
...
"I believe we have sometimes gone too far. Serena's outfit this year, for example, would no longer be accepted. You have to respect the game and the place."
What an idiot! Btw I loved the Tutu response. Wow
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