The Olympics are a time where we gather to celebrate human strength, triumph over adversity and cheer on the world’s best athletes. The games also shine an unfortunate spotlight on the sexism that female athletes face.
Whether it’s wonky comparisons to successful male athletes or denigrating comments about their appearance, the women of the Olympics are dealing with a lot of nonsense this year.
Some of the most egregious examples thus far:
- Commentators and viewers criticized Gabby Douglas’ hair, a throwback to the racist comments on her hair that she faced in the London games in 2012.
- Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten suffered a devastating crash during a race Sunday and was hospitalized. When she tweeted that she was ok, someone thought it would be helpful to mansplain cycling.
Let’s win the gold in cutting this business out, ok?
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