Colombian women's cycling team jerseys !

Darkglasses · 16-09-2014 1:56am

gadetra wrote: »

It trivialises (sp?) and demeans both equally.

Wasn't there a men's team out before called Nearly Naked Men? Just as bad, just different baggage.

Team Near Naked Men was just a publicity/attention stunt for charity, not a real team.

We all know men's cycling has a particularly blasé attitude to male nudity - just look at our own party bus thread. It's a way of making fun of ourselves for the pretty unusual sports clothing we wear I guess.

It's clear that there's a different sensitivity present when it comes to women's cycling, which the Colombian designers maybe should have been more careful of. Whether it was intentional or not remains to be known I think and I'll reserve judgement of the whole situation for now. It doesn't really look skin-coloured to me in this picture for example, but it definitely does in the first picture that came out. I think it's best to hold back on really harsh criticism until we find out a bit more about how the kit came to be.

seany15 · 16-09-2014 2:04am

No matter who designed that kit, it was an absolutely brilliant piece of marketing. Look at it without a gender bias, purely from a sales perspective; how much internet has it generated? How many people have seen those sponsors? Here we are debating it 3 days i think after I first seen it. Outstanding. I don't imagine it would have had the same impact if it were a men's team that did it. It should generate revenue for them for another couple of years, because it's not going to fade away.

If you want to sell, make it memorable, Marketing 101. Can't say that those kits aren't that at least.

eeeee · 16-09-2014 2:04am

Darkglasses wrote: »

Team Near Naked Men was just a publicity/attention stunt for charity, not a real team.

We all know men's cycling has a particularly blasé attitude to male nudity - just look at our own party bus thread. It's a way of making fun of ourselves for the pretty unusual sports clothing we wear I guess.
,

-

With all due respect it's utterly, entirely, different from the attitude to male nudity in cycling or what the party Bus is about.

Darkglasses · 16-09-2014 2:18am

Moved posts from off-topic thread to here

NIMAN · 16-09-2014 2:33am

You know the way some people can see optical illusions and others can't, well I can't see anything rude about that kit tbh.

I have had a good look several times(!!) and I can see what its meant to be doing, but I don't see it as something shocking at all. I don't see nude women in it.

Cookie_Monster · 16-09-2014 5:46am

NIMAN wrote: »

You know the way some people can see optical illusions and others can't, well I can't see anything rude about that kit tbh.

I have had a good look several times(!!) and I can see what its meant to be doing, but I don't see it as something shocking at all. I don't see nude women in it.

+1

I really don't get the big deal here, it's just a beige-ish colour and not really skin tone at all.
The topic has been blown out of all proportions IMO

ZiabR · 16-09-2014 8:35am

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

+1

I really don't get the big deal here, it's just a beige-ish colour and not really skin tone at all.
The topic has been blown out of all proportions IMO

It was most likely started as a laugh only for some people to take it to seriously and then it goes viral...

slap/dash · 16-09-2014 8:44am

logik wrote: »

It was most likely started as a laugh only for some people to take it to seriously and then it goes viral...

There's nothing funny about a culture of sexual oppression

Kaisr Sose · 16-09-2014 8:55am

Should have used a colour thats closer to the dark skin of the team!

Way OTT reactions here and cool the jets on bad lanuguage.

NeedMoreGears · 16-09-2014 9:06am

seany15 wrote: »

... it was an absolutely brilliant piece of marketing.....

I'm not sure about that - my lasting impression is that the columbian team management are sexist and possibly racist given that skin tones didn't match. I don't know who the sponsor is (if there is one) - so that didn't work. And they've managed to alienate a very substantial portion of the market. That image has had huge circulation outside the cycling world.

In any event I don't think that "brilliance" or otherwise justifies this kit design.

newport2 · 16-09-2014 9:08am

5 things you should know about the Colombian cycling kit:

http://www.chasingwheels.com/road-racing/professional-road-racing/5-things-you-should-know-about-that-colombian-cycling-kit

quozl · 16-09-2014 9:49am

If this quote from the above link is true

2. It’s not flesh or nude, it’s gold.
There are numerous tweets to this effect from people who have been paying attention. Lycra done as gold effect never photographs well.

then this is all an unfortunate misunderstanding.

I've never photographed gold lycra

Is there any reason to believe that it actually isn't gold as stated above?

newport2 · 16-09-2014 9:56am

quozl wrote: »

If this quote from the above link is true

then this is all an unfortunate misunderstanding.

I've never photographed gold lycra Is there any reason to believe that it actually isn't gold as stated above?

I read somewhere else from someone who said they'd seen the kit in person that it was plainly gold to the eye in real life. She thought the photos circulating were a bit photo-shopped to create the predictable outrage. If that's true, it makes more sense of the fact that one of the women on the team designed it.

gallag · 16-09-2014 10:15am

NeedMoreGears wrote: »

the columbian team management are sexist and possibly racist given that skin tones didn't match.

Jesus, I know the word racist gets thrown around a lot these days but come on fella, racist? Go have a long hard think about that ffs.

magicbastarder · 16-09-2014 10:34am

a graphic designer friend of mine would use this as proof that only designers should be left to design things like this.

eeeee · 16-09-2014 10:55am

I think it has highlighted just how ' seriously' female athletes are taken, and also highlighted some scary attitudes of what is acceptable and what is not on in terms of how they are seen and judged, and it isn't good. This is now the most prevalent image of women's cycling out there, and it's not gone viral as an example of how ' gold' lycra photographs, it's gone viral because of the suggested nudity of the female professional athletes, and all the attendant disrespect and misogyny that goes with it.

slap/dash wrote: »

There's nothing funny about a culture of sexual oppression

This, this, a million this this.

Storm in a tea cup? Maybe you haven't had cars pull in across lanes of traffic to shout at you, or lean out Windows or even just groups of lads point out Bits of your anatomy, and just what they would like to do to you when you're out training, because I have, and it's not a rare occurrence either. :rolleyes:
Comparatively few women cycle, and this, combined with the shouting and the myriad of other shytty behaviors by other male cyclists on the road does not help the case. Our bodies are so, so, so mediated and judged before you put on the lycra, and I knew The majority of my female friends find that a barrier right from the of, this kind of furore isn't going to encourage them to abandon their insecurities about being judged and enjoy their sport. This all before you Getty onto the wider issues I have already mentioned and quoted above.

So yeah. It's kind of a big deal.

quozl · 16-09-2014 11:31am

I agree with all you're saying Gadetra but I think it is important to note that if those outfits really are gold then the people responsible for them, who are getting accused of mysogyny and even racism in this thread and around the internet, are innocent.

Ire should be directed at people making unpleasant comments about the cyclists, the daily mail and other tabloid papers and even possibly Brian Cookson for jumping on this publicly without getting his facts straight.

It's a team of women cycling in a uniform one of them designed themselves. If it really isn't fake-flesh tone then it's important to stop all the bad mouthing of those women and their management.

It doesn't detract from your points but it is separate and also important.

Daroxtar · 16-09-2014 11:48am

gadetra wrote: »

and it's not gone viral as an example of how ' gold' lycra photographs, it's gone viral because of the suggested nudity of the female professional athletes, anal the attendant disrespect and misogyny that goes with it.

Freudian slip much????

ednwireland · 16-09-2014 11:56am

Darkglasses wrote: »

. It doesn't really look skin-coloured to me in this picture for example, but it definitely does in the first picture that came out.

exactly what i thought no-one would be shouting if that picture was published, just wonder how much tweaking of the outrage picture was done to get it to look like that.

pelevin · 16-09-2014 11:57am

I get Gadetra's rage if the kit is perceived as intentionally exploitative, etc but tobh after hearing of the apparent furore & then seeing the kit, I couldn't make out what people were excited about. I'm a bit colour-blind & don't perceive subtle shade differences as sharply as others do but at no stage did this kit suggest flesh to me. It would be better to have relatively dark colours below the waistline but that's about as much as could come to mind in terms of furore.

That it was designed by a team-member, that her fellow team-members probably ok'd it with her, that it's advertisers' colours, etc suggests it's all an accidental rather than an intentional issue; but given that some/many people clearly do feel they are seeing or perceiving an inappropriate kit, then of course they should change it.

eeeee · 16-09-2014 11:57am

Daroxtar wrote: »

Freudian slip much????

I have only one hand to type with + auto correct = auto correct mistake, nothing Freudian about it, unless of course The phone itself has issues :rolleyes:

drumswan · 16-09-2014 12:03pm

gadetra wrote: »

This is now the most prevalent image of women's cycling out there, and it's not gone viral as an example of how ' gold' lycra photographs, it's gone viral because of the suggested nudity of the female professional athletes, and all the attendant disrespect and misogyny that goes with it.

The cyclists designed it themselves, chose to wear it themselves and its just an ugly gold colour. Maybe its gone viral because of silly overreactions like yours.

eeeee · 16-09-2014 12:09pm

drumswan wrote: »

The cyclists designed it themselves, chose to wear it themselves and its just an ugly gold colour. Maybe its gone viral because of silly overreactions like yours.

Seriously? Ok you've clearly read and understood where I'm coming from.

I'm sure many, many more women will take up cycling on foot of this.

drumswan · 16-09-2014 12:12pm

gadetra wrote: »

I'm sure many, many more women will take up cycling on foot of this.

Eh? I think women are more intelligent than to be turned off from cycling by a trifle like this. A little bit of perspective is required.

QueensGael · 16-09-2014 12:17pm

drumswan wrote: »

Maybe its gone viral because of silly overreactions like yours.

Way to infantalize the poster and her opinion.

rubberdiddies · 16-09-2014 12:27pm

when i was scanning through the newspaper the other day, i saw this picture. didn't bat an eyelid at it and didn't read the accompanying article.

it was only hours later when it had gone 'viral' that i noticed what people were talking about. i'm still finding it hard to understand what the big deal is. to me it's just cycling gear with different colours, one of which happens to be a little bit skin tone like. the only reason why it has made the headlines and gone viral is because to some people it seems controversial.
it's gone viral, because i can only assume the designers/team/sponsors wanted it to.

its being made an issue of because people want it to be an issue.

as for having a negative effect, my OH actually got back up on the bike last night after 2 years. she denies it was because of the publicity surrounding this picture, but she was talking about it a lot yesterday!

sheesh · 16-09-2014 12:36pm

I think it is a genuine mistake and will be used as an example of mistakes in design in the future. I think that it probably looks flesh coloured due to the white balance being off on the camera or it the photograph being tweaked after it was shot. In the other photographs it does not look flesh coloured.

The next question is was it done deliberately? If you wanted to get extra coverage for your women's cycling team and its sponsors it would be a very smart (if sociopathically unethical) move knowing that the gold material photographs to look flesh toned under certain conditions.

eeeee · 16-09-2014 1:23pm

drumswan wrote: »

Eh? I think women are more intelligent than to be turned off from cycling by a trifle like this. A little bit of perspective is required.

You're right. This is the image of women's cycling I have been waiting for. It delights me. I'm so glad I get to be intelligent now to! :pac:

slap/dash · 16-09-2014 1:45pm

pelevin wrote: »

I get Gadetra's rage if the kit is perceived as intentionally exploitative, etc but tobh after hearing of the apparent furore & then seeing the kit, I couldn't make out what people were excited about. I'm a bit colour-blind & don't perceive subtle shade differences as sharply as others do but at no stage did this kit suggest flesh to me. It would be better to have relatively dark colours below the waistline but that's about as much as could come to mind in terms of furore.

That it was designed by a team-member, that her fellow team-members probably ok'd it with her, that it's advertisers' colours, etc suggests it's all an accidental rather than an intentional issue; but given that some/many people clearly do feel they are seeing or perceiving an inappropriate kit, then of course they should change it.

Intentionality has nothing to do with casual sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, classism etc etc. The I was only joking/didn't mean it cuts no ice. This idea of get over it is the mantra of the privilidged.

alastair · 16-09-2014 1:50pm

slap/dash wrote: »

Intentionality has nothing to do with casual sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, classism etc etc. The I was only joking/didn't mean it cuts no ice. This idea of get over it is the mantra of the privilidged.

Eh? So your saying that an accidental misreading of a design, still holds that design to be guilty of all of the above? How does that work then?

Colombian women's cycling team jerseys !

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