In today's Globe and Mail, John Doyle points out something that I too have noticed during the TV coverage of the 2018 Russia World Cup: those long, lingering shots of female fans, usually blonde, generally painted up with nationalistic symbology, and often skimpily-dressed.
TV cameras often pan around the stadium at major sports events, taking in the atmosphere and showing the depths of emotion to which some fans take their support. It's kind of interesting, sometime funny, and often heart-warming. But it's been many years since this kind of "babe cam" display has been foisted upon us, and it is generally considered sexist and frowned upon. As one commentator says, "They're reducing women fans to the bubbly cute cheerleader in the stands. To boil fans down to boobs and cute outfits is beyond me."
Maybe it's the fact that the World Cup this year is in Russia, which still harbours many antediluvial (and certainly ante-#MeToo and -#TimesUp) attitudes to women and their place in society, I don't know. But, frankly, we can do without this.
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