[user104658]

Originally Posted by Mystic Mock

I would prefer a GB athlete to look like Susan Boyle and get us a gold medal, than to look like Margot Robbie and get us no medal at all.

I mean Susan Boyle is 63 so that might be slightly ambitious.

I do genuinely think this has all raised a bit of an issue though, people (with an agenda) are going to be looking at every female athlete and saying "Is THAT one secretly a man " because yes, in a lot of sports, and in full sports gear, the women are going to be bigger/more muscular/more androgenous looking than what people are "used to" as the societal expectation of women.

It's one area where games/tv/movies also doesn't help with the expectation because they're usually going for aesthetic over realism. Take Tifa as a good example I guess - her clothes actually make sense given her fighting style... her HAIR on the other hand is wildly unrealistic and would be a disaster, and if they were going for any sort of realism, Tifa's hair would be either cropped short or tied up tight.

I can think of countless similar examples from both gaming and Hollywood but I do think it can skew expectations of "what women look like", and these days that quickly slides into "well, what it they're actually a man then".