On August 5th began the 2016 Summer Olympics and will extend until the 21st. And, of course, they also serve as a stage for cultural wars.
For instance, the contrast between Egypt and Germany womens’ beach volleyball teams has achieved the unthinkable: Germany players are being accused of serving patriarchy (?), because their uniform is a bikini — as a matter of fact, postmodernist prudishness insists that in the following picture, the Germans are oppressed, while the Egyptians are not:
In this scenario you have to make two considerations. First, both sexes play this sport with swimsuits… at least in civilized parts of the world. Both men and women receive the same treatment, for the commonsensical reason that not doing so would be an exceedingly hot exercise for players, regardless of their sex.
Second, what would happen to the players of both teams if they requested uniforms as those of their opponents? In Germany, probably nothing would happen; the worst that could happen is that the Federation would agree to the request and that’s it. On the other hand, it is not unreasonable to assume the Egyptian players could expect dire legal and social consequences just for asking for more relaxed uniforms.
It’s amazing how supposedly rational people fail epically to assess the situation. Interestingly, those who live under the suffocating ‘patriarchy’ in the West —whatever that is— never go to live in Egypt, Iran or Saudi Arabia, havens of women’s rights, where they can burn all the bikinis they want.
