A Bikini for Rafael Leão

Five years ago, the Norwegian beach handball team was fined 1500 euros for refusing to play in bikinis, as mandated by the European Championship regulations. These rules stipulated that the bottom piece must be "tight-fitting and cut towards the top of the leg," with a maximum side width of 10 centimeters!

The fine reignited controversy, especially since the same regulations allowed men to wear long shorts. Despite the threat of disqualification, the Norwegian women secured bronze, garnered thousands of messages of support, and even singer Pink offered to pay their fine. Around the same time, the German artistic gymnastics team competed in full-body suits at the European Championships, a decision backed by their federation.

These stories are neither unique nor new, but this week, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) — the body regulating television broadcasts — published a document titled 'Raising the Bar,' outlining rules to end the sexualization of female athletes in broadcasts. Simple and straightforward.

The executive director addressed the issue directly, stating that camera angles and editing remain a problem in many sports broadcasts. These new rules will take effect at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham this August, banning low-angle shots, obsessive replays of specific body parts, and requiring commentators to focus on technique rather than aesthetics. Thankfully, and finally, we are moving towards eliminating phrases like "the female Ronaldo" or "the girls play well!" Is all this necessary? Yes, it is, and it's not an exaggeration.

Just days ago, Rafael Leão, the 27-year-old Portuguese international — not my dear grandfathers Belmiro or Henrique, raised in different worlds and times — posted on social media, and quickly deleted amidst widespread criticism, a message that clearly shows how some minds need better lenses and photographic objectives to see the world: "Girls, the World Cup is over, you can stop pretending to understand football."

Are enthusiastic fans in the stands and athletes on the track beautiful images? Of course they are, but not when the sporting spectacle takes a backseat because the focus is on their cleavage or hair.

This has a name, and it's not pretty: "pervcam." It's the habit of turning any woman appearing at a sporting event into something to be observed from various angles, not as part of the spectacle. In the stands, the damage is symbolic: it reduces a female fan to a consumable image, as Rafael Leão's erudite words make clear. For an athlete, it's even worse, because the target is the body of someone competing, giving their professional best.

Slow-motion close-ups of legs, waists, or glutes explain nothing about the game. They swap the analysis of technical skill for body imagery, and they choose to do this precisely when she is demonstrating her capabilities. The camera is never innocent; whoever chooses the framing is always deciding what deserves to be seen, and that is always an opinion disguised as an image.

An opinion that shapes other opinions, perpetuating images and representations like the one Rafael Leão holds. The rules are late, but they are here, and, by the way:

— Jorge Jesus, could you please give Rafael Leão a bikini for the next game?