Women flood video with everyday reality of being sexualised while playing sport

A female archer called out those who sexualise female athletes “when they are simply doing their sport” – and the response has been wild.

Women have responded with force to a viral clip, revealing how often they are sexualised while playing sport.

Kels, a recurve archer that has a TikTok account with 23,000 followers, posted a video of herself holding her bow and arrow, ready to strike.

She captioned the video: “This is for all the women who are sexualised when they are simply doing their sport.”

The TikTok video has been viewed more than three million times and been flooded with comments from women who have dealt with sexual remarks while playing sport.

“Volleyball player here, the amount of times I’ve been whistled at when wearing spandex is SICK,” one woman commented.

“As a fellow archer, I get it,” another added. And the comments continued:

“As someone who plays volleyball. Yes.”

“An equestrian and figure skater here. I’m tired of being told I “ride good” or my dress would look better without tights.”

“Equestrian here, it needs to be talked about more.”

“Figure skating, a guy pulled up my skirt cause he wanted to see the sparkles on my leotard.”

“As an Equestrian, this happens too often that I stopped saying I’m an Equestrian.”

“I started gymnastics when I was 7. People were telling my mother she better watch out for me with how my body was developing.”

“Volleyball – so many men told me they only watch women’s volleyball (because) of our pants.”

She's exposed a huge problem women fac. Picture:TikTok/kh.archery

She's incredible at her sport. Picture:TikTok/kh.archery

One woman shared that she was training for volleyball at her local park when she was approached by a man who remarked that she was “very flexible.”

Another said she was shocked when she was sexualised for simply playing soccer. Similarly, a woman shared she was sexualised when she was playing footy because her jersey was tight. She pointed out that if it was baggy, it would get in the way of her ability to play well.

While women shared their sporting reality on the post, they were then subjected to people challenging their opinion.

The woman who mentioned she wore Spandex, was told: “Then don’t wear spandex.” And an equestrian who shared that her ex “couldn’t go seconds” without sexualising her riding a horse, was told it was “flirting” and she needed to “grow up.”

This prompted Kels to post a follow-up.

“I never meant to start a war,” she said. “I expressed that I’ve been sexualised as a woman in sport.”

Originally published as Women flood video with everyday reality of being sexualised while playing sport