For all the wrong reasons

Last weekend, I was reading The Sunday Telegraph newspaper and ran into an article by Claire Harvey in which she outlines how Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice does not get a fair shake from the media. It seemed reasonable enough. After all, Rice shone in the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and has continued to perform well in international contests though she's also been burdened by injuries. Harvey also covers the way Rice's personal life and image has mostly been disrespected in the media and among people in Australia.

First of all, I'll give credit where it's due. Yes, Rice is a great athlete and what she's done in her career is nothing short of amazing. Heck, I'm pretty sure people will be watching her race at the London Olympics this year hoping that she can a). repeat her amazing run in Beijing and b). she can stay injury-free all year. And yes, she is a beautiful girl no doubt about that. However, for Harvey to gloss over her twitter faux-pas in 2010 (in which Rice, after Australia beat South Africa in a Rugby match tweeted 'Suck on that, faggots!') as though it was nothing is not right. It was a stupid and irresponsible thing for a star athlete to do, given that there are many young swimmers out there who, no doubt, look up to her as a role mode. Also, such a comment is seen as prejudicial and homophobic. If a football player were to do the same thing they'd be criticised by the media for it and be branded as a jerk and a homophobe for the rest of their career. Why should Rice get a free pass? Because she's a pretty girl? I don't think so.

And for Ms. Harvey to claim that Rice is 'manifestly more articulate, and more gorgeous, than anyone else on the planet' is a gross and unfair exaggeration. Sure, Rice is attractive but to call her the most attractive person on the planet? That's a tad bit histrionic isn't it? And as for being the most articulate, I don't think using such language on twitter posts shows that she is smarter than anyone else on Earth.

Then there's the Facebook controversy that occurred before the 2008 Olympics when Rice posted a photo of herself dressed in a sexy police officer's uniform. I can see why the backlash from this would be considered unfair, after all it's not like the outfit itself was too revealing, but for a person in the spotlight, such an act can give people the wrong impression. Sure, for some it shows that she's a normal girl who likes to let her hair down once in a while, but for others it might suggest that she's another party animal who is only using her position as a star athlete to become a tabloid-hogging celebrity. To women, she comes across as a tart. To men, she comes across as a slut. Unfair labels and perhaps contrary to the fact, but people can and will judge.

Ms. Harvey focuses quite a bit on Rice's good looks in her argument and she reveals that Rice has on occasion wondered why she doesn't get as much praise as past swimming greats like Susan O'Neill and Libby Trickett. Harvey uses this as an opportunity to attack Australians and the way they characterise female athletes, celebrities and just women, period. Harvey claims that Australians in general cannot respect a woman who proudly embraces her sexiness and that doing so will cause people to constantly question their personal life no matter how pure they claim to be. People will always take every mistake they make and blow it up into something bigger than it is and if anything about their love life becomes messy, they will be in a world of hurt.

Then comes the baffling part. Having criticised the media and the Australian people for their mistreatment of poor Steph, Harvey then takes the opportunity to criticse both The Sunday Telegraph AND Ms. Rice for photos published in the paper. The photos show Rice wearing tiny bikinis and posing provocatively. Harvey claims that if Steph were her little sister she'd be telling her to tone down the sauciness and that the bikinis she wore should have been more modest.

She then closes her article claiming that in today's world, young beautiful girls like Stephanie Rice will always be subject to unfair, preconceived notions and so the best defense would be to stay demure.

Ok, I know this is going to sound unfair, and it probably is, but young women who are comfortable with looking sexy will have a hard time with the media. Contrary to what Ms. Harvey claims, it is not about people being incapable of respecting women who are sexy, it's just that given the image they project, of course they are going to attract sleazy attention from guys and bitter attacks from women who feel that they are disrespecting their gender. And as for Ms. Harvey's attack on The Sunday Telegraph for those photos, well all I have to say is that they pretty much answered her questions as far as to why Rice is being treated disrespectfully. If Rice really wanted people to start taking her more seriously, she would have objected to the poses and the bikinis she had to wear and asked for a classier shoot. Instead she went along with it, saucy poses and all.

Ms. Harvey also notes that Rice, who recently ended her relationship with rugby union star Quade Cooper, was the subject of a disgusting act by online gambling agency SportsBet who started offering odds as to who would be Rice's next boyfriend. She also notes that for someone who many claim is a tart, Rice has only had two boyfriends in the past four years (Cooper and fellow swimmer Eamon Sullivan).

Ok, so the SportsBet thing was a rude and classless thing to do, and yes, she did only go out with those two guys in the past four years, but again, when you are a beautiful young woman like her who is comfortable looking sexy, or if you are just a celebrity, period, you will get a hard time from the masses as far as your personal life is concerned. During the 2008 Olympics, for example (which occurred shortly after she broke up with then-boyfriend Sullivan, whom she outperformed as far as personal achievements in the 2008 games is concerned) there were rumours of her getting flirty with US swimmer Michael Phelps, who, as well all know now, dominated in the 2008 Olympics. This led many people to brand her a 'gold-digger', claiming that she was probably only after him for his impressive gold medal-winning run. Such rumours turned out to be false, but Rice still couldn't prevent people from making such judgements.

Well, there you have it. Claire Harvey can complain about Stephanie Rice making headlines for all the wrong reasons as much as she wants but the truth is, and as sad as it is to admit, it just comes with the type of image that Rice is projecting right now. A young woman who loudly embraces their sexiness is always going to get a hard time from the media and from people in general, whether it is criticism or unwanted attention and labels, and Rice herself can gripe about all this as much as she wants but she really isn't doing anything about it. Yes, she is a fine athlete and yes, she is a beautiful girl, but she needs to understand that as a person in the spotlight who has no problem putting it all out there, there will be consequences. Ms. Harvey is right, perhaps Rics should tone it down a bit. As she put it, 'imagine herself on the cover of Vogue, not Zoo Weekly', look at your image through the eyes of a 40-year old bloke, not your Gen Y girlfriends.'