Why Does This Colombian Women Team's Cycling Outfit Look 'Vagina-Like'?

The outfit for non-cyclists appeared not to feature the design — which meant that only the women who work as part of the team seemed to be sporting it.

independent.co.uk

Some observers are calling the outfits — which in photos seem to feature a swatch of flesh-tone-colored fabric in their lower region — "rude," "wrong" and a "disaster." But others are defending the uniform and the cyclists who wear it, saying the criticism is entirely sensationalized.

There are numerous tweets to this effect from people who have been paying attention. Lycra done as gold effect never photographs well. It’s unfortunate, but there you are. It’s not “unacceptable by any standard of decency” as the UCI boss Brian Cookson seems to suggest.

As for the design, it seems to have come from one of the team's members, cyclist Angie Tatiana Rojas Suarez. She is an accomplished 22-year-old athlete who has won national titles in both cycling and skating, according to her online bio. She also works as a sports journalist and as the chief of communications at the vitamin company that sponsors the cycling team.

But she did retweet a comment that said, "The uniform may not be the most beautiful and we may not like it, but there's no need for certain comments." Rojas also retweeted a message of apology from an Italian cycling website that had helped whip up controversy over the photograph.

Events deemed "Women's Elite" are roughly equivalent to the top two tiers of the men’s sport. In 2011, second tier men’s teams were required to pay a minimum around 32,000 euro, according to the Inner Ring. A woman who wins every event in their top tier World Cup Series probably would fall short of that sum in prize money. Most women in the top tier of professional cycling aren't even making what most countries would describe as a minimum wage.

You can be outraged by an unflattering photo.

Or you can be outraged by the fact that the people running the sport still haven’t bought forward meaningful change to ensure that women are not on the end of enduring sexism in the sport where their right to a fair wage for a professional job is still considered less important than the design of their kit.