Another day, another person setting women back 100,000 years. This time tennis announcer Ian Cohen suggests that Wimbledon runner-up Eugenie Bouchard gives us a little “twirl” to celebrate her victory over Kiki Bertens at the Australian Open.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r35Dyk9fze4
As it goes, the same presenter asked Serena Williams to twirl just days earlier and she complied, although she did say afterwards:
I wouldn’t ask Rafa or Roger to twirl. I didn’t really want to twirl because I was just like, you know, I don’t need all the extra attention.
She didn’t want to go into whether it was sexist or not (though her Rafa/Roger comments suggest she thought it was). People on Twitter were happy to do that for her though:
I’m sure Cohen thought his question was perfectly harmless, but it is a bit cringe watching someone who wants to be taken seriously as a pro tennis player being asked to twirl and show off her cute tennis dress.
You don’t see anyone asking Ronda Rousey to twirl – and with good reason.
