Periods and sports competitions don’t mix, especially when the stress associated with dress is added to menstrual pain. In some sports – tennis in the lead with the Wimbledon tournament – sportswomen are forced to dress in white, a color that causes anxiety when menstruation comes. Athletes are breaking the silence today, calling for the damage to the performance of our tenniswomen, footballers and judokas to be taken into account.
Talk about the rules to change them. This is what Alicia Barnett, British tennis player, did recently, throwing a stone into the pond by evoking the tradition of white outfits in sport, and as far as she is concerned, in the tournament of Wimbledon.
“During the pre-qualifications, I had my period and the first days were very heavy,” she told the AP agency on July 4, as reported by Sky News. “I was a little stressed about it. I think getting your period on the tour is hard enough, but wearing white doesn’t help.”
Already last May, the Chinese player, Quinwen Zheng, had began to lift the taboo on menstruation in sport, explaining his defeat at Roland-Garros in the round of 16 by his menstrual pain, and regretting not having “been able to show [son] tennis”.
But beyond these pains that no one suspects, there is the fear of seeing the rules exposed to everyone’s eyes. On a white skirt, on shorts or a kimono.
“Stress mental”
To limit the impact of this monthly phenomenon on their performance, sportswomen would like to be able to fulfill the tradition of wearing white.
A symbol of the British bourgeoisie, the “all-white dress code” has been de rigueur at Wimbledon since the competition was created in 1877. Rooted in Victorian standards of decorum, the rule became official in 1963.
According to the official Wimbledon website, the dress code states that all players must wear “appropriate tennis attire which is almost entirely white”. A rule that applies from the moment the players enter the field. Dress must be strictly white, excluding “off-white or cream”.
If a tolerance threshold sometimes authorizes the use of “pastel” shades, the tournament organizers want the back, shorts, skirts, socks, shoes and caps to remain white. Thus, in 2002, while she had put on black shorts, the Russian tennis player, Anna Kournikova, was asked to return to the locker room and find a white garment.
In response to a tweet evoking menstruation and how it can affect the results of certain players during sports competitions, Olympic champion Mónica Puig evoked, at the end of May, “the mental stress of having to wear white at Wimbledon and to pray for not having her period during these two weeks”.
Definitely something that affects female athletes! Finally bringing it to everyone’s attention! Not to mention the mental stress of having to wear all white at Wimbledon and praying not to have your period during those two weeks. https://t.co/PzyHnPlSJk
— Monica Puig (@MonicaAce93) May 31, 2022
“I think some traditions could be changed,” said Alicia Barnett, who also said “love” the “all-white” tradition. A position shared by the British footballer, Beth Mead. “It’s nice to have an all-white ensemble, but sometimes it’s not practical when it’s the time of the month [les règles]“, she declares in an interview with the Telegraph, explaining that the England women’s football team had passed this remark on to Nike. The Three Lionesses, currently competing in the Eurohave indeed started discussions with their equipment supplier to change the color of their shorts (now white).
“Because I got my period yesterday”
In addition to tennis and football, there is another sport which is concerned – and this time, whatever the competitions – by the white uniform: judo. On the tatami, it’s Clarisse Agbegnenou, five-time world championwho is committed against the taboo of menstruation in sport, going so far as to join forces with the French brand of menstrual panties Réjeanne.
“I who did judo in a white kimono, it’s complicated”, explained the judoka, evolving in the category of less than 63 kg, at France Info. Many times between training I had to go to the bathroom to change everything (…) all women need it and in sport you have a lot of difficulties.”
Beyond the regulatory outfits and colors, the simple evocation of the rules remains taboo. However, as the Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui had dropped in 2016, after her defeat in the Olympic swimming pool in Rio, “the rules, it bothers all sportswomen at least once in their life”.
This is also one of the things mentioned by tennis player Alicia Barnett: “Your body feels more loose, your tendons relax, sometimes you feel much more tired and your coordination is more difficult. Me, I feel really depressed and it’s hard to find the motivation to play.”
As for Fu Yuanhui, she had been widely talked about after justifying her failure in the women’s 4x100m as follows: “It’s because I had my period yesterday”. Simple, effective. In China, where menstruation is taboo even in the way of designating them, the declaration caused a stir. In the world of sport, it is one of the main outlets participating in gradually lifting the law of silence around menstruation. “First day [de règles], it’s always hard, said her fellow tennis player, Quinwen Zheng, after her failure at Roland-Garros. “I can’t go against my nature. I would like to be a man on the court in times like these.”
In January 2015, British tennis player Heather Watson also associated her poor performance at the Australian Open with “that girl thing”. At the microphone of BBC Radio, the former British number 1 Annabel Croft had followed suit, calling for the omerta to be lifted on the menstruation of sportswomen, who have “always been a taboo”.
Talking about rules and an inappropriate dress code for women is an issue to which more and more sportswomen are trying to raise awareness. According an Adidas survey from August 2021one in four girls give up sport in adolescence, mainly because of the fear of bleeding and staining their clothes.
More recently, a global Puma survey revealed that this concerns one out of two adolescent girls.