In 2020, the NCAA made several rule changes to the women's volleyball team, one of which was cleverly placed at the end of the list. This is a seemingly trivial rule on the surface, but in fact, it has a greater impact on the progress of the game than the highlighted increase of a third official to conduct a video challenge review.

Among the several approved women's volleyball rules, there is one that allows players to "wear shorts or leggings, provided that all teammates wear the same color."

This season, for various reasons, several Tennessee players wear tight pants from time to time during the game. The right batter Morgahn Fingall prefers the appearance of the tights with the team's sleeveless jersey, and said that the tights are more practical when diving and sliding on the court. Full-length leggings also provide more protection during diving. “Some of us don’t like getting burned on the floor at the end of the day,” said mid-sniper Danielle Mahaffey.

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It all boils down to preference. Some players are more comfortable wearing tights, some are not. According to the previous set of rules, the entire team must wear uniforms of the same color, style, cut and tailoring, including sleeves and pants length. The new rules allow individual decisions to be made regarding uniform downloads, and the entire team does not need to wear one or the other.

"I think everyone should be able to choose to wear whatever clothes they want," said perimeter batsman Breana Runnels. "Obviously, the most important thing is to have that number on the back, so whatever they like is great."

Associate Professor Irene Whiteside of Tennessee’s research focuses on gender in sports. He said that when there are significant differences in the uniforms of men and women in the same sport, it is clear that practical elements are not given priority as "showing gender." Shape women's sporty figures in a way that meets the expectations of femininity. "

Whiteside said: "The uniform is designed to showcase these (femininity) characteristics and really remind people that these are women first and athletes second."

Male volleyball players usually wear loose vests and shorts. Women's volleyball players most often wear tight long sleeves and short spandex.

The choice of leggings is not the only new development in college-level women's volleyball uniforms-more and more teams are adopting sleeveless vests, similar to men's styles, including Tennessee.

"Wearing a vest and jersey, I think this is a way to express our strength as women," said setter Natalie Hayward. "You see the men in vests and jerseys, you can see the muscles, you can see the blood vessels, but this is an opportunity for us to show how powerful we are.

"Not only women who participate in this sport, but also athletic and strong women, their bodies work very hard to put themselves in the place where we are."

Whiteside said that with the growth and empowerment of women in sports, people are increasingly concerned about what truly capable women mean to sports. Whiteside explained that because of this fear, uniform regulations for female athletes have been used to limit this empowerment, "to remind people that women in sports do not pose a threat to a common understanding of masculinity and patriarchy. ".

This reminder plays a key role in maintaining the concept of gender differences in sports, that is, the belief that male and female athletes are fundamentally different in the sports environment, so that female athletes cannot overwhelm male athletes under any circumstances. Whiteside said that the difference in volleyball uniforms reinforces this idea-she calls it "a complete myth."

Patrick Gezanka, chairperson of the Tennessee Women, Gender, and Sexual Program, said that the changes in the rules will not solve all the problems of sports culture. But eliminating double standards in the rules is a critical step.

"When it comes to track and field sports, I think it is one of the most inhumane and insulting parts of our society. We value women not only because of what women do, but because of the way they look when they do sports," Grzanka Say.

One of the obvious influences of the short spandex uniform standard is the gender and objectification of women's volleyball players.

"I definitely think this is part of it," Fingel said of the gendered women's volleyball players. "I think spandex can make people uncomfortable... so if a player feels uncomfortable wearing spandex, it's a good thing to choose leggings."

When the uniforms in sports do not necessarily meet the actual needs of sports, Whiteside amplifies the objectification of athletes instead of inviting fans to see the athletic ability and strength of athletes.

The most important aspect of the rule change is that players can have autonomy over their bodies by choosing whether they like tights, shorts or spandex.

"This is very important, it is a challenge to the supervision of women's bodies," Whiteside said. "Whenever this happens, I think we are eliminating some deep-rooted forms of patriarchal structure that help make gender roles look real and normal."