You’ve got to see the “new” Utah Gymnastics site.
It’s certainly different than the boring old CMS sites used by seemingly every other University in the NCAA.
Greg Marsden has worked tirelessly to add new promotional innovations for his program.
Congratulations on this latest one. … Who will be the first College Team to follow Utah in a site redesign?
Check it out – Utah Gymnastics
(Click through the top links to see some cool graphics.)
Utah opens against UCLA on Saturday.
Update – some feel the images go too far – Sexualizing Collegiate Gymnastics
OK, we all know that College gymnasts are sexy. But should the official website be pushing that theme? … Would it be better to have images that might offend at arms distance, perhaps a Booster Club website?
Update – commentary on Gymnastics Examiner
18 comments ↓
I don’t know who their web designer is but I would have chosen different shots for some of these pictures. The first one you have up is rather… pornstarish. And the second is just distasteful in my opinion.
I posted the most objectionable of the graphics, BB. Just to be controversial.
The rest are all good, I think.
Yeah I think the shot you posted is a bit risque but then again all these kids are adults. I find it very ironic though for the state of Utah
[...] the gymnastics word starting applauding University of Utah’s new wesbsite, I was pretty excited. That is, until I looked at the [...]
Thanks for the rapid and thoughtful commentary. I added a link to your post form the original article.
Well, hmmm .. the opening picture probably isn’t the best way to represent a gymnastic team ..
Definitely agreed that some of those pics are a bit to sexualized, and I would strongly object if these were junior athletes. The fact that these are adult women make this merely distasteful rather than abhorrent.
Whatever the case, though, I bet their site’s hitcount skyrockets.
I did not find any of the pictures to be overly sexualized. I thought they were interesting and eye-catching. They actually made me stop scrolling down and look at the picture. Definitely a step of way from generic gymnastics photography. I find the criticism of the over the shoulder shot in the linked article hilarious! Its a picture of girls clothed wrist to ankle looking over there shoulder. My first impression of the pic was that they were showing the “Utah” on their backs. And “safety nightmare” from unrealistic “cute side bangs”! Haha. Really? Grasping at straws much? As for the other pictures, these are adult women and in my opinion there is nothing wrong with the pictures. They are great shots.
When you promote sex like this, it’s no doubt you hold every attendance record.
Whenever this type of issue comes up, I try to ask myself how I would feel about it if the sexualization were of men, because if I’m suddenly not upset with it, then it’s a double-standard I shouldn’t have. Would I be ok with the wrestling team putting out a sexy calendar to raise money? I’m not sure. As a gut-reaction, I’d be outraged if the women’s gymnastics team posed in underwear for the same purpose. So maybe I am guilty of holding a double standard. But I don’t think these pictures do anything other than incite controversy, which I don’t believe is a good thing. I can’t see the benefit of putting sexual pictures of male baseball players on the baseball team’s website. There’s certainly no way this can be perceived as INCREASING the respect people have of these athletes. I’m great with spin, but I’m having a hard time finding how one could view this picture in a positive, self-empowering and respectful light. Legal “adults” or not, I think anyone who has ever been through college knows that the decisions an 18 year old makes really aren’t realistically that much better than the decisions a 17 year old makes. Perhaps that makes me a prude, but so be it. It wouldn’t surprise me at all that these girls consented, nay, asked, to do these pictures, which is my point. If I were this girl’s dad, I’d be in my car on my way to sock Marsden in his face right now. What would we think if this picture had been taken with a coach’s personal camera, and found on his personal computer? Wouldn’t we seriously question that guy? I don’t think posting it on a website and calling it “artful” is any different.
I’ve attended a meet at Utah. They have a surprising number of young fans. It’s COOL for male students to attend their meets.
No doubt Greg will fill more seats this season with this “buzz”.
I think at some point you have to pull the plug on to what extent your parenting goes. If my child in college has these pictures up of her, I would ask HER if she thinks these are ok. What does she think? Are they a bit over the top? Does she realize what these pictures might do? I might even ask to speak with the coach a bit. But over-reacting when I am trying to allow my kid to be independent and make her own decisions would only serve to hurt a lot of people. Hence, I would not sock people in the face, and nor would the dads I’ve conversed with regarding this project. However, most of them agree the material is very much “on the line” and they’d have a talk or two with their daughters.
I, myself, nor would I teach my daughter that a photograph like that first one is ok. It is way to sexualized. There are tasteful ways of showing gymnastics. How about a girl in a split? Or in a back walkover or a nice handstand with interesting legs.
As for the over shoulder shot? I don’t have as much as a problem with that one but they are still pulling their shirts to show how tight the clothing…
Just because they’re adult women doesn’t mean it’s right.
TP: I completely agree with your sentiment toward not over-reacting and allowing your daughter to find her independence, but, I think there’s a key difference here. No doubt all of us have experiences we regret from college, which is in fact part of what that time is for. We make mistakes and learn from them. That’s a good thing, in a way. If a girl drinks a little too much and goes home with “the wrong guy” that’s a mistake she might live to regret, and learn a valuable lesson from. However, it’s a mistake that’s almost entirely on her (and her partner). That is, the young people are making the mistakes. My problem with this picture is that it had to filter through many real adult hands first (the photographer, the coaches during the photo session, the web designer, everyone involved, and again, the coaches, all of them, with the ultimate say). In other words, this COULD end up being a mistake that this girl regrets which wasn’t just her own mistake; i.e., it’s a mistake that Marsden actually facilitated.
Could it be worse? Absolutely. She could have been on Girls Gone Wild or something much more extreme, but if so, odds are it wouldn’t have happened with her coach and school’s approval. This did. I don’t fault the girl for making the decision to sit for this picture at all, it’s probably very fun to feel like a sexy model and she probably had a good time. I fault the older minds which should have known better. You can call it protecting, but realize it’s protection after the fact. The act of having the picture taken is different from the choice to put it on a website. One of those was the girl’s decision, the other was not. One of them is a possible mistake she made in a moment, and the other is a mistake that was made after the opportunity for long reflection. If this somehow (and I’m not sure it will, but it could) embarrasses her 20 years from now, who will be more at fault? For me, personally, I’d be quite distraught if I knew some decision I made as a coach had the potential to embarrass a girl later in her life.
That first picture could be a pose from any one of a 100 different floor routines. Plenty of butt wiggling and rolling around on the the ground goes on in those.
In fact, that’s probably what it is (with the background photoshopped out).
If the girl pictured moves to Saudi Arabia, yeah, she may regret it.
On the other hand, if she stays in the U.S., nobody will think twice. She has all her clothes on, and her hands aren’t anywhere they wouldn’t usually be in the gym…or on someone else.
No one thinks the girl in the photo has to take some responsibility, too? After seeing them on the website, some girls might feel that it doesn’t look right or doesn’t look as normal as they intended. They could say something. At 18, I would not have wanted my picture up as the one you posted. However, I was very prudish and sheltered. I have lightened up, even after being part of raising children.
I think it’s a matter of taste. I personally would not like it if it were ME in that picture. But all in all, it’s really not bad in the grand scheme of things.
It’s Gael Mackie, sweet as can be. And it is a team of girls who have worn body forming suits their whole life. For once they look like women not prepubescent girls. Kudos to them. I am pretty sure if they didn’t like the photos they could have said NO. But count on people to overanalyze something so simple. Have you seen dancers, swimmers in their photo shoots- same thing- in fact I think worse!
Just my opinon. It’s not like they are wearing two pieces sucking on a lollipop! Geesh!
[...] someone in Salt Lake City cave after the mild backlash on the [...]
GymMom,
I think they could have done a better photo. One that shows how powerful these girls are and not looking like she’s doing something. Yes it could have be a lot worse but it also should and could have been a lot better. I just think Mr. Marsden/Utah Gymnastics showed some poor judgment in picking photos.
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