Women are always at risk of 'crotch shots'

A screen shot of Chrystal Chenery dancing was shared, revealing more than she would like.

Like plenty of other Kiwis, I settled in on Sunday night to watch the final episode of Dancing with the Stars. I think I hoped Chrystal would win but I knew she didn't have the fan-base. (It's a popularity contest, really, not a dancing competition. And, I can't get my head around the fact that the audience is always voting on the previous week's performance rather than the current one that's being focused on.)

But, still, technicalities aside, I was glued to the television while I sipped my lemon-and-ginger tea. I recall saying at least once: "Gosh, you can see what she had for breakfast". A less colourful way of putting it would be: "Thank goodness she had undies on."

Unsurprisingly, Chrystal Chenery was not amused when shock-jock radio host Dominic Harvey posted a "crotch shot" from her performance online.

It's a move that has been dubbed "gross and disrespectful of women". Chenery is calling for his employer to discipline him while fellow Dancing with the Star's contestant Jay Jay Harvey is standing by her man. It's a right kerfuffle.

Yet crotch shots are nothing new. I'd go so far as to say they're something of a cottage industry on the world-wide-web. You could easily lose a day perusing crotches online. It seems there's a crotch shot for every taste. You can see Madonna's selfie, a host of female celebrities getting in and out of limousines - and, of course, 11 Miley Cyrus crotch shots. Nice.

In comparison to all the cheap shots, Sarah Silverman's very weird iPhone "vagina" trick seems almost empowering; it's definitely quite funny if you like that kind of thing. "I think it's good to get used to the lady parts and not make them shame-filled things," she explained.

When I was watching Dancing with the Stars, I pondered the sinister reasons for the stark differences between the costumes of the men and the women. If I didn't know better I'd say that misogyny and the objectification of women were at play here. The men wore long trousers and so were able to maintain their dignity at all times. But, for the women, the combination of scanty clothing and high leg-kicks was a potent brew - as Chenery discovered.

So why do we accept that women dancers wear costumes so flimsy that a wardrobe malfunction is almost expected? What other reason could there be but to titillate the males in the audience? Does anyone else find that deeply creepy?

The sexualisation of women's performances reaches beyond the dance floor. There are plenty of sporting pursuits that require women to display ample flesh while their male counterparts are demurely covered. Just think of tennis - where women wear bottom-skimming skirts and the men wear baggy shorts down to their knees. Predictably, the crotch shots of female tennis players are given extensive seedy coverage on various websites.

Surprisingly, a website that boasts "10 Awesome Athlete Camel Toes" had a perceptive comment on the subject of women's sporting clothing (or lack thereof): "For some reason, they [women] seem to compete in every event in something that resembles a bathing suit, regardless of whether or not that activity requires actual swimming."

Volleyball, gymnastics and netball are just some of the pursuits in which female participants are typically underdressed. The potential for unfortunate photographs is huge. At Canterbury journalism school in 2002 we discussed the ethics of publishing a shot of a netball player who had been captured mid-stride from a low angle in a particularly revealing pose. Our consensus at the time was that the image should not have been used.

Unfortunately, photographers and editors (not to mention radio DJs) do not necessarily place importance on preserving the dignity of the women in question. I reckon we need to think of a smarter way of avoiding this unsavoury trade in crotch shots. We could shut it down at the source if female athletes refused to wear sporting (and dancing) gear designed to give even the casual observer a gynaecologist's eye view.