Woman’s “Suggestive” Pose Gets Her into Trouble with Future In-Laws
“Since education through habits must precede education through reason and education of the body must precede education of the mind, gymnastics must be the first thing taught to children.”
Those words were written by Greek philosopher Aristotle.
Yes, gymnastics has its roots in Ancient Greece, the birthplace of the Olympics. The word came from the Greek word gymnos, which means “naked.” Back then, Greek youths trained in pure nakedness as they performed floor exercises, raced one another, and lifted weights.
No one knows how this ancient tradition started. An old story speaks of a certain runner whose loin cloth slipped, causing him to trip. Hence, all of the other athletes took off their loin cloths to avoid the same misfortune. But some historians claimed that this ancient culture has more to do with initiation rites, when young male Greeks would walk around naked in their entry to manhood.
However, even though women also received physical education, they were not allowed to perform gymnastics naked along with men. In fact, women were not allowed to compete in the Olympics except for a particular event, according to National Geographic: “Yes, it was kind of a second string of the festival. The [women’s] games were held at Olympia and dedicated to Zeus’s consort Hera. The young women ran in short tunics with their right breast exposed as an homage to the Amazon warrior women, a race of female super warriors that was believed to have cauterized their right breast so as not to impede their javelin throwing.”
But today, we of course know that women are active participants in the Modern Olympics. In the world of gymanstics, Nadia Comăneci is a legend: a five-gold Olympic medalist and the very first gymnast to be awarded with a perfect score of 10.
This Original Poster, who later deleted her username on Reddit’s r/AmItheA–hole forum, is proud of her own experience with gymnastics. Unfortunately, she might have gone too far when she performed before a group of her boyfriend’s family and friends.
She wrote, “I (24f) was a gymnast in college, and I’ve gotten used to that being a topic of discussion when around new people. A few days ago, I was hanging out by the pool with my boyfriend and some of his friends and family, and one of his cousins asked me if I could still do all the moves and stretches. I played along, put down my drink, and did a standing split, lifting my leg and holding it behind my head. It was a seemingly normal cute moment, whatever. People clapped, we laughed, moved on.”
But, later, her boyrfriend’s sister approached her and said that what she did was inappropriate in her point of view. According to this woman, “it was ‘suggestive’ to do that in a bikini in front of a mixed audience.”
OP tried to defend herself, explaining that it was a basic pose in gymnastics and even in yoga. However, she’s being given the cold treatment since the incident.
Was she being too naive?
Here are some of the best comments from Reddit’s AITA community:
From whatshwecay: “To be really honest, there will be folks who find someone doing the splits in a swimsuit super hot. BUT, to say it’s ‘suggestive?’ Which sounds close to slut shaming and potential victim blaming? That’s wrong and completely out of line. NTA.”
From Existing-Drummer-326: “It’s called jealousy, and you are NTA. Believe me, I would be jealous too, but I wouldn’t shame you for a skill you have obviously worked very hard on. Plus, your clothing isn’t far off what most Olympic athletes wear during their routines anyway! Full on jealousy from her. Forget it and move on.”
From Foreign_Artist_223: “As long as your bathing suit was such that your bits remained covered (I have a couple of lower-coverage bikinis where maneuvering into the position would likely involve flashing some people) then there’s nothing sexual about it.”
