Sorry prof, there’s no running away from ‘half-naked’ athletes

A university don is threatening to lodge a complaint against Nation Media Group for publishing what he has termed as a “disgusting near-nude” photograph.

The photo in question is that of Kenyan international beach volleyball player Gaudencia Makokha fielding a service ball during a semifinal match against Morocco in the CAVB Continental Cup-cum-Olympic qualifiers.

The match, which the Kenyan duo of Makokha and the vastly experienced Brackcides Agala duly won to storm the finals, was played on June 26, 2021 in Morocco’s southern Atlantic coastal city of Agadir, and the ‘offensive’ picture published the following day on the sports pages of the Sunday Nation.

I didn’t read anything sinister, or remotely disgusting, in the picture. I mean, beach volleyball is played at the beach where the ideal outfit for women is without a doubt the bikini.

It’s a no brainer. But in the conservative society that we live in, that view is apparently not shared by many, including university don Jeremire Araka, a professor of communication and deputy vice-chancellor of the Nairobi-based International Leadership University.

Prof Araka is actually so vexed with the said picture that he is considering bringing up the matter – to put it in his own words – with the Communications Authority. He has already drawn the attention of Nation Media Group’s Public Editor, Peter Mwaura, who published snippets of the don’s lamentation in his latest column.

“It’s totally disgusting to have a near-nude photograph in a national news daily. What happened to decency?” Prof Araka charges in his letter to the Public Editor.

“How did her father or uncles receive the picture? Granted that the photo editor has a right to choose, I believe there are several other angles of the same girl playing that could have conveyed a sense of decorum than baring her anatomy.  Has NMG abandoned any pretence to morality?” he further poses.

In addressing the professor’s genuine concerns, Mr Mwaura sought the wise counsel of NMG Sports Managing Editor, Elias Makori, who settled the matter with a resounding punchline: “… In some sports, like beach volleyball and swimming, it is virtually impossible to pick images with limited body exposure. The nature of these sports is that the athletes have official competition wear that has been approved as decent.”

Enough said. But I would still wish to complement Makori’s sagacious verdict with my two cent worth. The good old professor asks, “How did her father or uncles receive the picture?”

I ask, “How would Makhoha’s or Agala’s father or uncles handle the situation, if at all they had been invited by the tournament organisers to watch and cheer their daughters by the courtside? And now that their daughters are actually going to Tokyo to represent Kenya at the Olympics, are they going to switch off their TV sets and hang their heads in shame whenever the Kenyan girls have a match, too petrified by the sight of daughters’ their “near-nakedness”? Will the good professor demand that the TV crew find “other angles of the girls playing which convey a sense of decorum and don't bare their anatomy”?

My take? It’s presumptuous for the university don to attempt to advance the thoughts of family members of our female volleyball players on the little matter of standard sporting outfits without any empirical evidence to support his hypothesis.

To each his own, but the good professor would be best advised to keep off his TV set when the 2020 Olympic Games get underway in a week’s time. There will be too many skimpy bikinis and skin-hugging track and field outfits out there in Tokyo for his liking.