C'mon, Emma! More class!

Just wow... wrote:

wild cattie wrote:

+1

but you're preaching to 14-18 year old boys who have posted almost all of the 7-8 pages

Exactly. For every potential NB customer that was turned off, at least ten were probably turned on.

Amercan women should study Maria Sharapova , this is how you appear in a casual dress public appearance.

Leominister wrote:

You assessment of etiquette is incorrect. This is not a formal occasion, and I doubt you would raise the same issue if a male athlete came attired in the same attire.

I bet 200 guys would make fun of a man wearing similar shorts at the same event. I can't speak for anyone else, but I would. I would tell him to his face.

People don't care that the shorts are revealing, Sisson was there in capri tights and she looked great. That is the point. Cutoff, faded, short jean shorts look like you are going out for tacos, or you are going skateboarding. Nearly anything would have looked like she cared about her image. I watched about 1.5 hrs of the FL show, but did not get through to the boys race, os I did not get a chance to see how the boys coaches looked, but I would expect NB to provide everyone with a uniform or ask them to wear a NB shirt with a collar and some nice looking pants.

The men and women who were announcing at the table looked a little slobby, but they were excellent at the announcing job, just top-notch. Except Carrie Tollefson (who is very pretty) but she showed up with half-died hair, pulled back down low with a rubber band and just needs to stop acting like a giggling 8th-grader and collapsing with laughter when anyone says anything. Getting her hair evenly-dyed and wearing makeup on the day and just acting calmer and more in control would go a long way.

Before you rip me for ripping just one person, I didn't, and watch 10 minutes of just her interviewing different people and asking them "What's next for Cory McGee?" and THEN tell me she could not use the advice.

The meet was in San Diego. Literally no one in the history of the west coast has ever dressed professionally. Why should Emma be held to a different standard than every jacket-without-a-tie slob in California?

John Utah wrote:

Cap obvious wrote:

In about 100% of situations, athletic wear is considered less professional then jeans. This is why we have jeans Friday, and not track pants Friday.

It's too bad you missed the real fashion faux pas - the super christian girl in purple wearing the knee length jean shorts.

You wear ragged cut off jean shorts to work on casual day?

Does your job entail picking up garbage on the side of the road?

it's called fashion sweetie

look it up

don't think so wrote:

RejectRunner wrote:

AMEN

14-18 year old boys have no $$$, so he wins?

Yeah, for sure the largest running group in the nation does not buy any running gear. LOL

Rofl I'm dead.

People would be happier if she wore athletic clothes????

All this does is prove that LRC has no fashion sense. Cutoff jean shorts is just fine for a warm day. It's LESS casual than spandex.

Given recent social-cultural events, mods should probably delete this thread. Thanks.

Ok mom.

Wait. What year is it?

qz wrote:

I usually don't care what people wear and I don't think this has anything to do with showing class. But she is holding the finishing tape, so she is acting in an official capacity. It's like a high school basketball ref wearing jeans and a tee shirt, it brings down the importance of the event for the participants.

+1

She looks like a student roped in from the crowd because the person supposed to be holding the other end of the tape didn't show up. New Balance should have supplied matching outfits for Sisson and Coburn for a professional look.

NERunner053 said "Whether you like it or not it's wrong for a bunch of men to get together on a thread to comment on how a woman looks. Period." Here is the response of an actual girl, which I agree with.

Anactualgirl wrote:

Almost everyone on here is missing OP’s point. It’s not about the shorts being revealing- it’s the type of shorts. She is representing a company, not having a day at the beach. Athletic type shorts of equal length would have been 100x more appropriate for the occasion.

14-18 year old boys have no $$$, so he wins?

I coached until this past season- 14-18 year kids have parents and smart phones:

1. Text mom- mom, I need a pair of shoes

2. log on to New Balance.com where your parent's credit card is in the website

3. Pick your shoes (and some shorts and a top while you're at it)

4. Choose next day delivery, it's not MY money

Boom- Emma and NB win, so you lose.

I was a bit disappointed. These kids worked really hard to get there. Would any male or female athlete dress that way when attending a high level competition. It's just about showing a little respect for the sport, athletes and sponsors. Anytime you cause 9 pages of controversy there is probably a opps moment in there.

I'm assuming so many of you are just PRETENDING to be outraged and offended that Coburn wore cutoff shorts. I can't believe you would actually be upset by this. I mean, seriously.

I can understand the reasons why people would be upset with folks here questioning her fashion choices. It’s a legitimate debate.

What I don’t understand is people calling for censorship. WTF? If you hold a different opinion then you aren’t allowed to discuss it/express it with other people? WTF?

Is this really a thread? Uptight OP needs counseling.

This thread is good for Letsrun because it shows that more than just one demographic group is on this board.

The debate is not whether or not it is okay to wear what you want to a cross country meet. The debate is whether or not you are being judged by what you wear to a cross country meet. This thread says YES that a large percentage is judging you. It doesn't matter whether that they should or not THEY ARE.

The second part of this is whether or not it will make a difference to a sponsor.

I say it is not worth the risk.

I'm locking the thread below and not allowing more posts. I may delete it eventually but don't want people now to think we're trying to stifle discussion when people disagree with us. Disagreement is not a bad thing.

I'm posting an email we got on this issue. He makes some points I agree with and some I disagree.

On the disagreement, our point in allowing the thread was not to allow posts of sexual nature (if posts like this are reported we will delete them) but to let people discuss if what she wore was appropriate.

And in regards to "A woman's body is nobody's business. " I understand the sentiment but when Emma has posed in ESPN the Body, a lot of people are going to comment on her body. By going in the magazine Emma is saying "Look at this body. I want the world seeing it." Now if some people say, "that's not my type of body (or worse)" or even "wow I love that body" I think Emma understands that.

Now we don't have to allow this type of discussion at all on LetsRun.com and her body was not intended to be the point of this thread (but rather her attire), but I think a stronger message for people to learn is that even if someone says comments on her body (or says something offensive about Emma's body or anything for that matter (we don't prescreen content so people will see offensive content even if it gets removed)) that that is outside of Emma's control but she's strong and confident in her body even if people don't agree with what she is wearing.

Email below. If you want to email me

wejo@letsrun.com

Dear LRC Staff,

My name is *****. I am 25 years old. I run and visit LRC regularly but am not going to be able to say the same in the future. In my line of work, I have had a lot of training on subjects pertaining to race and gender. I cannot understand why you have not deleted a recent thread commenting on Emma Coburn's appearance at a recent running event. I cannot understand how you have continued to allow men to fill up pages on this particular thread commenting on Emma's appearance, many of which have been entirely sexual in nature. I've copied Weldon on this message because he included his email on the aforementioned thread with several defenses for the problematic behavior being allowed on this thread.

Weldon- have you ever gone to any training on how to combat sexism that you can make your claims and speak for the website as a truth on this matter? Has the LRC staff ever made a conscious effort to do an all staff training on race and/or gender? Do you, Weldon, really not see what is wrong with LRC facilitating a conversation about how a female runner looks, promoting this conversation, and then defending this conversation?

A woman's body is nobody's business. A pro athlete, like Emma Coburn, has sponsorship duties but this thread goes far beyond what is necessary to talk about that. The thread quickly turned into one where people are weighing in on whether or not they find Emma Coburn attractive or what body parts they find attractive. This is what the thread is actually doing. There is hardly a conversation happening about her value to her sponsor. You would have to delete half of the thread to get any semblance of that. This thread is yet another example of this website providing space to men to talk about how women look. This is very problematic.

I think it is a bad business model to alienate a portion of your viewership. It is not just all about getting clicks. Think about how a thread where a bunch of men commenting on Emma Coburn's appearance makes any woman feel (or any person for that matter). Think about how it would make Emma Coburn feel. Think about how it plays into the mental health of anyone reading that thread. Emma is a great runner. That is what a thread devoted to her should focus on. This is where she provides value to her sponsor.

I'm very disappointed in this website in how it handles most things pertaining to race and gender. I think you will find many young people in agreement with much of what has been expressed in this email and is something you should give serious thought to.

Respectfully,

****