'Best Booty Ever': Teen Spandex Volleyball Shorts | Why?

GNBV 14U Gold Finals
Hendrickson & Snipes v. Adishian & Le Blanc

Previously, we wrote a post about European teen handballers competing in (cheeky) bikinis and a post about the super short skirts of French ball girls and teen tennis players. 

Now the question is: Why do (most) [teen] beach volleyball players choose to compete in (cheeky) bikinis? 

Unlike in handball, it doesn't appear that wearing a (cheeky) bikinis is mandatory. For example, in the GNBV 14U Gold Finals (Nov 7, 2020), Hendrickson & Snipes choose to compete in (cheeky) bikinis, but Adishian & Le Blanc competed in (non-spandex) shorts.

As for indoor volleyball, (most) [teen] players compete in spandex volleyball shorts. Why?

Mandy MS posted "Why Are Volleyball Shorts so Short and Tight?" (APR 9, 2020) on How They Play. Mandy wrote that, due to the popularity of spandex, volleyball players switched from non-spandex shorts to spandex in the 1970s but not to sexualize nymphet volleyball players:

[Volleyball] didn't become a widespread college and high school level sport until the 70s after the NAIA and NCAA had introduced it as a varsity level sport.

As the synthetic material spandex became more popular in the late 1970s, many teams started switching over to spandex as part of their uniform. Both in the United States and internationally, women were wearing what was commonly referred to as "bun huggers" with greater frequency. 

Despite what many may have you believe. The shorts were not chosen with a desire to sexualize your daughters or to add sex appeal and spectators to the sport. The shorts were chosen for comfort and practicality.

Do you believe that the switch to spandex "bun huggers" was for for comfort and practicality and not to sexualize volleyball players? #rhetoricalquestion

Interestingly, Aeropostale sells the Best Booty Ever Solid Volleyball Shorts in the website's Girls Bottoms section. The teen volleyball shorts are described as: Booty Enhancing | Contoured seaming and feminine ruching on the back. 

St. Francis versus Palo Alto High School

But Mandy didn't explain why (some) [teen] volleyball players congratulate their teammates with a slap on their spandex "bun huggers". Take for example the 2011 St. Francis versus Palo Alto High School volleyball game where numbers 6, 13 and 14 seemed to be particularly fond of congratulating each other via checking, clasping, and clutching cheeks. 

But we do know why (some) [teen] volleyball players display their spandex "bun huggers" on TikTok. #likes #comments #follows

Scarlett Johansson: Hypersexualised Teen | Who's to Blame?

Owen Tonks posted on the Daily Mail "Scarlett Johansson, 36, reveals she felt typecast in 'hypersexualised' roles in her teens by 'a bunch of dudes' in Hollywood" (18 July 2021) 

The actress, 36, had her break as an adult actress as Charlotte in 2003 movie Lost in Translation at the age of 18, but had her first leading role as Manny in Manny & Lo at the age of 12.

The star said she felt typecast in certain roles in her teens and on into her early 20s, telling The Sun: 'When I was working in my early twenties, and even my late teens, I felt that I got somehow typecast as hypersexualised, which I guess at the time seemed OK to everyone.

Johansson Manny & Lo (12) | Ghost World (16)

We're assuming that by "everyone", Johansson is including herself and her parent(s).  But, unsurprisingly, I'm incorrect, because Johansson recuses herself and her parents from any blame but relates that it was "kind of crafted" "probably" by "a bunch of dudes in the [film] industry.'" 

'Even though it wasn’t part of my own narrative, it was kind of crafted for me by probably a bunch of dudes in the industry.'

Johansson Ghost World (16)

Is it possible that Johansson, her parents, and the film dudes are to blame? #rhetoricalquestion Then Johansson went on to, erroneously, imply that nymphets are no longer being "typecast as hypersexualised" 

However, she insists 'the climate is so different now' and there are 'so many wonderful opportunities for women' in Hollywood today.

Netflix's Never Have I Ever

I wouldn't be surprised if Johansson didn't watch U16 handball, but I would be shocked if she didn't have a Netflix, Hulu and/or HBO Max account. 

Scarlett Johansson & Benicio Del Toro

Did Johansson's 'hypersexualised' roles lead her to being too sexual teen? Glenys Roberts related in a Daily Mail post that: 

"A 19-year-old Scarlett Johansson was so overcome by its heady atmosphere in 2004 that she couldn’t wait to get upstairs with [37-year-old] Puerto Rican star ­Benicio Del Toro and ripped off his clothes in the lift. ‘We were making out or having sex or something,’ she readily admitted later."

Euro [Teen] Handballers: Tiny Little [Spandex] Shorts" Versus [Cheeky] Bikinis

Claire Lampen posted on New York Magazine's The Cut that "Female Athletes Fined for Not Competing in Bikinis" ( JULY 26, 2021):

[T]he European Handball Federation just fined the Norwegian women’s beach team [150 euros (≈ $177) per player] for wearing tiny little [spandex] shorts rather than bikini bottoms during a championship match in Bulgaria last week.

[T]he International Handball Federation — unfortunately this matter goes all the way to the top — dictates that women wear sports bras and bikini bottoms “with a close fit and cut on an upward angle toward the top of the leg,” and sides shorter than four inches, during beach competition. 

Wait, are "tiny little [spandex] shorts" less revealing than bikinis? #rhetoricalquestion

And Lampen asked: "Do they impose similarly revealing mandates for male beach handballers?" Of course not! Apparently, Lampen didn't realize that the allure of nymphets extends to sports. For instance, we shared in an earlier post the discrepancy between the length of the French ball girl and ball boy uniforms. 

In particular to handballers, we made a GIF from the Under 16 Beach Handball EURO 2016 YouTube video, which, unsurprisingly, displays the nymphet handballers in cheeky bikini bottoms and the boys in (almost) knee length shorts.