Against synchronized swimming

In this article, Chris Spicer defends synchronized swimming as a difficult discipline that requires great talent and athleticism and is unfairly lambasted for bad reasons. The only such reason he (she?) considers is that maybe people hate it because it "looks easy."

I don't hate it because "it looks easy." I hate it because it is sexist and looks dumb.

I totally agree that the routines are crazy hard and deserve respect for the athletic prowess they require. That's the whole point. The talent and athleticism are all but drowned by the supposedly artistic presentation, and THAT is what turns people off and makes them ridicule the sport.

The forced smiles, the nose clamps, the unnecessarily revealing high-cut swimsuits, the circus head gear, the whorish makeup...

All these artificial superstructures turn amazing gymnasts into meat on display, which of course wouldn't happen if they were male.