How ice dancing costumes exploit men

At first I subscribed to the popular idea that, like women's ice-dancing coaches, there existed only a handful of costume designers "qualified" to create women's figure skating costumes. My received wisdom was "if you are serious about your sport, you really, really have to be good enough to land yourself with one of these seamstresses". But then I asked:

Who are these freaks that are still foisting 1970's misogyny on these poor young women? And why do women, in particular, not just tolerate this but defend it?

I found no answer, but the question led to the more important consideration of why such immensely talented athletes would wear costumes that even a self-respecting Playboy bunny would consider "way over the top"…if the world still had bunnies and if they actually had thoughts.

Why would any self-respecting woman wear a full-body suit replete with flesh-coloured panels suggesting that her decoulletage extended below her (non-existent) navel? Or wear a costume where her legs appeared to be real skin but, on close examination, turned out to be flesh-coloured spandex? Why not just suit up like a speedskater and do your sport?

The women in my life appeared to be very taken with the costumes of these athletes. They patiently explained that this is part of the tradition; the "art" of the sport.

Myself, I argued that the costumes detracted from the art, citing the skater whose glittering waistband moved in a completely different orbit from her body during a crucial part of her dance. I got nowhere. Apparently I just didn't get it.

Perhaps, I argued, these costumes are just another example of the exploitation of women. My female friends were outraged about this idea. So, finally, alone and nursing my wounds, a realization as thick and heavy as a quarterback's bark stunned me…these costumes are not about the skaters or their art; they are, at a deep level, about attracting men, not just to the sport, but to some fashionable ideal of "femininity", and that's why so many women, particularly, defend them.

To me, the inevitable conclusion is that they are more about the exploitation of men than women. Worse, sadly, they exploit each of us, regardless of gender.