FIDE Picks Breast Implants as a Sponsor for Women's Chess

Finding sponsors is hard. Finding sponsors for chess is even harder and finding sponsors for women's chess is almost undoable. So congratulations to Fide for managing. I guess every company can be criticized but compared to the usual chess sponsors (opaque oligarchs, autistic autocrats etc.) this is progress.
By the way, labeling people undergoing cosmetic surgery as having "low self esteem" seems slightly judgemental - maybe oversimplifying matters.

My reaction to this was a mix of "huh, no way this is real" immediately followed by "why am I surprised". FIDE's treatment of women is so grotesque that it's hard for me to not become cynical about it. It's just the next step from hosting important tournaments and world championships in countries where women are not recognized as fully human.

I don't get how players like Elisabeth Paethz keep being complacent about these things, with this "well, it's better than nothing attitude". No, at some point it's really not. It shouldn't be too much to ask from FIDE, that the sponsors or playing conditions of women chess events are at least not a direct mockery of the sport, especially in the year of 2021. Come on now.

In my mind, women's chess events are a genuine symbol for woman striving to get recognition for something other than their physical appearance. It could all be so beautiful and empowering in terms of marketing. But nooo, slap a sponsor like that on it and it just makes the sport, the event and every single woman playing in it look utterly ridiculous.

@CaroKatze said in #83:
> My reaction to this was a mix of "huh, no way this is real" immediately followed by "why am I surprised". FIDE's treatment of women is so grotesque that it's hard for me to not become cynical about it. It's just the next step from hosting important tournaments and world championships in countries where women are not recognized as fully human.
>
> I don't get how players like Elisabeth Paethz keep being complacent about these things, with this "well, it's better than nothing attitude". No, at some point it's really not. It shouldn't be too much to ask from FIDE, that the sponsors or playing conditions of women chess events are at least not a direct mockery of the sport, especially in the year of 2021. Come on now.
>
> In my mind, women's chess events are a genuine symbol for woman striving to get recognition for something other than their physical appearance. It could all be so beautiful and empowering in terms of marketing. But nooo, slap a sponsor like that on it and it just makes the sport, the event and every single woman playing in it look utterly ridiculous.
@CaroKatze said in #83:
> My reaction to this was a mix of "huh, no way this is real" immediately followed by "why am I surprised". FIDE's treatment of women is so grotesque that it's hard for me to not become cynical about it. It's just the next step from hosting important tournaments and world championships in countries where women are not recognized as fully human.
>
> I don't get how players like Elisabeth Paethz keep being complacent about these things, with this "well, it's better than nothing attitude". No, at some point it's really not. It shouldn't be too much to ask from FIDE, that the sponsors or playing conditions of women chess events are at least not a direct mockery of the sport, especially in the year of 2021. Come on now.
>
> In my mind, women's chess events are a genuine symbol for woman striving to get recognition for something other than their physical appearance. It could all be so beautiful and empowering in terms of marketing. But nooo, slap a sponsor like that on it and it just makes the sport, the event and every single woman playing in it look utterly ridiculous.

IKR!

I'm guessing that they're short of options. This can't be their first pick. Is it still possible for them to reconsider? I suppose it's at least good that the marketing is on reconstruction after cancer but it would be better if they found someone else.

If FIDE okay-d to be endorsed by Establishment Labs while failing to see the obvious cynism behind this decision; it says a lot about their mentality... Either that or they gambled nobody would notice!

It could be worse. The sponsor could be The Cryonics Institute. That would freeze women's chess.

FIDE is a very big organization, perhaps tiny compared to the giants of the competitive-activities part of the world, however the organization is the representative of chess and is what creates many major tournaments and helps bring chess culture.

So, I think that FIDE definitely was able to afford to reject this kind of sponsorship, especially one so inappropriate and contradictory to the theme of which the company is sponsoring.

Another mistake by FIDE, and one against women as well, as if it was a dark joke on women insecurities and then use something random and specific to cover up and make an excuse.

When will men stop being like this? It's my earnest hope that a scandal the size of a tsunami wave washes away the sexist pigs at FIDE.

For me, man, being traditional and all - it first seemed fine... and then:
Penis enlargement sponsor for FIDE worldcup?!
Would you guys participate? :-) Not the same? Or maybe it is...

Judging by the way a lot of user react to this I can only hope that there are a lot of teen boys responding who have little real world experience. In that case, I hope you have good rolemodels that teach you to treat women with respect.

The article itself perfectly explains why choosing a breast implant company as a sponsor for womens chess is a terrible idea and I agree. Anyone who is confused after reading it is either too young to understand or is part of the problem. Those saying a "bad" sponsor is better then none at all, or "they could have picked a worse sponsor", you have no idea what you're talking about.

I think this is either a terrible error in judgement at best, or just some sick joke.