A vibrator and other prizes offered by a Spanish squash club for their women's tournament.

Some officials at the club Squash Oviedo in northern Spain have stepped down following outcry over their choice of prizes for the top women in the Asturias tournament. Those prizes included a vibrator, an electronic foot file for removing foot calluses, and hair removal wax. As per the BBC, tournament champion Elisabet Sadó and others protested after finding out what they’d won:

“We were very surprised, very shocked. We think it’s very sexist,” Ms Sadó said.

“We wanted to explain it to everybody because we think… there’s a lot of discrimination… [against women in sport] and things have to change.”

…Ms Sadó said she was pleased that the incident had got people across Spain talking about sexism in sport.

“I think the important thing is that there is a public debate and laws in Spain and more protection so women can practise sport,” she said.

The women protested to the local federation, and officials there supported their complaints. And some of the club officials who oversaw the prize selection have now stepped down. But yeah, they probably should have thought that prize selection through a little more carefully. Instead, they wound up making international news for a bad choice.

[BBC]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.