FIFA is finally taking a step on sexism and is asking its broadcasters to stop zooming in on young female fans at major tournaments, including the ongoing World Cup in Russia. Known as the ‘honey shot’, drooling over women during sports broadcasting has existed since the 70s. A group called the Fare Network, which promotes anti-discrimination, is advising FIFA to stop cutting away to attractive females in the stands. ‘Honey shot’ was pioneered in the 70’s by television director, Andy Sidaris who called himself a ‘dirty old man’.

Federico Addiechi, FIFA’s diversity boss, stated that FIFA has told its broadcast services to end such practices. Although it not yet an official policy but that the governing body is keen on ‘taking action against things that are wrong’. As quoted by the Irish Examiner, Addiechi said, “This is one of the activities that we definitely will have in the future – it’s a normal evolution. We have done it on a case-by-case basis when some cases arose, and they were pretty evident. “We’ve done it with individual broadcasters. We’ve done it as well with our host broadcast services.”

Female broadcasters being harassed or assaulted on-air has also been an issue. Fare Network, executive director, Piara Powar insists sexism has been one of the biggest problems at the ongoing World Cup, according to the Irish Examiner. He shed light on how instances of female reporters being kissed or grabbed on live television have become a common phenomenon at this year’s World Cup.

Another trend that has emerged on social media is comparing the ‘hotness’ of women from different countries by using the honey shots. Twitter has standalone pages like ‘World Cup Girls’ dedicated for sharing and comparing screenshots of young women at the World Cup.

Twitter Page Comparing ‘Hot’ Women of Different Countries

Recently, Getty images had published a photo gallery titled ‘the hottest fans at the World Cup’ that featured only women. After receiving criticism, the image-hosting platform took down the gallery and issued an apology for the same. Sexism doesn’t end on just panning cameras on young beautiful women. Last month, Burger King Russia announced that it would offer a lifetime supply of Whoppers to any women who was able to get impregnated by a player. There’s only two World Cup games left – Belgium vs England for third place and France vs Croatia for the title. The event ends this Sunday.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 13, 2018 11:26 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).