About Us

"14-16 year old girls do not want to participate in physical activity because they feel embarrassed or feel they are putting their bodies on display, and they do not meet society’s beauty standards" (Whitehead, Biddle, 2008, as cited in Get Active Victoria, 2021, p.1).

We are a community of strong, courageous, and ambitious women advocating for the rights of young female athletes in the sporting industry. Our movement focuses on empowering young female athletes to take control of their sporting uniforms and educating and informing athletes’ parents about the sexualisation of girls in sport.

Female athletes of all ages experience routine humiliation and degradation because of their appearances in their body-bearing uniforms. Female athletes, however, should feel comfortable and confident in the uniforms they wear, no matter if it is shorts, pants or long sleeve tops.

#BantheBikini aims to provide female athletes with the choice to select the styles of their uniforms through continuous advocation and events.

As a community, we can STOP the exploitation of girls in sport and #BantheBIkini.

Image: StickPNG, 2021

Image: Herald Sun, 2021.

Vision Statement

#BantheBikini envisions a community free of sexualisation of young females in sport. We imagine local sporting federations in Melbourne to transform their uniform policies and allow young female athletes to compete in garments of their choice, irrespective of length and width. We are committed to the work to achieve this vision.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to create safe and inclusive places for all young female athletes in Melbourne to compete to the best of their abilities, where they can focus on their performance rather than appearance.

Image: Reddit, 2021

Meet The Team

Ashleigh Jones
Founder and Chief Executive

In 2020, she helped found the company. She assisted in the development of #BantheBikini’s mission statement and vision statement and the establishment of the organisation’s marketing plan. She is a current member of the organisation’s Board of Directors. In early 2021, the Australian magazine company, Elle, named her as one of the Top 10 Inspiring Female Leaders in Australia.

In her adolescent years, she was a cheerleader who was forced to perform and compete in close fit bikini bottoms and indecently short skirts. She was unfairly sexualised and discriminated against by sports federations and their outdated uniform requirements. In a pursuit to create a world filled with fairness and equality, she chooses to start here and to #BantheBikini.

In 2020, she joined the #BanTheBikini movement, focusing on the social media representation of the brand and expanding the movement’s audience, as well as being a member of the Leadership Council. She is a strong advocate for women’s rights and is the lead event organiser, helping to spread #BanTheBikini’s message all across Melbourne and beyond.

In her adolescent years, she was a competitive basketball player, forced to wear ill fitting uniforms not designed for developing female bodies, impacting her ability to perform the sport she enjoyed so much.