We admit that we have not paid much attention to badminton since the last family picnic when, as we recall, there were no disputes about rules because rules were not allowed. In particular, there were no disputes about the attire of participants.

But at the highest levels of international badminton, of course, there are rules. You can’t have an Olympic sport without rules (though we confess that we have never quite figured out the scoring system for synchronized swimming.) But, back to badminton: To create a more “attractive presentation,” the Badminton World Federation has decreed that women must wear skirts or dresses to play at the elite level.

If it seems stupid and sexist to you that women badminton players will no longer be allowed to wear shorts or sweatpants to compete, well, you would be in very good company. “This is a blatant attempt to sexualize women,” said Janice Forsyth, director of the International Centre for Olympic Studies at the University of Western Ontario, to The New York Times. “It is amazing. You’d think at some point, somebody would have said: ‘Wait a minute. What are we doing?’ ”

Implementation of the rule has already been delayed by a month by the controversy. Athletes’ representatives said they would seek to have the dress code scrapped, possibly as early as tomorrow at a meeting of the world’s badminton-playing nations in Qingdao, China.