AUSTRALIAN women's surfwear and swimsuit giant Roxy has hit back at criticism of its voyeuristic promotional video which reduces a young female surfer to a body without a head.

The backlash against the company’s Youtube promotion for a professional women’s surfing contest in France it sponsors gained momentum today.

The video has been labelled softcore porn, or more suitable as a lingerie ad, for the way the camera pans across the young female surfer as she’s clad only in underpants, and then has a shower. The company claims the ad is a competition to guess the surfer’s identity.

media_camera A scene from the Roxy YouTube video.

Five-time world womens professional surfing champion Stephanie Gilmore and South African professional surfer Rosy Hodge have been named as the possible blonde surfer in the video.

Roxy will reveal the identity of the surfer tomorrow (Tuesday) as part of a competition.

media_camera South African professional surfer Rosy Hodge (left) and Australian Stephanie Gilmore are suspected of being the face behind the Roxy ad. Pictures: Alpha Magazine and ASP/GRAMBEAU

Today, Roxy answered its critics by saying "women are complex and multi-dimensional".

"To ignore this fact is to ignore who we truly are," Roxy said in a statement on its Facebook page.

"Obviously, there's been much conversation around the video we recently released. We believe all athletes are naturally beautiful, in and out of the water. You certainly don't have to be sexy to be an athlete, & we also believe it's not wrong to be an athlete and to be sexy, if you choose to be. We don't judge one to be better than the other and we don't believe in excluding one for the other."

media_camera A scene from the Roxy YouTube video.

Female surfers, and fathers of some young female “grommets, have taken to social media criticising the video and promising to boycott the brand.

In the video, a young woman is shown half-naked on a bed.

The camera pans slowly up the topless woman's tanned legs and focuses on her body as she checks her phone and dons only a white shirt - which is provocatively dropped to the floor as she enters a shower.

media_camera Raunchy... A scene from the ad

The video, which shows no riding of waves, has been attacked as sexualising female athletes - attracting a storm of protest on social media.

"There is nothing wrong with celebrating fit athletic bodies, I'm all for it, but this goes way beyond," said Macquarie University Professor Catharine Lumby, who has advised the Australian Sports Commission on the "sexploitation" of female sportswomen.

Ms Lumby, who has also worked with Australian Rugby League on gender issues and sexism, said of the video: "It is really just very voyeuristic."

media_camera A scene from the Roxy YouTube video.

"It looks more like a lingerie ad ... It seems completely out of touch with modern Australia and little to do with the sport it is publicising," she said.

On Twitter, comments included "this does nothing for women in surfing being taken seriously" and "tell Roxy female surfers deserve better".

A spokesman for the Australian Sports Commission said: "The ASC considers it has a responsibility to ensure that images of female athletes are positive and are not sexualised. We discourage promotional activities that lead to female athletes being exploited."

media_camera Risque... Another scene from the ad.

Australian surfwear companies have been attacked in the past for promoting attractive female surfers at the expense of those who do far better in competition but do not have photogenic looks.

A spoof video has already appeared on YouTube, in which the camera pans slowly up a man's hairy legs to his baggy underpants.