Opinion: Enough with the looks-policing in women’s sports

Christina Kirk — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 14:00:40 +0000

The American women’s artistic gymnastics team at the 2016 Olympic Games. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Content warning: discussion of disordered eating and body image issues

I remember being most conscious of my widened hips and my four-inch growth spurt when standing in front of the mirror-lined wall in my gymnasium, practicing full turns and split jumps at gymnastics practice.

I was surrounded by girls who were 5’1” and shorter – thin, lean and graceful. At 5’5”, I felt like a giant. I worried about how much more the vault’s springboard would depress or the uneven bars would buckle down when I put my weight on them compared to my teammates. I worried that my bigger body would magnify mistakes like sickled feet or bent knees when I competed in front of judges.

In seventh grade, I downloaded a calorie counter to my iPod Touch and cut my daily caloric intake in half. For a couple of weeks, I kept up like that, happy to see my (perfectly average) weight drop by a few pounds per week before I became so exhausted and starved that I reverted to my old eating habits.

Dropping a few pounds didn’t help me look more graceful during my routines. In fact, it crippled my abilities. I was moody, lethargic and generally malnourished. I struggled to get through my practices, and I could not give the same attention to minute details like pointed feet and 135 degree kicks that I could on a nutritious diet.

I can’t call my adolescent experiment in weight loss an eating disorder in any diagnosable psychiatric sense, but it certainly exhibited a pattern of disordered eating and body consciousness that I would later learn permeated athletes in what are traditionally categorized as “women’s” sports.

Statistics about the prevalence of eating disorders and body dysmorphia among women in sports are staggering. NEDA, the National Eating Disorder Association, cites that over 50 percent of female athletes in Division 1 NCAA sports reported behaviors that placed them at risk for bulimia. Over one-third reported symptoms which would place them at risk for anorexia.

The first time I remember encountering the gross fixation on bodies within the athletic world was in the place where all critical thought goes to die: the YouTube comments section. I frequently watched videos of Olympic gymnastics, and this time I was watching clips from the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin were the two frontrunners of the 2008 American women’s artistic gymnastics team. The two gymnasts were worldwide favorites to win on most apparatuses and in the all-around category.

Comments on clips of these two gymnasts competing at the Games are riddled with phenotypic and anatomical observations of Johnson and Liukin. Often, the two are directly compared to each other, and keyboard judges posited that Liukin’s domination on bars was due in large part to the natural grace of her lean body, as opposed to Johnson’s stout frame, which some commenters lamented would “thunk” down the balance beam. Though there were several comments praising the gymnasts’ skillfulness and athletic prowess, there were just as many detractive comments about how the athletes looked, most concerning the aesthetics of their bodies.

Following the 2008 Olympics, Johnson battled an eating disorder – unsurprisingly due in part to widespread media attention focused on her body. She spoke later in an interview about an unspoken mentality in gymnastics that associated better athletic performance with weight.

“Society, stereotypes [were to blame for how I felt about my body]. I don’t think it was one person. It was a simple mentality in our sport that the lighter you are, the better you look and the better you do,” Johnson said.

Simone Biles – the all-around gold medalist in women’s artistic gymnastics in the 2016 Olympics and the most decorated American gymnast – has been the target of many cruel remarks regarding her physical appearance, despite the attention that should be given to the sheer magnificence of her gymnastics.

In February of this year, Biles made an Instagram post detailing her frustration with harmful beauty expectations as they’ve been applied to her in her athletic career.

Simone Biles’ Instagram post.

With resolve, Biles ended the post by saying, “Nobody should tell you or I what beauty should or shouldn’t look like.”

And yet, the media, commentators and sports fans do, and they have been for a while.

Though she is now predominantly associated with her scandal, Tonya Harding first made headlines in the early 90s by being the first American woman in figure skating to land a triple axel in competition. Accompanying those headlines, however, were nasty references to Harding’s “thunder thighs” in addition to criticisms of her outfit and hairstyle.

Yet, was it not Harding’s “thunder thighs” that propelled her high enough to land the triple axel?

The same goes for Johnson and Biles: Is it not the same bodies the media have criticized that allow Biles to flip 10 feet into the air or Johnson to confidently land her inconceivably difficult beam series?

While being praised for groundbreaking athletic feats, women in sports are constantly being denigrated for the same finely trained body parts that enable them.

In sports like figure skating and gymnastics, where the athletes are literally being given point values for how their bodies look – the point of their toes, the angle of their bodies in the air, the confidence of their landing – the audience often feels justified in making critical observations about athletes’ appearances. Observers impose a homogenized standard of beauty onto athletes, yet fail to realize that it is the very physical diversity of athletes itself that make sports so exciting to watch.

Furthermore, it’s simply silly and degrading to expect these women to look like fashion models. They’ve trained, often for a decade or more, to be in peak physical form and have become the best of the best in their sport. Their bodies are physical manifestations of dedication, grit and perseverance.

Even beyond elite sports, the danger is still apparent. All athletes – men and women, from recreational sports all the way up to the Olympics – hear a certain set of narratives regarding their bodies. Athletes are told they must be trim and lean. Excess fat is something to be burned off through a stricter diet or harder training. That’s why the rate of eating disorders among athletes is so high.

It’s evident we have to change the narrative. Training for and competing in your sport should have nothing to do with mainstream ideals about physical aesthetics.

I can recall my teammates frequently making negative comments about their own bodies, too, though I never thought too much about that because I was too consumed by my issues with my own.

Sometime after my experiment in weight loss, one of my teammates lamented the few pounds she must have gained while examining her stomach in that same mirror-lined wall. This was a frequent occurrence among the post-pubescent girls in my team.

This time, my coach overheard, clearly perturbed, and she said something that still sticks with me when I get upset over gaining weight.

“You are beautiful,” my coach said, “because of two things: You are healthy, and you are strong.”

And that’s all that should matter.

We think about it when we get dressed, eat lunch, watch movies and walk down the street. Everyday we are bombarded with messages from social media, television, advertisements, peers and family members about how our bodies should look.

The William Jewell College campus came together to say enough is enough at the “You are More Than a Number: The Detrimental Effects of Weight Stigma” presentation and discussion Feb. 27. Panhellenic Council and the Office of Counseling Services sponsored the event, which was prompted by the annual speaker from EDCare, a group that offers eating disorder treatment, during National Eating Disorder Awareness Week.

Dr. Tricia Hager, Director of Counseling Services at WJC, was involved in hosting the event. She said that the presentation on body image is applicable to the Jewell campus.

“Weight stigma is commonplace in our current society and often has a negative impact on individuals,” Hager said. “Jewell is not an exception to this, and many of the individuals on campus face this negative impact on a daily basis.”

Lydia TerHaar, sophomore nonprofit leadership and Spanish major, publicized the event on campus. Along with Freja Ingelstam, senior international relations and history major, TerHaar set up an interactive “What do you like about your body?” board in the Union. TerHaar and Ingelstam’s efforts made it evident that Jewell students must make a conscious effort to reduce weight stigma.

“This topic is especially pertinent to Jewell’s campus because it is really hard to take care of yourself and make sure you are showing love and kindness to yourself in this phase of life,” TerHaar said. “Everyone is so busy, with homework, friends, school activities, etc. that self-care is put on the back burner. Furthermore, we are dead in the middle of a culture that is so body-focused and extremely critical, especially towards young women, so weight stigma issues must not go ignored.”

To tease out the issues associated with body image, the event featured guest speaker JesseLee McKee, a National Outreach representative from EDCare Kansas City.

“Some of McKee’s main points included trying to identify what words we associate with different people’s looks/weights and how we can change our perceptions to be kinder to both others and ourselves,” TerHaar said. “I would say the most crucial takeaway from the whole event is that ‘healthy’ is not a certain number of pounds or a certain appearance—‘healthy’ is about feeling, not looking.”

Micaela Lynch, junior nursing and ACT-in major, attended the event through prompting from her sorority and through interest due to her prospective career in the health industry. Before attending the presentation, she did realize the social injustice surrounding body image. Now she knows what to look for and to be open-minded.

“We always need to focus on how we interact with one another as well as understand that we do not know everyone’s individual stories and histories,” Lynch said.

McKee’s discussion at the weight stigma event has lasting effects for Jewell students and staff who attended and heard about the message of the presentation. These impacts come in the form of life changing advice on how to live a happy and healthy life.

Dr. Hager proposed some tips for individuals to help improve their body image.

“Look at our own bias and attitudes toward weight and size,” she said. “Challenge and change our perception of weight and health. Reject comparisons to external standards that are not realistic. Promote self-care – loving yourself as you are. Learn to care for yourself, instead of comparing yourself. Reduce use of body-shaming language and conversation. Recognize your body for what it can do and appreciate it. Embrace health at every size. Take good care of your body.”

TerHaar also gives advice learned from the presentation to help everyone accept themselves as they are.

“Do what makes your body happy and healthy,” TerHarr said. “That doesn’t mean only doing healthy activities or eating healthy foods—in fact, I think it is healthy to let yourself eat some junk food or have a super lazy day. It’s all about balance and paying attention to what you need. As far as body image goes, fighting against culture’s ridiculous body standards is so, so challenging for young people today, but I think my best advice would be to try to surround yourself with people who treat you and your body with respect. No one has time or space in their life to have others criticize or belittle their bodies, so I would encourage every person to strive to surround themselves with those who lift them up and also be uplifting to others.”

TerHaar’s guiding words help individuals on a day to day basis be thankful and content with their bodies. She is already looking towards next year to plan a similar event that is more comprehensive and allows more time for discussion.

For more information on weight stigma, body image and eating disorders, or if you find that you or a friend need further help, consult the below resources provided by Dr. Hager.

Contact Office of Counseling Services to schedule an appointment at counselingservices@william.jewell.edu.

Utilize the free mental health self-evaluation (for self or a friend) on Counseling Services webpage http://www.jewell.edu/student-life/counseling-center.

Some other helpful websites include www.eatingdisorderhope.com and www.nationaleatingdisorders.org.

body image – The Hilltop Monitor

Opinion: Enough with the looks-policing in women’s sports

Campus weight stigma event: Health is not an image