As I watched the Fifa Women's World Cup, I was probably one of many who couldn't help but feel inspired by the women on the pitch, showing their elite fitness and ability. However, many female athletes have spoken out about the pressures they feel in regards to their bodies and the way they look.
Recently, legendary US climber Beth Rodden spoke about the pressure she felt to have a six-pack for photoshoots, and Olympic athletics champion Jessica Ennis-Hill was once called "fat" by an official at UK Athletics. The 2022 Whyte Review into allegations of abuse in British gymnastics found that coaches often publicly shamed young gymnasts about their weight.
These world-class athletes are not anomalies. A 2014 BT sport survey found that 80% of the 110 elite female athletes who took part felt pressure to conform to a "certain image and body type."
My own research interviewing female athletes found they are hit by a double standard. One of the participants, Sarah, said, "For athletes, there are many pressures to be strong and fit, but also have that feminine look. I feel that athletes are put into … two categories … either they are labeled that they don't try hard enough, as they don't look strong or fit and muscly, or they are shamed for looking manly and it's 'too much.'"
I interviewed five female athletes to talk in-depth about their feelings around their body image. They each performed in a different sport: football, netball, rowing, korfball and sailing, showing how widespread the problem is.
There are pressures on men too. Olympic diver Tom Daley has spoken out about the body image issues he experiences as a result of pressure from the sports industry. However it does seem that on the whole, women tend to feel more pressure around their appearance.
In 2022, researchers interviewed 47 people involved in the female football industry in England, including players and coaches and found that players “under-fuel”. This means they are not eating enough to meet their energy demands.
The study found that women and girls were under-eating due to misunderstandings about carbohydrates and fear of weight gain. The researchers suggested that “carbohydrate fear” is made worse by pressure from social media and coaches
Imagine being stupid enough to sabotage the health, performance, and mental well-being of your affiliated professional athlete because they don't conform to some arbitrary sexist beauty standard...
Imagine being stupid enough to sabotage the health, performance, and mental well-being of your affiliated professional athlete because they don't conform to some arbitrary sexist beauty standard you're impressing on them.
I think is even more complex than that in the sense the female athletes don’t want to wear clothes that are too “sexy” but also don’t want to look too “frumpy”. There are all sorts of practical...
I think is even more complex than that in the sense the female athletes don’t want to wear clothes that are too “sexy” but also don’t want to look too “frumpy”. There are all sorts of practical factors such as white shorts showing period blood, etc. That is, female athletes feel stuck between many constraints that aren’t all satisfiable.
What I enjoy about sports is seeing people fight really hard and women’s sports delivers on that so well but we are all conditioned to judge women on how they look and that is a big distraction but again, women want to look good too, don’t we all?
If it's a self imposed pressure, that's one thing, but it seems like the article is talking about pressure from external factors to fit a certain female athlete visual archetype. I suppose there...
If it's a self imposed pressure, that's one thing, but it seems like the article is talking about pressure from external factors to fit a certain female athlete visual archetype. I suppose there isn't necessarily agency behind that pressure, it can be more nebulous than my original comment focused on.
There was an issue with the uniforms in women's beach volleyball two years ago, https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/women-athletes-uniform-changes-1.6122725. it was honestly ridiculous on the...
Alison Owen
Imagine being stupid enough to sabotage the health, performance, and mental well-being of your affiliated professional athlete because they don't conform to some arbitrary sexist beauty standard you're impressing on them.
I think is even more complex than that in the sense the female athletes don’t want to wear clothes that are too “sexy” but also don’t want to look too “frumpy”. There are all sorts of practical factors such as white shorts showing period blood, etc. That is, female athletes feel stuck between many constraints that aren’t all satisfiable.
What I enjoy about sports is seeing people fight really hard and women’s sports delivers on that so well but we are all conditioned to judge women on how they look and that is a big distraction but again, women want to look good too, don’t we all?
If it's a self imposed pressure, that's one thing, but it seems like the article is talking about pressure from external factors to fit a certain female athlete visual archetype. I suppose there isn't necessarily agency behind that pressure, it can be more nebulous than my original comment focused on.
There was an issue with the uniforms in women's beach volleyball two years ago, https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/women-athletes-uniform-changes-1.6122725. it was honestly ridiculous on the part of the sanction. Let athletes wear what they want as long as it's not a safety concern.