By: Zeina Jabali
Before
Title IX was passed, one in every 27 high school girls played sports, but in
the post Title IX world we live in today 1 in 2.5 does. Courtney E. Martin,
recognizes and appreciates this Laws’ greatness in her article, but she focuses
on the negative effects of female athleticism and dedication, specifically
anorexia. Martin introduces her readers
to two very interesting women who have fallen victim to the temptation of the
perfect athletic body. Martin describes Wendy as extremely and obsessively dedicated
to basketball, she saw loss as “a challenge from God” (Martin 240) provoking
her to be more determined and focused as ever. This led to her anorexia.
Kimberly is another female athlete who loved a challenge, and worked hard to
achieve her goal. As time went on, and as she continued to condition her body
and eat less and less, she had come to weigh 70 pounds at five feet two (Martin
232). Kim’s need for competition and a challenge was actually what brought her
out of her perpetual darkness when her therapist suggested she start seeing
gaining weight as a challenge. The media places heavy emphasis on what it means
to have an athletic body. “Olympic and professional athletes from America,
Canada, and Australia have posed naked or nearly naked in Sports Illustrated, Maxim,
[and] Playboy…” making fourteen-to
eighteen year olds feel negative about their own bodies (Martin 226). Kimiko
Hirai Soldati was a 2004 Olympic Diver who was “purging pretty much everything
[she] ate. [She] was so obsessed about calories that [she] didn't want to chew
gum because there are 5 calories in a stick” (Hellmich). Before reading this
article I was completely oblivious to the fact that female athletes suffered
from anorexia athletica. Maybe it’s another cultural differentiation, but
growing up in Kuwait you rarely ever hear of anyone suffering from eating
disorders.
We
have learnt in class that appearance, whether of males or females, can be used
as an intimation of morality and values; “flesh or fat on the body has been
framed as a signifier of excessiveness and being out of control, but it is also
a particularly strong devaluation of the feminine and is viewed as failed
individual morality…” (Dworkin 107). This has become a basic norm of our
society. However, in the case of pregnant woman I believe we have surpassed the
level of unattainable and unacceptable ideals of perfection. In “Getting Your
Body Back” Dworkin and Wachs, discuss media’s role in the body image of
pregnant woman. They also explore shifts in the woman’s role: from house care
and child rearing to fitness plans to fix their “aesthetically problematic”
bodies. In efforts to fix such unruly sights, maternity brands such as Pea in
the Pod and Eva Alexander have designed lingerie lines advocating that pregnant
women can empower themselves by choosing not to dress in maternal clothing.
After conducting a simple Google search for “Pregnancy Wardrobe” I found a
website designed to help soon to be mothers stay in their non-maternal clothes
for as long as possible. The media has led women into believing that fitness
regimes will empower them by giving them back control of their bodies. This is,
in part, due to the fact that pregnant woman are perceived as slightly
unfeminine, which is perplexing to me because the essence of a woman is
expressed through her ability to carry another life; this feat is more than empowering
in itself.
Anna Grofik
ReplyDeleteLike Zeina said, weight gain was seen as a challenge to be beaten by Wendy. This idea of being in a fight against your own body combined with the bombardment of unrealistic standards in athleticism make many female athletes susceptible to eating disorders. Due to the competitive nature of sports, this competition can transfer out of the game and into the way athletes view their bodies. I found it interesting in the article that when one of the girls on a team started to lose weight and spiral towards anorexia, the other girls on the team subtly started to follow suit and compete with one another over who weighed the least. This circumstance shows the powerful influence of athletic teams and the acceptance of harmful eating practices to achieve new levels of athleticism.
I agree with Zeina in the idea that overweightness is seen as “failed individual morality” in our society, but it surprised me that this was taken into account concerning pregnancy. For example, Zeina’s discovery of a website dedicated to ensuring the size restriction of pregnant women in helping them “stay in their non-maternity clothes” goes to show that even when harboring new life, women are judged unfit and unseemly.
To expand off of what Zeina and Anna said, I was really affected by Martin's telling of her own high school basketball team, the telling was intimate and very relatable. I instantly grasped on to the section of the article that addressed "Sisterhood" among teams and other groupings of girls, and all the team dinners that were retold. I think it is fair to say that when I go to dinner and I have far more food on my plate than any of the girls at the table, I take notice. Although we are completely different and have different dietary needs, I am comparing myself to them constantly, granted, I always eat my food but not without thinking about it all first. There is a competition and comradery that I think is inherent in any group of girls (or women!) I think this transcends from food to exercise and beyond to boyfriends and grades. Martin also reflected on this in her introduction when she commented on the new "perfect" that all girls are trying to achieve, and the consequences for example, eating disorders, that come out of these expectations. --Gracie Hall
ReplyDeleteI agree with zeina about how the anorexia in women's sports is ridiculous. Hearing about athletes trying to watch their weight and then compete at their highest level is disheartening. A man doesn't have to worry about this because most of the time they are trying to gain weight unless they are wrestling. The quote about the olympic athlete watching her calories and not even chewing gum is ridiculous. To have an olympic athlete be that insecure about her weight is something that I never thought of.
ReplyDeleteTJ
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