As a little girl I used to sit on the
floor with my eyes glued to the TV as women in beautiful, sparkling outfits
floated effortlessly across the ice and jumped and twirled with nothing but
absolute grace. I had the same admiration
for my ballet instructor whose every move was fluid and gentle. I idolized these women, and aspired to one
day not only be able to move like them but also to look as perfect as them. What I didn’t realize at the time, at least not consciously, was that
all of these women had one thing in common: they were thin. It wasn’t until I watched a movie during
health class in middle school about ballerinas that struggle with eating
disorders that I realized my idols may have been suffering underneath of the
smiles and glitter. As Joan Ryan
illustrates in her book Little Girls in
Pretty Boxes elite female athletes face such enormous pressure to be thin
that they often suffer from major physical and emotional health problems. The reason that I never saw anything but
beautiful smiling faces as a child is that female athletes do a great amount of
emotion work. When a female athlete fails in
her performance she must not show even the slightest bit of frustration; she must remain the composed and professional athlete that the judges and her
coaches expect her to be. For this
reason, eating disorders are often hidden by female athletes who do not want to
risk losing their spot in competitions and being dismissed by authoritarian
coaches. A USA Today article documents
how coaches often warn their athletes about gaining weight and contribute to the
soaring number of female athletes with eating disorders (http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-02-05-women-health-cover_x.htm).
Although female athletes disguise their
problematic relationships with food, there have been increasing reports of women
who have shared their stories. One of these stories is about track and field
star Sarah Sumpter, whose untrained high school coaches did nothing to aid her
in battling her disorder. They may have
simply been uninformed about eating disorders, or they may have ignored it
because for every pound Sarah lost she ran faster and faster. The article points out that while NCAA
coaches receive nutritional training, high school coaches are not required to receive
training and do not have nutritionists on hand to turn to with questions (http://espn.go.com/blog/high-school/girl/post/_/id/1648/does-a-hunger-to-win-fuel-eating-disorders).
Sarah Sumpter’s sport is included in the
list of sports that encourage thin bodies.
These sports, including gymnastics, dancing, and figure skating, are often
flush with female competitors. However,
there are many men that also compete in these sports. So why don’t they suffer from eating
disorders as often as women? The answer
lies within sociocultural factors that shape how men and women view themselves.
While men are encouraged to get bigger by gaining muscle, women are encouraged
to be thinner. Unfortunately, our
culture reinforces the image of the slight, petite, skinny woman rather than
the healthy, strong, self assured woman.
Although awareness is increasing, there are still little girls all over
the country that watch with their eyes glued to the screen as their tiny idols
flip, twirl, and dance across mats, rinks, and stages and aspire to one day not
only perform like them but also to be thin like them.
Hellmich, N. (2006, February 05). Athletes' hunger to win fuels eating disorders. Retrieved from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-02-05-women-health-cover_x.htm
Ryan, Joan. Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and
Figure Skaters. 2000.
Savacool, J. (2012, February 29). Does a hunger to win fuel eating disorders?. Retrieved from http://espn.go.com/blog/high-school/girl/post/_/id/1648/does-a-hunger-to-win-fuel-eating-disorders
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