Body image pressure comes from many different places, but when you're involved in a sport, it's even harder. I found this article on someone's Facebook the other day and thought it was perfect for this class. Misty Copeland is an amazing ballerina, thought of as one of the best in the world and she is also the first African American soloist ballerina. In this article she talks about the constant pressure to maintain a certain body type and how she was forced into puberty through birth control when she had an injury. Like most girls, puberty completely changes your body. No longer did Misty have the tiny hips and flat chest that she was used to and as her body grew and transformed, the pressure to go back to her prepubescent body was at an all time high.
This pressure from her peers and from her coaches caused a severe eating disorder that consisted of late night Krispy Kreme binges and lots of purging. Just like Sirena J. Riley said in her article, The Black Beauty Myth, "...negative body image is an all too common phenomenon" (Riley, 227). Although Copeland is one of the lucky ones and was able to overcome this eating disorder, many are not and still suffer from terrible self body image. If we can work to change the media and their perception of what is perfect, then maybe we can make steps to end this chain retain of negativity.
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/03/14/stretching-beauty-ballerina-misty-copeland-on-her-body-struggles/
Caitie, I actually really enjoyed reading this article. Maybe for the obvious reason that I am also 5'2 and 108 pounds or just because it was entertaining. But I think this article is a perfect example of what we have been discussing in class this past week. I am actually super shocked that her teachers wanted her to loose weight when I can say that being those sizes is perfectly normal. Dancers, and other female athletes, are arguable put under more pressure to look a certain way and fit a mold. I also think girls in general just want to be their ideal selves and will stop at nothing to be their "perfect" self. I think this desire to achieve something so unattainable can be dangerous and damaging to your confident and self image. I hope that girls can find help and be happy with whatever size or shape they naturally are.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this article as well and I show horses competitively and I can't tell you the amount of negative things that I have heard regarding people's body image. So many people say you have to be thin to look pretty on a horse, but I know many riders who are not thin and ride beautifully none the less. I have had friends on cheer or dance teams who have ended up with severe eating disorders because they were told to lose weight when they were actually already very skinny. It takes a very strong person to stand firmly in their body and not let others views affect them, but self-confidence is a trait that we should all strive to possess. I feel like so many people could connect with this article and in Misty's story of how she began her eating disorder and how realizing that we must take care of our bodies helped her to conquer it. There will always be an "ideal" look, but we all must remember that the important part is to be healthy, confident, and happy. We only get one body so we have to take care of it!
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