Strong Signals
by: Erika Rasmusson
Skinny is out, muscles are in. Today's female athletes are helping shape the way we feel about our bodies--for the better!!
If there's a poster girl for positive body image, it's Brandi Chastain, who achieved instant celebrity last summer when she mae the winning penalty kick in the Women's World Cup, then whipped off her jersey and celebrated with abs bared and biceps cocked. Adding to the media frenzy was the fact that Chastain had just posed in Gear magazine, proudly baring her buffness in, well, the buff. Women aren't supposed to have muscles, are they? If they do, they aren't supposed to show them off, right?
Wrong. Today's female athletes are challenging today's society's perceptions of femininity and the ideal female body type. "Anybody in their right mind would rather be Mia Hamm than Barbie," says Emily Hancock, Ed.D., author of The Girl Within (Ballantine). "Girls these days realize that muscles are something to admire."
As any athlete knows, muscular strength is crucial to on-the-field success. Speed skater Chris Witty wouldn't be an Olympic medalist if she'd worried about her thighs getting bid; Serena Williams wouldn't hit her forehand with such power if she didn't have those massive shoulders. As Olympic gold-medal-winning skier Picabo Street says, "I can't walk by the mirror every day going, 'Oh, poor me, I'm a size 12, not a 4.'"
But even Street, at 28 one of the strongest and most self-confident female athletes on the planet, admits, "I spent the first half of my life feeling too muscular and afraid to wear clothes that would show my muscles." That changed when she attended a 1994 Women's Sports Foundation dinner, where she met other women athletes engaged in a "my arms are bigger than yours" competition. "I couldn't believe I was somewhere where my arm size was cherished," Street says.
Female athletes have reason to value their physiques. "Unless you've got some musculature, you can't make jump shots, you can't kick goals, you can't spike the ball," says Shari Kuchenbecker, Ph.D., a research psychologist at Loyola Marymount University. Athletes who realize that, she says, are more likely to have a healthy self-image because, for them, "performance becomes an important part of the image."
Sadly, many female athletes, especially teens, struggle with negative body image. Says Diane G. Sanford, Ph.D., president of the Women's Healthcare Partnership in St. Louis, "There's more pressure for them to focus on their appearance, in terms of how muscular they are and how much they weigh."
It's a paradox fraught with danger: Athletes must be in tune with their bodies, yet obsessing about appearance can lead to problems ranging from eating disorders to steroid abuse. A 1994 Norwegian study found that 29%-35% of female athletes in esthetic sports (such as gymnastics, figure skating, and diving) have eating disorders. At the opposite end of the spectrum, use of steroids has doubled since 1991, reports the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Coaches, trainers, and parents can play an important role in heading off trouble. Moms and dads can help by passing on self-esteem-boosting attitudes, valuing their child as a person first, athlete second. Coaches and trainers can offer reality checks: Because muscle weighs more than fat, for example, athletes should be dissuaded from measuring fitness by the scale.
Fortunately, attitudes are changing. Paige Derryberry, 21, a University of Oklahoma cheerleader, says she doesn't even own a scale: "That warps your body image." She began lifting weights to build strength and stamina, not to lose weight. While cheerleaders can be a body-image minefield, Derryberry says the Sonners' squad is not pressured to get skinny. "The waif look is out," she says, "especially in athletics."
As for Chastain, 31, she admits she has come a long way from her junior prom, when she wouldn't dance because the sleeves of her dress kept falling down and exposing her big shoulders. "I'm much more comfortable because society has finally accepted the notion that women can be athletic and feminine," she says.
That positive feeling contributes to success on the field. "People should find confidence in their uniqueness," Chastain says. "My uniqueness just happens to be in my athleticism. I feel good when I go onto the field. I stand taller, I push myself more--and I don't get knocked around."
From Sports Illustrated For Women, Winter 99-00
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Sports Illustrated for Women