From the oddly choreographed Dawn of the Industrial Age dance number (as interpreted by mimes) to the Spice Girls reunion, complete with Posh robot (why on earth is she still singing? Stick with designing absolutely adorable dresses!) and all the leaps, be-grilled Lochtes, butt smacks, Gold-Medal Gabbys, Usain Bolt hilarity and scandals in between (you did hear about them playing the Borat version of the Kazakh nation anthem, yes? Real life, better than movies!), this year I was glued to the Olympics. Gymnastics has always enthralled me but as I’ve gotten older I’ve gained an appreciation for swimming (Phelps helped, not gonna lie), soccer, pole vaulting and the 4×100 relay. But the one sport I still can’t get into? Beach volleyball. And it isn’t because I don’t appreciate the amazing athleticism and sisterhood of Misty May Treanor and Kerry Walsh. I’m just tired of hearing about their bodies, that’s all.
Is it just me or was the bodytalk absolutely inescapable during the XXX Olympiad? (Ha! I just caught that!) Whether it was people debating whether Jessica Ennis was too fat (SERIOUSLY?), whether Leisel Jones was too fat (side note: I always wanted to be named Leisel, I love The Sound of Music that much), whether Rebecca Adlington was too fat (someone on Twitter called her a “f****** whale”), whether Holley Mangold was too fat (seeing a trend yet?), or whether the entire Brazilian women’s soccer team was too fat (SIGH) there was a lot of talking about the female athletes’ bodies. And that’s not even mentioning all the nonsense about whether Zoe Smith looked like a dude (because she’s got mad muscles and only dudes get to have muscles) or whether Gabby Douglas should be ashamed of her natural hair.
And it didn’t stop with talking. The butt shots of beach volleyball players got to be so ubiquitous they earned their own hilarious meme of “What if every Olympic sport was photographed like beach volleyball.” The official NBC video footage drew criticism for only featuring conventionally pretty female athletes like volleyball players, runners and gymnasts (and zooming in too much on their butts and boobs) while sidelining the basketballers, skeet shooters and weight lifters. The BBC even unveiled a hugely popular online app called “Your Olympic Athlete Body Match” where you can enter your height and weight and compare your body to professional athletes. Fun!
But not all the body talk was bad says Jo Swinson, a British Member of Parliament and founding member of the U.K. Campaign for Body Confidence, because at least we were all discussing bodies that were actually doing something they’d been trained long and hard to do well instead of just discussing their ability to be a clothes hanger.
“There is an honesty about these athletes. It’s very obvious that it takes them hours and hours of dedication and discipline to look the way they do,” says Swinson. With celebrities, by contrast, there’s often “the pretense that they woke up out of bed and look like that.” Instead, for two weeks, spectators around the world get to look at real faces and real bodies. “It’s one of the times we actually get to see women without makeup on on television.” She adds, “The Olympics are fantastic for celebrating a diversity of body shapes.”
My first thought upon reading this quote was that Swinson clearly had not seen the Russian gymnasts. The only thing they had more of than hair clippies was shiny eye shadow. While I do agree with her that we lose the pretentiousness of celebrity beauty I would say that she is rosying up the situation a bit. First because we turn our favorite athletes into celebrities, complete with magical hair straightening and teeth whitening. And second because for a lot of female sports looking female is an important part of the game. In gymnastics sparkly leotards, hair bows, overplucked eyebrows and enough makeup for a whole season of Toddlers and Tiaras are de rigueur. In track there have been several scandals involving gender testing of female athletes that didn’t look girly enough- case in point is the terrible story of Santhi Soundjaran who was stripped of her wins after a fellow competitor questioned her girl card — even though she didn’t run as fast as a man. She actually came in second to a long-limbed blond-ponytailed white woman in a pink bra of whom no one even thought to question her sex despite her athletic prowess. It turned out that Santhi did possess a genetic anomaly that made her, for lack of a better phrase, not entirely female in the XX sense. But she isn’t a man either. And if genetics giving her an advantage is so awful then why haven’t we banned Lance Armstrong for being born with a freakishly large lung capacity or Michael Phelps for having a highly abnormal 6’7″ wingspan?
In a year where for the first time America had more female athletes than male and women took home 56% of the medals and 66% of the golds, I am so over hearing about whether or not they are “too fat.”
What did you think of the Olympics this year? Were you as bothered by the body talk as I was or did you see it as more encouraging of different female shapes? Did you have a fave Olympic moment??
I have to admit that I didn’t watch that much Olympic coverage this year minus the swimming, but I hate that ANY time a female is involved in something and/or successful her body ends up being part of the focus (or her hair, as the US gymnasts can testify.) While I admit that the routines and lifestyles of many of the athletes are extremely restrictive and unhealthy in many ways (gymnasts, wrestlers making weight, etc.) the “fat” talk is ridiculous.
The Olympics-more than any other athletic event-should be a time to marvel and celebrate the incredible things a body can do–not how it looks when it does them. The end.
First: How much do I love that you read Psychology Today too? That is one of my all-time favorite mags. I’m totally serious.
Second: That article was great. I LOVE this: “Don’t worry; bad stuff finds us. We don’t have to manufacture more of it on our own through deprivation and denial.” So true. One of the hallmarks of EDs is this misguided notion that we can control things when in reality both the good and the bad will just find us and controlling our food isn’t going to mitigate that no matter how much we want to believe it:)
P.S. Ironically, I just came across this story as well.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/when-food-is-family/201208/reflections-the-2012-olympics
Hmmm, you know, I watched pretty much every minute of the Olympic games this year, including beach volleyball. But I stuck mostly to the online streaming and some of the prime time coverage. I didn’t tune in to any of the talk about the Olympics programs or read much about them. So I guess I managed to miss almost all of the body talk. Or maybe I didn’t pick up on it? That’d be an awesome victory since I’m normally sooo sensitive to it. But honestly, I had no idea any of this went on. And I am much, much happier that way. The only thing that bugged me was the occasional throwing out of “this athlete is this tall and weighs this much” from the sportscaster’s in sports where it really wasn’t important. Sorry it got to you Charlotte 🙁 I know that’s not fun. And I agree, it’s ridiculous.
I loved how they printed each gymnast’s height in the bar under her name every time she came on screen:) I should have just watched it on mute, lol. Or spoofed my IP address so I could watch the BBC streams!
You know, I really wish that more people had taken the time to appreciate the diversity that was present in the olympic athletes. It was there, if you looked for it. But it’s definitely sad that you DID HAVE to look for it, rather than it being featured. All of these athletes have worked for countless hours to make their bodies be good at their chosen sport – and the fact is that the training doesn’t always result in society’s standard of beauty. Nor should it.
Also, I’m pretty sure I didn’t hear anyone calling any of the Olympic male athletes fat for not looking like beanpoles. Argh.
Yeah and it was frustrating that the only time it was featured was in an “oooh controversy!” type of way.
I love the Olympics in general, but I definitely have my moments at looking at the female athletes and really admiring them. I like that we get a broader spectrum than just super-model skinny (aka super skinny with no muscles). I used to be very athletic, and definitely heard plenty of my friends saying they didn’t want to get too muscular. So seeing women whose livelihood depends on muscles is definitely a nice change. It would be even nicer if we just talked about their accomplishments and left the body talk to the occasional “I wish I had her abs/quads etc” (because I definitely heard a few guys offer those comments about the male athletes!). Calling Olympics athletes fat is ridiculous- not just because many of them aren’t fat, but because it shouldn’t matter. They are elite athletes. Whatever their body looks like, it looks that way because it allows them to preform their best. The fact that criticism happens before we even see the ladies preform is very telling. And having the media broadcast every instance of this far and wide doesn’t help. So, some stupid official made a comment about an athlete being fat. Do you know the best way to mitigate that foot-in-mouth-itis? Don’t talk about it. The media picks it up because it knows women will be all over it. Because even by disagreeing, we are supporting the conversation. It would be nice to say that journalists should be more responsible, but journalists report what they know will be popular. It is up to the viewers to hear comments like that and go “eh, get on with the real news”, rather than jumping all over it.
This: “They are elite athletes. Whatever their body looks like, it looks that way because it allows them to preform their best.” is such a good point! Someone on another post pointed out that in benefits swimmers to have a higher percentage of body fat since that helps them stay buoyant better…
I kind of get that person’s argument about how we’re actually looking at trained athlete’s bodies and there is no cloudiness or debate over just how hard they train to look that way. IT might make people realize a bit more that it’s not just a simple thing to look like them without putting a tonne of work into it…work that the average person may not want or be able to do.
What honestly bothered me was the whole “is *insert random athlete here* too fat?”. I mean really? It’s the olympics and that’s all we can think about? I felt bad for the women athletes because you can’t win – too fat or too manly or not fit enough…good grief. How about how they performed?
I wish people could just get past all that. Especially for an elite athletic competition.
Yes, it definitely perpetuates the idea that no matter what she does a woman is still not “enough” unless she’s physically perfect. And really, how much closer to “perfect” do you get than Olympians?!
While I did watch all of the Olympics this year, I seem to have missed all the body talk. It definitely upsets me that female athletes are constantly under scrutiny. Why aren’t the males getting flack about their bodies? (j/k, I think all “fat” talk should disappear.)
I have to admit that I found myself comparing my body to the swimmers, gymnasts, and beach volleyball players, but in complete admiration for their athletic muscles! And I am always wondering which of them have sacrificed meal after meal to get themselves in that kind of shape. So I watched happily snacking my way through.
Yeah I find myself wondering about their training and nutrition regimens a lot. Although it seems like there is a lot of talk about that too… People mag had a whole breakdown of what different athletes eat and when etc. It was super interesting
I almost agree with Jo Swinson’s statement. Yes, the athletes are presented in a way that we know how much dedication and hard work went into their performance and their bodies. However, where was the love for the athletes that weren’t tall and slender????
I feel like we’re being told it’s ok to be athletic as long as you are tall, slender, and we still want to have sex with you. Leave the muscles to the guys and make sure your hair is done up all pretty-like.
Ah yes, all the sex. I’m kinda tired of seeing Olympians posing naked under the guise of art. Let’s just call it like it is: sex sells.
After a few days of seeing the online articles questioning whether female athletes were too fat, I stopped reading most of those stories. Hello, these ladies could benchpress/outrun/outswim/out something those snarking on them. So frustrating!
One body fact that sticks out to me is that the Turkish women’s volleyball team members were all over 6′ tall! Not good or bad, just interesting.
That is really interesting! And I should have followed your lead and started tuning them out a lot earlier..
I saw a few comments on body image. The main ones were about how masculine the swimmers looked, and how their body shape was influenced by their diet/supplements etc.
Various people are quite rude about Rebecca Adlington’s looks and I really can’t see what their problem is – I hope she can rise above it knowing that she is an Olympian!
I did discuss body image a little with a friend of mine, we both thought the female athletes often looked extremely thin and must have had very low body fat percentage, whereas the beach volleyball ladies has slightly curvier but still toned figures.
I think they are asking for comments given some of the sporting attire, but at the end of the day their achievements are what matter regardless of body shape and no-one should be snarking about it!
Yes, I think this was a great example of how different types of training hone the human body in different ways. True there’s a lot of genetics but I think the body is much more malleable than we give it credit for!
Oh and favourite moment was the first Saturday night of athletics when it was 3 golds for Team GB. Amazing atmosphere in that stadium!
Were you there?! JEALOUS.
Oh no, I wasn’t there. Just watching on telly! We did have some friends who were there that night though … incredible luck in the ticket draw!
I’ve blogged about a similar thing last week, actually on the differences between the athletes depending on the sport. How their body type is dictated by the sport they are training for, and how I’m against steady state cardio for the simple fact that sprinters IMO look way better than marathon runners. But I prefer the muscle, and ripped look 😉
I’d not seen any of the ‘fat talk’ and I cannot beleive anyone thinks Jessica Ennis is fat??? She is actually one of my inspirations, I’d love to look like her!!! Awesome muscle definition, good cardio, excellent sports performance and total model looks too. She’s perfection and reminds me a lot of Jamie Eason in her physique.
If these “reporters” think they can do any better, or are in better shape, then please feel free to try out for the 2016 Olympics! I’d love to be there to see that!!!
ps. I’m all for butt shots of the men!!! Especially the swimming 🙂 I’m feeling kinda cougarish over Tom Daley 😉
SO much of this made me giggle! I love you! And, for the record, I agree with you 100% about Ennis.
Oddly, I really enjoyed the beach volleyball this time because I didn’t see any of the “butt shots” that were obnoxious last time. Maybe cause I only watched the prime time matches?
I think a lot depended on where you were getting your video… I didn’t watch much volleyball in primetime but more on the Internet…
These types of media coverage are another example of how little modern fitness culture has perceived the body as the butt kicking high performance machine it is. Instead we’ve trivialized the body as something to be sculpted, polished and look pretty.
Muscles are for function not sculpture and we keep losing sight of that fact because how we look has taken more priority in our society than how we function.
My 2 cents.
Love your point about the body being a high performance machine! And this is a little off topic but now I’m dying to know what a suspension strap towel curl is! Off to check it out;))
I’m a little late here, but one thing I did notice (as a less-endowed woman myself) is that these women did not have the disproportionately large breasts we so often see on models and actresses. Guess what, the majority of women who have very low body fat percentages don’t have two large deposits of fat in their pectoral area naturally.
On the one hand, Sportscasters are there to discuss the sport and the potential of each athlete. Body condition is obviously a factor in sports. However, it seems like they need a little education about the typical differences between a man’s body and a woman’t body as far as fat storage/percentage . It’s normal for women to have a higher percentage of body fat thus they don’t show their six pack of abs as often.
I would bet that if one of the top men’s swimmer had shown up without a six pack, we would have heard about it. After hearing sportscasters discuss Lotche’s claims that Phelps was ill prepared, I expected Phelps to show up soft looking. The Sportscasters mentioned that Phelps had gotten back into shape recently. But, would it be enough?
In the end, the standards that women are held to are hypocritical as they have always been. Before women had the right to vote, they were expected to be the moral compass of the world and propaganded to be the only ones to be able to make morally correct decisions but, at the same time, not allowed to be a leader or even decide who should be a leader. Now the standards are don’t look like a man but you shouldn’t look unlike a man either.
I forgot to add that I love the Olympics and spent many late nights watching OnDemand because I think it is a shame that NBC was so focused on the ‘popular’ sports. Maybe a better body image would come from exposure to a greater diversity of sports being broadcast in primetime. Like, how about the 4 minute match where we won Gold in Judo, or Gold in shooting?
I got so sick of reading/hearing/seeing how the beach volleyballers are such beautiful women and they worked hard to look that good, and how they themselves want to be appreciated for their gorgeous physiques and only secondarily as elite athletes. I also found it very disturbing that that the “women’s” gymnastics team was so hypersexualized in their promotional videos and photos – most of them aren’t even old enough to vote, but there they are, demurely crossing their thighs and thrusting out their teenage bosoms, tossing their loose hair seductively over their shoulders. Guh-ross. I noticed that the early promotional photos sexualized the entire team except for Gabby Douglas, but even she, as the Olympics went on, and when she appeared on various talk shows, began showing up in gold miniskirts and pouty lips.
I caught some of the women’s weightlifting competition and watched most of the 48-kilo category (or what little was covered by NBC). I was utterly amazed at the power and grace of those women, but I didn’t hear anyone clamoring to see butt shots or dress them in bikinis. It seems that “appreciation for the female form” is restricted to, as Laura is Undeterrable already mentioned, the athletes with whom the average man wants to have sex.
I have a female friend with whom I often go to the beach. One thing we disagree about is the “right” of various women to wear bikinis out in public. My friend often mocks large women with wear bikinis in spite of their flab or imperfect bodies, but I actually admire them for having the nerve to revel in their own beauty and be able to feel good about themselves in spite of whatever physical imperfections others perceive. Now – thong bikinis? That’s a whole other story. I HATE those.