UNPACKING ALL ACHIEVEMENTS PRO

This overemphasis on what athletes look like is damaging on both an individual and a cultural level, and itвЂ™s time to reconsider how we talk about their bodies. And yet, especially with women athletes, appearance often becomes the sole focus, even when it has nothing to do with performance. Not long after, an Olympics figure-skating commentator was fired for a degrading remark about a female Canadian figure skater (though it was about her personality, not her physique).ДЇocus on the bodies of athletes is not only a frequent issue but a problem, as Christine Yu observes:ДЄerobic capacity, power, strength, muscular endurance, biomechanics, strategy, tenacity, and good genes-none of which are necessarily visible to the human eye-all determine an athleteвЂ™s ability. At the 2021 Winter Olympics, there was pressure to focus on sports appeal and not sex appeal of the athletes. In the last year, two commentators were fired for making disparaging comments about high school basketball playersвЂ™ bodies.

As well, non-binary gendered and intersex bodies are the almost nearly always the subject of controversy and discrimination.Д«ody talk happens in the media at all levels of game. In contrast, the descriptions of women athletesвЂ™ bodies are often hetero-sexualized in ways that undermine their athleticism. As Kathita Davidson notes, descriptions of male athletesвЂ™ bodies often reinforce perceptions of strength, athleticism, and performance. Televised commentary on athletesвЂ™ bodies is a much more prevalent issue for women, one that creates a double standard to boot. One player was described repeatedly as вЂњbaby-faced,вЂќ another was вЂњslender,вЂќ and a third was вЂњsturdy.вЂќ Maybe it was just a lazy start to the commentary, but with all the history and statistics available to discuss, who is served by this body talk?

UNPACKING ALL ACHIEVEMENTS PRO

I was complaining because the broadcasters were making comments about the bodies of the pro golfers as they teed off on the first hole.

Unpacking all achievements