Four weeks ago, a听 newsletter landed in my inbox. It was the morning after Jessie Diggins won a bronze medal in the women鈥檚 freestyle sprint at the Winter Olympics in Beijing, and I was excited to read more about her historic feat. Not only was Diggins the first American woman to win an individual Olympic medal in cross-country skiing, but听she also became the first American to win multiple Olympic medals in the sport. (She added a third medal to her tally later in the Games.)
鈥淚n a sport that has so many women with massive shoulders and thighs, Diggins looks like a sprite in her racing suit,鈥 wrote sports journalist Matthew Futterman. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 not clear exactly where she gets her power.鈥
Wait, what? In one sentence, the writer managed to undermine Diggins鈥檚 achievement and insult a large swath of women, both those who have 鈥渕assive shoulders and thighs鈥 and those who don鈥檛. The commentary about Diggins鈥檚 body was especially eyebrow raising because she has been outspoken about disordered eating in sport and her own experience with an eating disorder. The article sparked . were quick to categorize this as the latest example of an insidious double standard in which media outlets reporting on sports focus on the athletic achievements of men, yet persistently objectify the bodies of women. found the commentary simply boring鈥攃ould he not come up with a more interesting analysis of the race?
In a message to nordic-ski blog听, The New York Times responded to the criticism by saying,听鈥淲e aim in our sports coverage to cover male and female athletes accurately, equally and fairly. We believe sometimes their physiques are relevant to their performance. In this case, our description of cross country skier Jessie Diggins鈥檚 noticeably different physical attributes in contrast to others in her sport were an important and relevant detail.鈥
Of course, Futterman isn鈥檛 the first to comment on the bodies of women athletes, and he won鈥檛 be the last. Ironically, after Diggins won a 10K race last year, a hypothesized that she skied faster because she was bigger and heavier than her competition. For two years running, commentators at the NCAA track and field championships called out steeplechase champion , dubbing her 鈥渢he baby-faced assassin鈥 one year and repeatedly announcing her height and weight (incorrectly, to boot) the following. Olympic champion and five-time world champion surfer听 was criticized by internet trolls for her figure, despite her progressive surfing and dominance in the lineup.
Athletes are public figures, and their bodies are foundational to their jobs. It鈥檚 easy to home in on aesthetics in order to make sense of how athletes do what they do. But while body composition certainly plays a role, it鈥檚 just one of many physical factors. Aerobic capacity, power, strength, muscular endurance, biomechanics, strategy, tenacity, and good genes鈥攏one of which are necessarily visible to the human eye鈥攁ll determine an athlete鈥檚 ability. And yet, especially with women athletes, appearance often becomes the sole focus, even when it has nothing to do with performance. This overemphasis on what athletes look like is damaging on both an individual and a cultural level, and it鈥檚 time to reconsider how we talk about their bodies.
When media outlets claim they are just reporting the facts when it comes to sports coverage, they ignore the reality that the body is never neutral ground. Speculating whether an athlete is too fat, too thin, or has a body appropriate for their sport betrays some of our worst societal tendencies鈥攍ike an overwhelming preference for bodies that are lean and white. By calling out someone鈥檚 body type and marking it as divergent, regardless of whether it鈥檚 a good or a bad difference, we鈥檙e constructing a proverbial 鈥渞ight body鈥 for activity. Within this environment, athletes chase specific silhouettes as if they鈥檙e the only determinant of success and future performance, making athletics a ripe setting for eating disorders and body dysmorphia.
In 2021, a in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that comments about an athlete鈥檚 body and diet, even seemingly innocuous ones, can lay the foundation for disordered eating and eating disorders. Up to of women athletes, primarily in , suffer from eating disorders and disordered eating, which have some of the among all mental illnesses. Not eating enough can lead to systemic health issues that can profoundly influence long-term health and well-being. Men aren鈥檛 immune: disordered eating behaviors are as common in men as in women, and of people with eating disorders are men. But since men tend to be diagnosed later than women, they may suffer worse .
Focusing on athletes鈥 appearance impacts more than the mental and physical health of one individual: it reinforces implicit gatekeeping. This narrow-mindedness has harmed, and continues to harm, generations of active and athletic people at all levels of sport. Weeding out those who don鈥檛 fit the perceived norm鈥攚hether that鈥檚 size, gender, skin color, or another signifier鈥攃reates a powerful confirmation bias. If you don鈥檛 see your body type represented in a sport or are told, implicitly or explicitly, that you鈥檙e not fit to play, odds are high that you鈥檒l doubt your abilities, choose to drop out, or not take up an activity in the first place. If you don鈥檛 fit into the definitive binary categories of sex and gender, and what those categories are supposed to look like, it calls into question your very existence and right to play.听Plus, whether a person has the 鈥渞ight body鈥 is heavily influenced by external circumstances, like opportunities to train and compete and access to quality facilities and staff, all of which are profoundly shaped by sociocultural factors.
But who decides what鈥檚 the norm? Who gets to decide what an athlete鈥檚 body should look like? Spectators and self-appointed social media experts will always have their opinions, but conversations about weight, body composition, and diet should be left to an athlete and qualified professionals.
When it comes to media, the tenets of require that journalists report fairly, accurately, and not cause additional harm. Seemingly offhand comments about appearances only serve to reinforce the same old narratives and devalue a woman鈥檚 skills, training, and years of hard work. We miss the bigger story. It鈥檚 why we need diverse voices in newsrooms and more coverage of women鈥檚 sports.
More than anything, these instances point out the need to rethink how all of us talk about women鈥檚 sports and women athletes. We need to stop distilling athletes鈥 potential and performance to their appearance. We need to commit to the idea that any body has the potential to achieve, full stop.