Body Image of Women Athletes

For my homework assignment I chose an image of Olympic hammer thrower Amanda Bigson from ESPN magazine. The reason I decided to pick this picture was because I believe the media has continually promoted female athletes as thin and objects of sex despite their athletic accomplishments. Because of this many female athletes struggle with body image because they cannot conform to the perfect female body due to their muscular structure. The media portrays sexism in female athletes because men are the primary target audience for sports publications. Female athletes are criticized for their physiques if they look to manly, and this does not send the correct message to female athletes that they need to be their best physically to compete. I sent this out to a few of my Snapchat friends and this confirmed the stereotype. Many gave rude remarks despite Amanda Bigson being a well respected athlete. These remarks were mainly about her body image.

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