Hypothesis

Body shaming causes eating disorders to athletes leading to health problems. Female athletes are more likely to experience body shaming and eating disorders.

Methodology

Different news articles and other sources where body shaming was involved in a sports event were gathered. While looking for articles, data collection about which sports commonly experiences body shaming and dissatisfaction was also obtained. Then, statistics regarding athletes experiencing eating disorders was collected.  Data on male and female athletes were gathered separately for further scope of data. To further strengthen the hypothesis, psychological data about body shaming in connection to eating disorders were also obtained. Articles about the importance of body image to athletes and its effects were also collected since it is connected to why body shaming exists.

Results and Discussions

Body shaming is a form of bullying that is done through humiliating an individual’s

Body shape or size that can lead to emotional trauma especially at a young age (National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, 2019). It causes body dissatisfaction which can lead to eating disorders. Negative views and apparent differences between the ideal body size and the current body of a person is what body dissatisfaction is made of (Grogan, 2017).  

Human body is perceived to be developed biologically and socio-culturally in accordance to the objectification theory. This objectification theory is consistent with a theoretical model recommended by Petrie and Greenleaf. The theoretical model includes that body dissatisfaction can be a moderator of eating disorders among athletes.

As shown in Table 1, which was collected from National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) in 2018, female athletes have higher risk of being affected by eating disorders.

Table 1. Percentage of Athletes at risk of having Eating Disorders

	Female	Male
Percentage	62%	33%

 

 

 

Different studies show that between male and female, females usually have a more negative viewpoint on body weight and experience body shaming more often than males (Jaworowska and Bazylak, 2008; Tylka, 2004). In fact, according to Reel, et al. (2013), both sociocultural and sport-specific pressures are experienced by female athletes in terms of changing their physical aspects such as weight, body image, and appearance. Moreover, according to Young (1990), the patriarchal society which imposed a feminine role to women that they must be “physically inhibited, confined, positioned and objectified” is one cause why women body shaming occurs at a higher number in females. All kinds of sexual objectification have an occurring common thread which is being regarded as a body valued primarily for its benefit to others (Fredrickson, 1997). According to Fredrickson (1997):

Women’s Bodies Are Looked at, Evaluated, and Always

Potentially Objectified

Whenever a woman’s body, its parts, even sexual functions are detached or parted out from her being, making it as if it is just some instrument, or viewed as if these parts or functions were to represent her, sexual objectification happens (Bartky, 1990).

Even though more females experience eating disorder, males are also at-risk especially those who are in sports focused on dieting, appearance, weight, size, and shape (Bonci, 2009). These sports are the ones who are under the aesthetic and weight class sports. Eating disorders happen usually on athletes in a sport where it usually focuses on athletes to be thin (Thompson, 1997).  Moreover, 62% of female athletes in sports like figure skating and gymnastics are being affected by eating disorders (American College of Sports Medicine study, 1992).

Among the different kinds of eating disorders, Anorexia Nervosa (AN) and Bulimia Nervosa (BN) are the ones that prevail in athletes especially those who are in college.

According to National Eating Disorders Collaboration (2019), Anorexia Nervosa is defined as:

The persistent restriction of energy intake, intense fear of gaining weight and disturbance in self-perceived weight or shape.

Meanwhile, Bulimia Nervosa is defined by:

Repeated episodes of binge eating followed by compensatory behaviours.

Shown in Table 2 are the percentage of male and female college athletes at-risk for developing AN and BN.

Table 2. Percentage of College Athletes At-risk for Developing Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa

	Female	Male
Anorexia Nervosa	35%	10%
Bulimia Nervosa	58%	38%

Based from the table, 35% of female athletes are at-risk for developing AN while 10% for male athletes. BN has a higher percentage of 58% for female athletes and 38% for male athletes. This supports the hypothesis that female athletes are more likely to experience eating disorders. Many feminist theorists have claimed that women usually adopt on spectator’s perception on their physical appearance. (Bartky, 1990; de Beauvoir, 1952; Berger, 1972; Young, 1990 as cited by Fredrickson 1997).

 It was found that the goal of female athletes was achieving a body fat percentage that would lead to amenorrhea (Rose, 2019). Female athletes are more at risk in Female Athlete Triad which refers to the three distinct and interrelated health concerns that are usually seen in athletic females which are eating disorder, amenorrhea, and osteoporosis (Thompson, 1997). Amenorrhea occurs when body fat goes below the menstrual threshold which is on average of 17%. Moreover, within a year, osteoporosis may also develop (Bachrach, Guido, Katzman, Litt, & Marcus, 1990).  As a female athlete experiences eating disorders, they become more at risk by the other two health concerns in the female athlete triad.

Currently, even famous athletes all over the world experience body shaming. An Olympic gold medalist, Leisel Jones, was body shamed in the front page of a newspaper known as the Herald Sun. It was written in there whether she was ready to fit in her swimsuit since he has gained weight. Another famous athlete that was body shame was Simone Biles. According to her book, Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance, her coach told her that she crashed because she was “too fat.” On the other hand, Serena Williams, a famous tennis player, was body-shamed in social media telling her that she only won because she was built like a man.

One of the worst cases of body shaming on athletes that led to eating disorder and eventually, death, was the case of Christy Henrich. At the age of 22, Henrich died because of multiple organ failure. In 1988, Christy Henrich was told by a US judge at a meet in Budapest that she was too fat and needed to lose weight in order to be qualified to join the Olympic squad. Because of this, Henrich suffered from Anorexia and Bulimia in order to lose weight and eventually this method caused her life.

Conclusion

Based from the data collected, it can be said that body shaming can really lead to eating disorders depending whether how the person responds to it. Specifically, female athletes are more likely to experience body shaming and suffer from eating disorder than male athletes. This is because women are more likely to be objectified and are socially constructed to be what they call feminine. If female athletes were not able to attain this femininity, they are subjected to be discriminated and/or body shamed. In addition, media is one of the instruments of body shaming where people can freely say their opinions, whether it is constructive or not, without being accountable for its effect on others. With all these data provided, it can therefore be concluded that female athletes are more likely to be body-shamed, thus, can lead to suffering from eating disorder. Because of this, female athletes are prone to the other interrelated health concerns included in the Female Athlete Triad.

References

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ANAD Approach Guide Series • National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://anad.org/anad-approach-guides/.

Athletes & Eating Disorders. (2019, April 18). Retrieved from https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/athletes-eating-disorders.

Body Image of Highly Trained Female Athletes Engaged in Different Types of Sport. (2018). Body Image of Highly Trained Female Athletes Engaged in Different Types of Sport. doi: 10.1155/2018/6835751

EATING DISORDERS & ATHLETES. (2018). Retrieved November 27, 2019, from https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/eating-disorders-athletes.

Johnson, C. Powers, P.S., and Dick, R. Athletes and Eating Disorders: The National Collegiate Athletic Association Study, Int J Eat Disord 1999; 6:179.

Morthens, S. S. (2016). Effects of diet behaviour and sport participation on body image and body shame. Effects of Diet Behaviour and Sport Participation on Body Image and Body Shame.

O’Malley, K. (2019, October 17). The Double Standard In Sports: Body-Shaming Female Athletes. Retrieved from https://www.theodysseyonline.com/the-new-double-standard-in-sports-body-shaming-female-athletes.

Rose, J. A. (2008). Self-objectification and body shame as predictors of sport participation. Self-Objectification and Body Shame as Predictors of Sport Participation. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/?utm_source=scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/3547&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages

Sport Nutrition for Coaches by Leslie Bonci, MPH, RD, CSSD, 2009, Human Kinetics. Byrne et al. 2001; Sundot – Borgen & Torstviet 2004

Thompson, C. (1997). Eating Disorders in Athletes. Retrieved November 27, 2019, from https://www.mirror-mirror.org/athlete.htm.

Zaydenberg, I. (2018, January 25). 10 times Olympians were body shamed while competing. Retrieved November 27, 2019, from revelist.com/pop-culture/olympics-body-shaming/11323.

By: Joni Mitzchelle R. Punzalan|Teacher II| Bataan National High School Senior High Schhol |Balanga City, Bataan