Male Insight into the Female Athlete Triad

>With the many issues surrounding women in sport, it is easy to see how women can fall into the female athlete triad. First, there is the issue of performance. It is a great advantage, in many sports, to be as slender as possible. Some examples include cheerleading and pairs figure skating. Many of the maneuvers that are executed at top level competitions require a very tiny body frame. I would just like to note that in both sports the female’s male counterpart is almost always encouraged to be physically muscular which I believe to be healthier than someone who is encouraged to skip meals to be slender. Next I would like to look at aesthetics in women’s sport and the way women are often judged on their slim appearance. I believe figure skaters, ballet dancers, and gymnasts bear the brunt of this unhealthy training program because their sports are somewhat subjective. They are being judges on how they look and move, subjective, rather than how many points they can score by putting a ball through a hoop, objective. Unfortunately, I think that women will continue to sacrifice their health for a shot to compete at the very top levels in sport.

-Jordan Young KIN338I T/TH 2:00