Body Image and Sports

As a student majoring in communications and psychology, I find myself reading many articles and studies about the struggles that women endure daily in regards to body image.  Obviously, anyone who tries to argue against  the enormous pressure the media, from news, to movies, to magazines, places on women to remain slender has clearly not paid very close attention to this issue.  Many times, I find myself grateful that as a male, these pressures hardly seem to exist in comparison to the modern woman's struggle.

But it dawned on me one day, males do face these same issues, but often times it is overlooked.  In the world of sports, a seemingly insurmountable amount of pressure to perform at a certain level has burdened the life of many male (and female, but for the purpose of this post, I will focus on males) youth.  And how will they eventually perform at this level?  By crafting and shaping their bodies to fit this ideal of what a male athlete should resemble.

High school, middle school and even as young as grade school athletes train longer and more intensely than ever before.  Parents, coaches, fellow teammates, scouts opponents are the primary sources that provide this pressure both directly and indirectly.  In football, offensive lineman lift and eat more to try and add that extra pound.  Receivers and defensive backs run more sprints and perform more cone drills to increase speed and agility.  In running, distance runners strive to shed that extra pound to lighten their load in races.  Every sport has some bodily ideal that the athlete competes towards.

But what is the cost?  More and more athletes turn to steroids and other performance enhancing drugs to push their body to the limit.  They lift earlier in age and longer.  The endure multiple practices in a day.  Training camps, off-season tournaments, personal trainers. The need for males athletes to perform a certain level directly correlates to how their body is developed both genetically and through hard work.  Those whose genes were not quite as strong have to work that much harder to reach the pinnacle of their abilities.

Having competed in both cross country and track, I can attest to the enormous pressure that exists to look like the elite runners.  You eat a little less, run a longer and more often, but to what gain?  With those days behind me, I often wonder why we place so much focus on how we appear as athletes.

Every night the gym is packed.  Weights clang together.  Protein shakes are the drink of choice.  This culture of pushing your body to the limit manifests itself early and can eat away at a male's self-esteem.  With so much focus on the same issue, but in regards to women, often times the idea that males could struggle with this is swept under the rug.

Unfortunately, I have no solution to the problem.  But simply knowing that there is an issue is the first step to addressing it.  Males, and athletes in particular, face an enormous pressure to look and perform at a certain level and it is an issue I believe is worth noting.