Girl's (not Women's) Gymnastics. Sick and Wrong.
From King Kaufman on Salon:
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters by Joan Ryan
I always think about this book and the horror that these little girls endure whenever I see these poor girls exploited by the gymnastics and skating industry. There are NEVER any stories about the abuses these girls go through when they appear on the TV shows every 4 years. Journalists focus on steroids, but not on abusive training practices.
Instead, gymnastics tries to reconfigure women's bodies, to keep them childlike. It's sick and wrong. And when so much emphasis is placed on how cute and pretty they are -- the full make-up, the glitter, the cutesy dance moves -- it's off-the-chart sick and wrong.I read a great book on this topic a while ago.
Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters by Joan Ryan
I always think about this book and the horror that these little girls endure whenever I see these poor girls exploited by the gymnastics and skating industry. There are NEVER any stories about the abuses these girls go through when they appear on the TV shows every 4 years. Journalists focus on steroids, but not on abusive training practices.
2 Comments:
Hiya! Nice blog, will put it on my list.
As much as girls gymnastics get attention, there are so many other ways our society treats women that is sick and wrong, from pornography, rape, and dehumanization on up to self-mutilating face-lifts, liposuction and breast implants. As liberated as we are, there is still the focus on the youth and beauty of the woman, the status and worth of a man.
We still have a long way to go.
You are so right. I lay a lot of the blame on men's insecurities. I'm comfortable enough to have a wife who is smarter than me, more educated than me and richer than me. Luckily she isn't funnier than me, that would just be depressing.
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