The document discusses the pressures female athletes face to conform to ideals of femininity promoted by the media. It describes how the media portrays female athletes in sexualized ways, such as putting softball player Jennie Finch on the cover of Sports Illustrated in bikinis rather than athletic gear. The author, a female softball player, feels pressure to wear hair bows and makeup to games to look feminine rather than focusing on athletic performance. She believes the media only pays attention to athletes who fit the "perfect body" ideal and that greater femininity is being enforced at younger ages. The author argues female sports will not change until the media stops pressuring athletes to conform to their sexualized ideas of what a female athlete

1. Jordan Zolman
WGSS 333: Politics of Physical Appearance
Mary Louisa Williams
October 9, 2015
The Athlete Body
I chose to talk about what society views as the ideal female athlete body and how
the female athlete should act. This relates very close to me because I am a female athlete
and deal with these issues on a daily basis. Media wants society to see the female athlete
body as sexy and exposed, female sports are very politicalized. Take for example when
you see covers of sports illustrated with female athletes, most are pictures of the women
in sexual poses in clothing that has does not represent their sport. Jennie Finch a widely
known gold medalist for softball was seen on the cover of sports illustrated in little
clothing, and had a plastic bat as representation of her sport. Then she was seen again
within sports illustrated in a bikini. This is media sexualizing a female athlete away from
her masculine sport and making her seem more feminine.
Big issues I deal with on a daily basis when it comes to games are bows and
makeup. Hair bows, in the game of softball have become more than just a fashion
statement. They are now a way to express your sexuality. Within the softball community
there is a saying “no bow = lesbow.” Media has placed such a pressure on us as players
to look feminine that we force ourselves to wear these hair bows. I know for me
personally I do not want to wear them but feel the pressure that I need to. The other issue
is makeup. Just like with the bows, media wants us to look our best for game days. So
we go out of our way to straightening our hair, wear makeup and look perfect for a game

2. that involves sweating. All because media and society want the ideal female athlete to
look more feminine when we play.
In the article we read in class by Susan. K. Cahn, we talked about the “butch” ball
player and how society tried everything in their power to prevent masculinity to enter the
female world of sport. When I think back to the beginning of softball and how players
were forced to play in skirts to keep it feminine is ridiculous. Media and society both
have always felt the need to force feminism and sexuality onto softball. In the article it
mentioned that before games there were beauty pageants for softball and basketball.
Today the same rules are still trying to be enforced. When we go to take team pictures
our hair must be fixed, no ponytails, and we must be wearing makeup. To me this is just
another way for media to sexualize the game. We talked about Jennie Finch earlier, and
her sports illustrated article. She is very successful in her career as a female athlete, but I
am curious how much she had to exploit in order to get where she is today. For me this is
concerning, I am not super tall and skinny, and a beach blonde. Media is portraying to
me and to other young female athletes that in order to be successful at the higher levels
you must look and act like Jennie Finch.
Going back to the bow and makeup, I feel this is very controlled by media and the
pressure society puts on others and me as individuals to prove our sexuality. I find it
hurtful for someone to come up to me and say “You don’t have a bow in so are you gay?”
I could be the best player on the field but media will only see that I am not wearing a
bow, or that my hair is not fixed correctly. It’s media who polices this. We give them
the power over us to put this pressure to conform. Talking about my body personally, I
see this from a different perspective. Media only wants to talk about the fit girls, the ones

3. who have the “perfect body.” When I see others being interviewed it strikes me that they
always pick someone who fits this ideal body. This is when I feel the pressure from
media to wear the bow, and put the makeup on. This way they will notice me, and not
look down on me for being different.
Softball for me today is more about the glitz and glam of the game and less about
actually playing the game. I went here recently to watch my little cousin who is ten years
old play. Her mom braided her hair in a nice perfect braid, put mascara on her and a
huge green bow. I was thinking to myself this what our sport has become. That media
holds such a great force over us that we start at such a young age to conform to it. It
should not matter if I wear a bow or not on the field. I am there to play ball not win a
beauty pageant. I think the push to have so much femininity in the game is out of hand.
Like we talked before about Jennie Finch and her sports illustrated covers, what does her
in a bikini have to do with how good of a softball player she is? I think until media stops
putting pressure on female athletes to conform to their idea of the ideal female athlete,
and being sexual the world of female sports will not be the same.

4. References:
Cahn, S. K. (n.d.). "Muscle Moll" to the "Butch" Ballplayer: Mannishness, Lesbianism,
and Homophobia in U.S. Women's Sport (Vol. 2, pp. 355-356). N.p.: Feminist Studies,
Inc.
Throwback Thursday: Two-time Olympic medalist Jennie Finch. (2015). Retrieved from
http://www.si.com/swim-daily/2015/04/16/throwback-thursday-jennie-finch-olympic-
medalist-softball-player