Beauty and the Beast: Perception of Beauty for the Female Athlete

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Chapter 9
Beauty and the Beast: Perception of Beauty for
the Female Athlete
Sharon K. Stoll, Heather VanMullem,
Nicole Ballestero and Lisa Brown
Additional information is available at the end of the chapter
http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.68946
Provisional chapter
© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.68946
Beauty and the Beast: Perception of Beauty for
theFemale Athlete
Sharon K. Stoll, Heather VanMullem,
NicoleBallestero and Lisa Brown
Additional information is available at the end of the chapter
Abstract
This chapter is a discussion and reection of how beauty is perceived through the lens of
four dierent athletes over four dierent decades. Two basketball players, a gymnast and
a skater, reect on the language of their sport and how beauty is perceived and manipu-
lated through language and coaching techniques. The experiences aect athletes over a
lifetime, both positively and negatively.
Keywords: women, athletics, beauty
1. Introduction
When contacted about writing a chapter for the Perception of Beauty, I rst thought that as a
Sport Ethicist I probably had lile to oer. But on further consideration, I realized that as a
former athlete, there is much that needs to be said about how athletes perceive themselves
as women and measure themselves by societal beauty standards in light of athletic participa-
tion. I was an athlete, albeit years ago, involved in sports in which “beauty” was sacrosanct.
If an athlete was unaractive or did not appear beautiful, the athlete suered and suered
much and often. I ice skated. I was a big girl—not just larger than most. A big girl as dened
by being over 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighing over 150 pounds. All of my peers were pix-
ies—but I soldiered on because I loved the sport. Almost daily some comment was made
about my size—the usual retorts were something like, “Man you are big for an ice skater?”
“Aren’t you in the wrong sport, you should be playing ice hockey.” “You’re really prey, but
wow are you big, don’t you feel embarrassed being on the ice?” “Your thighs are huge—aren’t
you self-conscious? Maybe you should lose some weight.” “How can you skate and do all the
© 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

jumps and turns being so big?” “An excellent skater but your body aesthetics detract from the
performance.”
The remarks came from various sources: other skaters, children skaters, parents of children
skaters, coaches, instructors, and judges. Why did I stay in the sport? I was and continue to
be an aggressive personality who is not easily swayed by words. The best reason though in
staying with the sport was because I was a strong skater and the power of being a “strong
skater” gives one not only physical strength but psychological strength. That to me was the
real beauty of the sport. The perception of acceptable body size and physical beauty in my
sport, however, overshadows everything that occurs within the sport and apparently lasts
a lifetime.
Just last month, I was speaking at a regional sports conference, when a young woman
researcher approached me. When I say young, I mean in her early thirties. Understand I am
in my early seventies, so we are four decades apart but perhaps not so far apart after all. She
had heard that one of the speakers had a former athletic career in skating. She said she knew
who I was as soon as she saw me. Her direct quote, “Skaters all have the same look—the hair,
the makeup, the nails, the carriage, you know, THE LOOK.”
I know exactly what she meant—we do have THE LOOK. Unfortunately, THE LOOK prob-
ably is not the healthiest way to be. We, with THE LOOK, have paid dearly for THE LOOK—
weekly weigh-ins, constant criticism of makeup, costume, body type, and then the aesthetics
of the sporting experience as it is dissected and analyzed by judges. That experience has been
with me for a lifetime—it is a memory lled with the tension between two realities: the love
of the sport, the beauty of the sport, juxta positioned with the beast of the sport—the constant
worry, criticism, and evaluation concerning “THE LOOK.” When rened, this problem is
greater than what occurs in my sport of gure skating—it is a problem that exists across the
realm of women in sport and athletics.
For over 30 years, many academic and feminist writers have wrien of the perceived impor-
tance of female athlete beauty and the hegemonic practices to manipulate women to be beau-
tiful [1–7]. That research is not an enjoyable read because of the oppressive subjugation of
female athletes. Other research has argued that perhaps the former lines of research were
mistaken or more importantly missed the true mark. Rather, it is argued, athletes are unlike
other female populations and are not as aected by the need to be beautiful or see themselves
as a “girlie girl.” Adams et al. [8] found that high school athletes saw sports as “…the main
vehicle by which they … aained condence, independence, assertiveness, and joy in the
physicality of the body”
I believe that both arguments have validity. I see and hear the rst line often. As a college
professor who aends female athletic contests, I often hear male derogatory catcalls directed
toward women participants. “Hey 18, What a dog, do you eat bones to keep you from
being prey?” “Nice ass, 21″. “Number 8, bend over again—I have something to give you?”
Interestingly, no security personnel ever reprimand the behavior. And fans are cruel—unbe-
lievably cruel and words do have to mean [9]. I do not recall any of these remarks as positive
about how these athletes look. Hegemony does still exist and is alive and well.
Perception of Beauty160

Because I teach sports ethics, gender equity is a subject that my classes continually discuss
and study. I have spent a lifetime arguing, supporting, and writing about the rights of
women to participate in sport [10, 11]. I have also studied the negative eect of competition
in the sport on moral development and moral reasoning of both men and women [12–15].
Many times I have wondered if the day to day struggles concerning beauty, weight con-
trol, and participation of women involved in athletics are worth it. It seems to me that the
strange tension between the beauty of the sport and the beast would aect athletes daily.
With that being said, I wondered what other women athletes would say on this subject.
Thus, I have asked three athletes of dierent age groups and dierent sports to share their
stories.
Four former athletes from many dierent levels of competition, age groups, and sports
experiences wanted their voices heard concerning the struggle of the female athlete and the
beauty and the beast. However, as we moved forward on the project, I oered each of them
authorship of this chapter. They agreed to authorship; they wanted their stories told, and
they wanted to share their experience with the beauty and the beast. Hopefully, our captured
perceptions give a vivid picture of “beauty” as an athlete sees herself as well as her depiction
of the struggle with the beast within her sport. I knew that each of these women had a story to
share, but did not realize the magnitude of the “beast’s” eect on them as people and women.
Because of the nature of my and their reections, they are co-authors for this chapter—they
wanted their stories told.
2. Athlete of the current times
Nicole is a graduate student working as support sta with a women’s Division I basketball
program. A 4-year collegiate athlete, she began playing basketball at the age of seven in the
second grade and soon joined several AAU competitive leagues. She is a vibrant 24-year old
who loves the game.
2.1. Nicole
When I played at USD, there was always an unspoken understanding that we as players
were supposed to look a certain way. I remember hearing stories from the seniors my fresh-
man year about how one of them stuck a weight down her pants during a weigh in because
she knew she was not going to weigh enough. One of the seniors talked about how she had
gained and lost so much weight she didn’t know what was normal for her body anymore.
As basketball players, we needed to be muscular and “strong” so that we did not get shoved
around, but we also couldn’t be too big because we needed to be able to get up and down
the court. I never thought I would fall into this cycle but my sophomore year I fell into a
weight obsession.
After an unsuccessful freshman year, I decided in my sophomore year to do whatever “it
took” to play on the team. I was immediately told that to be considered as a viable player,
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I would need to lose weight. I was put on a diet and specic workout regimen; I stuck to it
because I wanted to play. After about 4 months of unhealthy eating paerns (skipping meals,
drinking only weight loss shakes) combined with working out 3–4 times a day, I reached
my goal. I was praised for all the hard work I had done and told how good I looked by my
coaches, teammates, and even family. I associated the weight loss with beauty and success
because that is the feedback I received from those around me. I also received more aention
from men because of my new form and I thought this was the only way that I was going to
receive this aention again. Unfortunately, my “hard work” did not translate into playing
time. The criticism I received for being “overweight”, however, has stuck with me. I now
only associate beauty with being t and “in shape”- the supposed ideal I acquired during
my sophomore year of college. My coaches instilled that in me because they were the ones to
point out to me, the only way to be successful was to lose weight.
I have worked hard since those 2 years to change my perception of beauty and to see that
starving myself and pushing my body past those limits, is not true beauty. However, it has
been a long process and I still nd myself comparing my current self to the way I was then.
3. Athlete of three decades ago
The second athlete is credentialed as a high school principal and participated in athletics
during the 1980s. Her sport was both gymnastics and track and eld. These two sports are at
polar ends of the aesthetic perception of competition. Gymnastics, like ice skating, is a sport
highly aected by the perceived beauty of the athlete and the aesthetic experience. The track,
however, is based in being eet of foot. Less weight is important because it is assumed one
will run faster, but an athlete is not subjectively measured in track and eld for beauty, but
she is in gymnastics. In this case, Lisa is a petite women and a very beautiful woman as mea-
sured by general beauty standards. However, apparently, she too suered from the struggles
with the perception of beauty.
3.1. Lisa
As a young girl, growing up and having an athletic build was a blessing and a challenge. I
began taking gymnastics lessons at the age of 8 years old. I ran into trouble in high school
when it became painfully clear that my appearance was very dierent than the majority of my
female classmates. I had strong, muscular legs which, to my peers, appeared not to be femi-
nine. I remember going clothes shopping as a freshman in high school and nding it dicult
to nd jeans that t my small 5′ 2″ athletic frame- small waist and muscular thighs and strong
powerful boom. This trouble of nding aering clothes was only one of several social snags
as a female athlete.
The other girls in high school gave me grief for not looking feminine. When I wore a dress
my muscular calves stuck out below the hem and the calves, to them, were reminiscent of an
adolescent boy. I overheard girls whispering in class about how big my thighs were and how
“gross” they were to look at. Being in high school in the 80′s did not lend itself to embracing
Perception of Beauty162

my type of body prole. Julia Roberts was one of Hollywood’s “it” girls and my body was a
far cry from her tall, slender frame.
A short time later, I recall being asked by a relative if the coaches gave gymnasts special pills
to keep us small for competition. I had to explain to this grown man that, “No, we were not
given special pills” and that the girls who reach the higher echelon of competition in gymnas-
tics were there based on their skill, not their body size.
My gymnastics “career” came to an end around that time. At the former gym, I was consid-
ered small, however, when I moved to a bigger gym to train, I was told that I had grown too
tall and did not have the right look. My hair was layered and hard to pull into the preferred
ponytail. I did not wear the most up-to-date gymnastic aire, my 34 B chest was too big, and
at 5′2″ I was taller than most of the gymnasts there. I decided to try a dierent sport and
became a successful sprinter in track and eld.
I always enjoyed the movement and strength that the sport of gymnastics brought to my life.
It quickly became a large part of an identity that I happily embraced. It brought me years of
enjoyment and satisfaction. While the negative sides of the sport were present, they did not
dampen my enthusiasm for the sport.
Lisa left the sport because of “her size” and went on to be successful in track and eld. Today,
she still runs and is a healthy t woman.
4. An athlete of two decades ago
Heather is an academic and department chair at a NAIA college. She played both high school
and college sport and coached for several years. She teaches cultural aspects of sports and is
versed in gender inequity scholarship. Heather’s story is very dierent and more poignant
about the struggles that women endure in a hyper-sexualized world of athletics.
4.1. Heather
“Nice legs,” the point guard said as I waited for him to check the ball. “Excuse me?” I replied.
I stood up out of my defensive stance and looked at him with a puzzled look on my face.
I glanced at my bruised thighs and shins, discolored by diving on the oor after loose balls,
running into the knees of opponents when ghting through screens, or bumping into free
weights while negotiating a crowded weight room. I was dumbfounded by his comment.
My legs were not “nice looking” legs. They were certainly colorful, sweaty, and muscular, but
not “nice looking”. “Who is this idiot?” was all I could think. I thought we were here to play
basketball, not pick up a date.
“Are you going to play ball, or not?” I spat out.
“I’ll make you a deal,” he replied. With a stupid grin on his face, he continued, “I’ll check the
ball if you’ll go out with me.” I could hear the guys behind me snickering, waiting for me to
say or do something.
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Completely embarrassed by this awkward conversation and just wanting it to end, I let out a
sigh, shrugged my shoulders, and said, “Fine … now check the damn ball.”
Being the object of someone’s gaze, whether a man’s or a woman’s, was a part of my experience
as a competitive athlete. The competitive athlete relies on her body to excel, much like a con-
struction worker relies on his/her tools to build quality materials. For me, as a basketball player,
I needed to be strong, lean, and quick. In order to perform, I needed the right combination of
tools at the right time. This required careful aention to nutrition and physical tness. Hours
lifting in the weight room, seemingly endless sprints on the track, bounding up ights and
ights of stairs, engaging in dribbling drills repetitively until my ngers ached, and puing up
hundreds of shots a day were essential to being well prepared for successful competition. This
devotion to eective preparation resulted in me being connected with my body—with how it
moved, how it felt, and knowing what it was capable of. I was proud of the eort and the result.
Though I viewed my body as an instrument capable of hiing jump shots, breaking a press,
and pulling down rebounds, there were others who viewed it much dierently. Some men
seemingly felt free to comment on the curve of my ass or my muscular calf muscles while I
struggled to squat, clean, and snatch weights next to them on the platform. I was wearing
baggy shorts just like the guy next to me, but I was too busy trying to push the weight and
too focused on completing a successful lift to notice his “form.” My motivation was stronger
muscles, but his catcalls revealed his motivation was sex.
The gaze of others wasn’t limited to men. My female coaches and teammates referred to me
jokingly as “Butch.” I had short hair, wore sweats daily, and spent more time with a basket-
ball than I did with male companions. These choices were purposeful. Short hair was easier
to take care of. Sweats were more comfortable and easy to take on and o in preparation for
practice. As a college athlete, my motivation was to excel on the court and in the classroom.
I wasn’t there to land a mate. I was there to become a beer shooting guard and to prepare for
successful entry into graduate school. Not everyone shared my vision.
Name calling (“butch” or “dyke”) was common and served a purpose. It reinforced tradi-
tional ideologies about how women should look and act. Women were expected to appear
feminine. Long hair, painted nails, makeup, and dressing in feminine clothing reinforced tra-
ditional gender norms. Such behavior was expected and reinforced. When women didn’t t
this heterosexual norm, their behavior and sexuality were called into question. Name calling
served to remind us all of what was expected and acceptable. Those names carried meaning
and fear of backlash because they challenged traditional gender ideology and the accepted
heterosexual norm. As a result, my teammates and I, whether gay or straight, felt pressure
to t into these norms. Hair length is an important marker. It was often a joke that female
athletes must have a “ponytail gene” because ponytails are so prevalent in women’s athlet-
ics. It was also a common occurrence for my teammates and me to discuss dating men and
wanting children, whether they were actually dating men or had any interest in having kids.
An example of how these expectations can impact experience occurred during one-holiday
break. All students who resided in the dorms had to move out while the campus was closed
for the holiday break. I was displaced from the dorms with no place to stay but had to remain
on campus for practice and games. One teammate invited me to stay at her apartment since
Perception of Beauty164

her roommate was headed home for the break. Thankful for the oer, I took her up on the
opportunity. Not until I arrived did I learn that she was gay and had invited her girlfriend
to stay as well. One night, after they both had too much alcohol to drink, they applied con-
siderable pressure on me to join them sexually. After I turned them down, my teammate’s
girlfriend said, “But I thought you said she was butch.”
The next day at practice I shared with a male assistant coach that I thought I might need to
nd a new place to stay. He responded with surprise and questioned how I didn’t know my
teammate was gay. He then with consternation asked why I hadn’t taken greater care and
made a stronger eort to make it clear that although I looked “butch,” I was heterosexual.
The pressure to navigate these challenges was signicant and ever-present. A competitive
athlete will do just about anything to be involved in her sport. We are trained not to ques-
tion, but to do as we’re expected and as we’re told. To challenge this expected norm would
mean to threaten our opportunity to play. The play is key and an athlete’s most valuable
commodity. Athletes’ bodies are powerful, yet we don’t have power. To participate we are
required to concede our power to those who coach and administrate us. If we are blessed to
play for people who create a safe and positive participatory environment, this concession can
be empowering. However, if we play for people who abuse their power and choose actions
based on immoral motivations, the results can be scarring.
An athlete wants to please. If she pleases those who evaluate, she earns the opportunity to
play. She can please by working harder, pushing herself to the point of physical exhaustion.
She can please by working longer hours, opening the gym in the morning and turning the
lights o at night. She can please by tapping into the unknown source of physical, psychologi-
cal, and emotional reserves only the subjective can explain. An athlete begins to accept these
sacrices as the norm. Soon they are not sacrices, just another day in the pursuit of excel-
lence. The bar continues to move and always in the direction navigated by those in power.
Powerful bodies command a presence. Powerful bodies take up space. What happens when
the power inherent in an athlete’s body, one nely tuned through hours of physical exertion,
is diminished by the person in power who chooses to take away such space?
How I saw and experienced my body was dierent than how others did. I, the athlete, viewed
my body as a tool for physical prociency. While it could be manipulated through drills and
physical activity, others viewed it as an object for their gaze, and as something that could be
manipulated for their pleasure.
5. Suggestions for change
As I read the above vignees, to me it is painfully obviously that women athletes appear to
have much in common with the perception of beauty and the beast of application. Each of
these women tells a tale of manipulation by peers, coaches, and even other participants. Their
comments also reect what has been wrien on the subject of hegemony and misogamy [1, 2,
5, 8]. Most researchers argue for a re-education of society to address the issues. I reached out
to each of these former athletes and asked her to oer her perspective.
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5.1. Nicole
Even when I played basketball in Denmark I was around athletes who were professionals
and they were worried about their physical appearance and body type. When I was walking
around in the town that I lived in I was constantly told that I looked like a basketball player.
How do I look like a basketball player when I am walking around town while wearing jeans,
boots, and a winter coat? I always wondered what made people label me as a basketball
player? Similarly, in high school walking around in airports as a team, we were constantly
asked if we were a volleyball team or a swim team. Why never a cheer team or a dance team?
I can only assume that it was because of the “the look” that we had.
As a coach at both the NAIA level and the NCAA D-1 level I have seen rst-hand how wom-
en’s basketball players have a perception of beauty that is shaped by numerous factors. They
want to be strong and seen as a threat within the sport but don’t want to be “too big” when it
comes to lifting weights and having muscles. They are aected by each other, and peer feed-
back is a huge factor in how they see beauty. They do not necessarily have a sense of modesty
when it comes to being in the locker room, but they are constantly critiquing their own bodies
as if they are begging for a compliment from their teammates. They compare themselves to
other girls who are not athletes, who are “skinny” and don’t have to worry about being able
to lift a certain amount or being stronger than an opponent. I have heard so many times “well
I’m self-conscious” or “if I didn’t have these basketball legs” while girls talk in the locker
room. Their distorted views of their bodies come from society, the sport itself, spectators,
and unspoken pressure from coaches. The sad reality is that so many young women their age
would love to have the bodies these athletes do.
Both my experiences and seeing how the athletes I coach are aected by outside factors have
aected my view of beauty. Because of the sport, I played and the criticism I received as
a player I see a certain body type as the “perfect body” and this view is only solidied by
validation from others. I will coach much dierently than how I was coached—I will see and
support women to be powerful and beautiful as they are.
Upon further reection of the experience I had at USD, I was even more concerned with my
experience as a player in regard to how I was treated with my weight because I had a female
coach. It struck me as so insensitive and concerning that a female in a position of power and
leadership would be comfortable treating an athlete that they are coaching and supposedly
mentoring in this manner. She had no concern for my overall well-being or how her com-
ments about my weight would aect me mentally, either in the long or short term. The other
concerning thing is that I was only one of many players that were treated like this. My team-
mates who were seniors had been treated like this and had their weight yo-yo anywhere
between 150 and 180 lbs. for some of them. The way that we were treated was not right by any
means, and even worse was the way that we were somehow rewarded for this behavior with
praise, compliments, and in some cases, more playing time.
Comparing this situation to the situation, I am witnessing now as a graduate assistant coach
is drastically dierent. The male coach that I work under now does not ever mention the girls’
weight or physical appearance. He had never talked about puing them on a diet, nor has he
Perception of Beauty166

put any restrictions on what they eat when we are on road trips. The girls are not monitored
as closely as I was when I played, however, the team is aware of what they should and should
not be eating. While meal preference diers from player to player, it is interesting to see how
some of the freshmen have changed their eating habits since arriving in August. Have they
changed their habits based on necessity and the new physical demands their bodies are going
through? Or are they just modeling their eating habits after the upper classman because that
is what they feel is expected? These questions always cross my mind and I often compare the
situation I am witnessing now to the experience that I had as a player.
With these two extreme approaches in mind, I feel that there must be some sort of middle
ground that can be reached when it comes to how female athletes should be treated and
approached when it comes to weight, which is already a sensitive issue within itself. The rst
suggestion that I would make is that a head coach should not be the one to have a conversa-
tion with a player in regards to any weight issues. A head coach is already in a position of
power that can be seen as intimidating for players, and players are already under enough
stress to perform. The head coach should not be responsible for weight management or dis-
cussing these issues with a player. If at all possible, a certied nutritionist should be available
to consult. This nutritionist can serve as a liaison between coach and player to discuss any
maers that are concerning to a coach as far as health, weight, and diet is concerned.
Another way to prevent negative experiences for players as far as weight is concerned is to
educate the players and take more preventative measures, instead of being strictly reactive.
The team nutritionist could have weekly meetings with players and team meetings to educate
players on how to properly fuel their bodies based on the amount of energy they are expend-
ing. This would give players a safe outlet outside of their coaching sta to talk about nutrition
concerns or body image issues. Furthermore, the players would have at least some knowledge
as to what food they should be consuming so they do not resort to habits or diets that could
lead to eating disorders or further body image issues.
As a former player and current coach, I see now more than ever the importance of building
healthy habits and a positive body image for female athletes. The media and other outlets
already do a poor enough job at educating women in this eld, and this problem does not
need to be compounded by more negativity from coaches or other inuencing parties within
each athlete’s athletic circle.
5.2. Lisa
The problems of beauty I experienced were based on clothing styles and comments people
made about me or those in the sport of gymnastics. For me, I was not that concerned with the
latest styles because I was the most comfortable in my athletic clothing. I did not see the point
in geing too wrapped up in the fashion world when I had bigger goals to meet in my sport.
I did not concern myself too much with what others said about me or about my body and the
sport of gymnastics. I was so connected to gymnastics. It brought me such a feeling of accom-
plishment and through the years it had become a big part of my identity. If others thought my
body looked unfeminine then they did not understand the satisfaction, through strength and
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power that I had with my body. And I successfully demonstrated that for years. Also, whether
I was too big or small, I had a great deal of success in other sports I played because of my
gymnastics background whether it was medaling at state track or playing on a championship
softball team. When the time came to leave gymnastics, I knew I would be able to pick up
another sport as a strong competitor.
Gymnastics made me feel beautiful, condent, strong, and successful. Even when the time
came to let it go and move on, I knew I would always carry it with me. To this day, it still
contributes to my feelings of self-worth and my desire to push through dicult challenges
in life.
5.3. Heather
Athletes have powerful bodies, but do we, as beings, have power? How one comes to
understand her own beauty is heavily inuenced by perceptions of others. Those whose
opinions maer are often people who are in a position of power. If the opportunity to play
exists in a safe and positive space, the benets to engagement in sport are numerous and
well documented. But if the play experience exists in a negative and harmful environ-
ment, the impact of the experience can be devastating. If a person in a position of power
(e.g., a coach, an athletic director, a judge, etc.) believes that perceived beauty is a reec-
tion of personal worth, this message can be detrimental and damaging to a young woman
still seeking to nd herself. The need to please in the pursuit of playing time can mean
athletes may adopt unhealthy behaviors to reach an imposed end goal related to weight
or appearance.
Athletes must be change agents in creating, supporting, and facilitating safe and positive
participatory spaces. The culture of athletics has long been argued as a heteronormative,
hyper-masculine environment. The truth is athletes are athletes, regardless of their sex or
gender. Athletes, male and female, must demand change. No longer can it be acceptable for
the use of language that demeans, beliles, and strips power. No longer can it be acceptable
for people to take space that isn’t theirs to claim. Athletes must hold themselves, each other,
and their coaches and administrators responsible for their choices.
They do this through solidarity in numbers. For example, it is common practice for teams to
set goals at the beginning of every season. Goals should include intentional eorts to create
safe and healthy playing environments where athletes and coaches agree to support, rather
than belile, one another. Additionally, team members must commit to holding each other
accountable to safe and healthy interactions. If teammates begin to police one another’s word
choices and actions, the participatory culture will change to be supportive.
An additional consideration is utilizing the services of a sport psychologist. Doing so will
allow players and coaches access to a trained professional whose focus is on building a cohe-
sive and supportive competitive unit. Additionally, a sport psychologist can work with indi-
vidual team members on strategies to improve self-concept and self-esteem. If an athlete nds
herself struggling with issues related to image or weight, a trained professional can help an
athlete get the help she needs to make healthy decisions.
Perception of Beauty168

Being excellent requires preparation with others also seeking to be excellent. To become
the best, you must give your best. To become the best, you must train with those who can
push you to excel. However, people can only give their best when the environment allows
it. An environment which demeans, beliles and strips power will never allow for one’s best
eorts to be practiced and supported. To truly become the best, we have to allow others the
opportunity to become beer.
6. Final thoughts
I am not sure that the beast of the sport—the ugliness of how people treat each other—is lim-
ited to sport. Lisa’s story is more about other girls in school rather than experiences within the
sport. I was always a big girl and even had a relative or two say hurtful things like, you are so
prey, too bad you are so fat. I even had an uncle call me the lile fat girl from Marshallville.
Society is hurtful, people are hurtful, and words have to mean [9].
The rst step in making change is to inform and to share stories with others. This chapter is
one of those rst beginnings to an audience outside of the sport academic community. Title
IX has brought sports participation to women in the United States, and more women today
participate in athletics and sport than at any other time in the past [16].
Unfortunately, participation in sport is one of the few places in education and life where
moral rules of society appear to be on hold. Stoll and colleagues have shown over a 25 span
that moral reasoning and moral development of athletes, coaches, and fans appears to be
masked when participating [10–13, 17, 18]. Rudd [19] asked 108 athletes of how often they
were insulted or harassed by spectators; 47.2% said they had been insulted. Interestingly
when pressed as to how hurtful the harassment was, the athletes appeared to say it had lile
to no aect on their playing though 17.6% felt the comments were hurtful. As Heather said
and Lisa and Nicole supported, beauty lies in the strength of the athlete and the power of
the athletic endeavor—and that’s where we should all perceive the importance of beauty.
Our comments about beauty are supported by Krane [4] who argued athletes know how to
be “prey” in a societal sense, but do athletes really want to deal with societal perception?
Women today in athletics have more opportunity than in the past to participate and excel
both in and out of sport. However, the beauty and the beast still exist in. We should take their
suggestions to heart and make a dierence so that the beast is laid to rest.
Author details
Sharon K. Stoll1*, Heather VanMullem2, Nicole Ballestero2 and Lisa Brown2
*Address all correspondence to: sstoll@uidaho.edu
1 University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USA
2 Lewis-Clark State College, Lewiston, ID, USA
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169

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