During this year’s 2016 Olympics, Olympians from Serena Williams, Gabby Douglas and women from other countries besides the U.S have been belittled with the emphasis on societal beauty standards and also ultimately being objectified. Criticism has poured down on these women for their natural physique instead of praise for their spectacular performances. Comments in regards from their hair to their breast have overwhelmingly become the talk of the Olympics and from what many may believe is an insult to many feminist. Many male professional athletes are highly noticed and applauded for their masculinity and physique, but for women, being masculine in society’s eyes is an image not only the world, but other woman have not adjusted to yet.
After bringing home the Gold in Rio gymnastics with an historical performance, Gabby Douglas was not highly criticized for her determination for achievement, but for something that absolutely had nothing to do with her performance, it was her hair. The topic of a woman’s hair is one thing, but African American’s hair has always been a touchy topic. Throughout history, there have always been criticism and what seemed to be “amusement” by others when it comes to African-American women and their hair, but in this situation, it seems to have a bigger impact as a tremendous amount of criticism is coming from those of the black community. She was the first African-American to earn an Individual, all-around Olympic title four years ago. A lot of people feel that she could have represented not only herself but the entire culture in a better way with the upkeep of her “edges”. Some say “she could have at least put it in a cute bun," while some say “She was NOT there for a pageant show, but to represent the country and WIN. That’s exactly what she done.” After it was all said and done pictures have swarmed the internet of Gabby Douglas with her hair “on fleek” and a smile on her face.
During her performance at Wimbledon 2016, the tennis icon, Serena Williams, was shamed as her white attire could not prevent her nipples from being noticed. Williams is constantly proving herself to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, in women’s tennis but throughout her career, she has also received criticism for her strength and athleticism. A majority of women’s sports involves attractive attire, but a huge issue arises when the negative minds take over. Women have come a long way from being looked at as only “housewives”, “breeders” and sexual “objects” but it seems we, as a society, are taking a step backwards from total equality by noticing and exploiting the wrong things when it comes to them. She works out to be the strongest competitor, “She looks like a man”, she dances a certain way, twerking to be exact, then she’s unladylike, and now the world notices she really is a female with female parts and the world goes on a frenzy. With so much negative minded criticism a parent, especially a father, would probably second guess letting his daughter becoming victim to the insults of the world.
While NBC aired a seven-hour-old footage of Russian gymnastics, they overlooked the historical accomplishment of Simone Manuel. They did not air the monumental medal ceremony where Manuel became the first black American win an individual swimming event. Throughout history, there have been stereotypes that black people can NOT swim. This myth could have come from the actions of slaves being thrown overboard with no chance of survival or the lack of practice due to segregation at public pools, but Manuel has proven the entire world wrong. Statistic have proven that black people lack in swimming experience and chance of survival if in a swimming situation compared to other races which puts the exclamation mark on African Americans not only being capable of learning but also being considered the best at it. This was a moment that the world should have seen.
There should be no comparison of women to men, being that we are all humans, we generally have the ability to become great. Some of are embedded with genes that might make our talents that much noticeable but society has to understand women are human beings and greatest can also be a goal of theirs. Instead of being notarized for their hair, nipples, butt, they should be recognized for the true talent and not the societal beauty standard. There recently been announced that Olympic sex testing will also be put in place to determine gender. Some female athletes are flagged for being over masculine and goes against the women that naturally produces high testosterone levels.
