{"id":17858,"date":"2023-03-07T10:00:33","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T10:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/07\/lauren-fleshman-there-is-a-betrayal-of-womens-bodies-in-the-sports-system\/"},"modified":"2023-03-07T10:00:33","modified_gmt":"2023-03-07T10:00:33","slug":"lauren-fleshman-there-is-a-betrayal-of-womens-bodies-in-the-sports-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/07\/lauren-fleshman-there-is-a-betrayal-of-womens-bodies-in-the-sports-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Lauren Fleshman: \u2018There is a betrayal of women\u2019s bodies in the sports system\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI<\/span><\/span>f males got boobs during puberty there would be a free sports bra in every locker and we wouldn\u2019t even be having this conversation,\u201d says Lauren Fleshman, laughing but not joking. \u201cWhen teams issue uniforms a sports bra should be part of that uniform.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fleshman, a former professional runner and elite college athlete with multiple national titles during her time at Stanford University, is now running a race to highlight how the sports industry fail women.<\/p>\n

The problem is that this race may never end, and also has many different lanes to run in at the same time. Pick a lane, any lane, and Fleshman can probably highlight where inequity exists.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as girls start developing breasts, any discussion in our culture is sexual,\u201d Flashman says. \u201cWe should be able to talk about breasts in the context of movement the same way we talk about elbows and knees. It\u2019s part of our body and as our bodies are developing the physics of our movement changes. There is almost a cultural celebration of a girl getting her first regular bra and it is time we had a similar rite of passage for the sports bra. It can be normalized before it gets awkward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Puberty\u2019s influence on young athletes is just one subject Fleshman explores in Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man\u2019s World<\/a>. The book\u2019s marketing material describes it as \u201cpart memoir, part manifesto\u201d but it\u2019s also an eye-opening account of life as a college athlete and a behind-the-scenes peek at the business of professional athletics in the United States, through a female lens.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a fundamental institutional betrayal of women\u2019s bodies happening in the sports system,\u201d Fleshman says. \u201cIt is a problem that requires a pretty basic shift in thinking and if we can shift that thinking and raise that consciousness then other things fall into place: policy changes, the way we talk to girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

High on Fleshman\u2019s list for change is dumping the idea that men and women should be treated the same, a concept that upends some central themes in equality debates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the [physical] development years after adolescence female-bodied people in sport are having fundamentally different experiences with their bodies but we have been treating them like they should be like males because that is what \u2018equality\u2019 looks like,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf basic female body experiences are taboo, erased, or minimized then you aren\u2019t creating an environment that accurately reflects the people in it. You aren\u2019t creating an empowered sports environment for those people and that is a group of people who are going to be victimized and easier prey for bad actors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to start being courageous to lean into the differences that we have and decide collectively that women deserve to thrive in sport and have sport built around them for their norms. We have to stop comparing them to a male standard, stop expecting them to progress like men do, stop erasing the parts of their body that are feminine. We\u2019re scared of women\u2019s bodies and scared of women\u2019s power.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
<\/picture><\/div>
<\/svg><\/span>Lauren Fleshman claims victory in the 5000m at a Diamond league meeting in 2011. <\/span> Photograph: Ian Kington\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fleshman suggests 1960s and 70s Second Wave feminism addressed many issues that led to positive outcomes but in turn created unforeseen challenges for the 21st century that need revisiting \u2013 if not revising.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe liberal feminist movement that peaked in the 70s led to a lot of fundamental changes in women\u2019s lives \u2013 no-fault divorce, Title IX in athletics<\/a>, and women getting their own credit cards,\u201d Fleshman says. \u201cThe way we got those things was through appealing to men in power by saying we\u2019re the same as you, so treat us the same. Talking about differences wasn\u2019t a great strategy for feminists to get equal rights so we stopped talking about differences. But it\u2019s been 50 years. To get to that last step in equality we have to lean into our differences and say, hey we need something different.\u201d<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n