Pee-wee sports leagues are very popular in our society. Growing up, I have noticed that it has always been popular for parents to sign their kids up to participate in sports like soccer, dance, tee ball, and gymnastics at a very young age. Children appear to enjoy their participation since they get to make new friends and learn how to play a new game. However, around the time a kid exits the childhood phase of life and enters the early adolescence phase (at approximately 11 years) participation in sport decreases dramatically, especially in female adolescents.
In a statistical overview of sport and recreation participation by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2012), it was found that female participation rates dropped by 9.7% between …show more content…
Regarding the interactionist theory, these young girls are basing their identity, social relationships, and value as an athlete on how they believe society expects them to look and not based on the objective truth of what a healthy body image actually is (Birbeck & Drummond, 2006). While adolescent males experience struggles with body image and self-objectification as well, females experience these things on a much larger scale. For example, girls experience teasing from both genders, while boys usually only receive it from other boys. One of the most common responses from girls regarding barriers they felt kept them from wanting to participate in sport were negative reactions from peers that included weight criticism and criticism related to body changes as a result of puberty (Slater & Tiggeman, 2011). In a study by Deborah J. Rhea (1998), the conclusion was reached that lack of involvement in sport for girls age 10 to 15 years old was directly linked to body conscious issues. In this age range females begin developing breasts, broader hips, and experience an increase in body fat. These changes can cause a severe lack of self-esteem, leading to one of two outcomes, either excessive workouts to …show more content…
The ideal body type a female should have based on what the media portrays is slender and slightly toned without being too bulky. It has been shown that females experience lower levels of self-esteem and are more prone to developing an eating disorder after exposure to images of thin models and body-related discussion in the media (Markova, 2007). In order to try and dispel the notion that all females should feel ashamed unless they are slim, it is important to focus efforts on the phase of life these issues first arise; early adolescence. The main theme appears to be girls’ body insecurity, so my first solution deals with educating both genders on body image. Both male and female adolescents got through body changes during puberty, making both susceptible to having a negative body image. Due to this, it is important to explain that the media’s representation of women is very unrealistic and that television, magazines, and other media outlets rely heavily on editing programs to make models, actors, etc. appear to have the ideal body type. Exposure to mass media presenting a “thin-ideal body” as the norm is strongly correlated with body image disturbances in women (Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008, p. 470). Once the myths regarding body image are dispelled, females may feel less self-conscious in their team