Edit desk: Strong doesn’t mean manly

This past week marked the beginning of the U.S. Open, where for the first time in history, the women’s tennis final sold out before the men’s. This can be attributed to the appearance of Serena Williams, who is one title away from being the first woman to complete a calendar-year Grand Slam since 1988. Other records on the line are matching Steffi Graf’s 22 U.S. Open singles titles and breaking a tie with Chris Evert for the most U.S. Open wins.

Over the summer, Williams won Wimbledon, completing her second “Serena Slam,” a term coined in 2003 after she won all four of the major Grand Slam tennis tournaments held in a year. However, her win was overshadowed by comments that permeated social media and other sites regarding her physical figure and perceived masculine appearance. For example, a notable Twitter interaction occurred after a user tweeted, “ironic then that main reason for her success is that she is built like a man,” and famous author J.K. Rowling responding with a picture of Williams at an awards ceremony in a red dress and the text, “’she is built like a man.’ Yeah my husband looks just like this in a dress. You’re an idiot.”

Meghan Reilly

Unfortunately, these sorts of comments aren’t uncommon. The recognition and respect women’s sports has received is proving to be a double-edged sword as the extreme success of certain female athletes is being unfairly correlated to how “masculine” they look. This perception is taking away from society’s overall view of their success as female athletes and decreasing their potential to positively influence young female athletes.

Take the United States Women’s National Soccer team, for example, a great who an increasing amount of the American population watched win the World Cup this past summer. The nationwide popularity and support the athletes garnered was incredible, but undermining this win for not only America, but women’s sports, were judgments on player appearances. Abby Wambach, forward for the U.S. Women’s National Team, is one of the most decorated athletes in American history. Unfortunately, Wambach’s talent is often attributed by the public to her short hair and muscular, or “manly” build, instead of her athletic abilities, a detraction that would not be made in the case of a more traditionally “feminine” player like Alex Morgan.

This thought process of attributing female athletic success to “manly” attributes is not just pervasive in professional sports. In fact, I have experienced this in the sport of track and field as a thrower at Lehigh.

Throwers compete in the events of shot put, discus, hammer, javelin and weight throws. This event group requires various weight lifting workouts three to four days a week throughout the school year, combined with two to three hours of conditioning and throwing technique practice from preseason in September through final exams in May. In my high school, there were female athletes who would’ve been ideal throwing candidates that shied away from the sport because they thought lifting would make them bulk up or look “manly.” While it is true that lifting tones and puts muscle on your body, it is completely false and unrealistic that lifting will magically make a girl gain 60 pounds of muscle and cause her voice to drop significant decibels — that would be steroids.

This perception of female athletes having perfectly toned bodies and competing without disturbing the hair on their heads is one that needs to change, which starts with the perception of female athletes lifting. Although a healthy lifestyle, Crossfit and similar types of exercise are becoming more prevalent in American society, and too many people’s ideologies are stuck in the past.

Personally, lifting has become an outlet for me, a place where I feel confident, powerful and sexy. Contrary to popular opinion, after three years of lifting at least three times a week, I’ve lost body fat and have never felt better about my body image. However, I am guilty of initially shying away from the sport due to its stereotypes and literally sizing up the competition at a meet, only to feel contrite after a 5-foot-4-inch 130-pound athlete threw javelin the farthest instead of the “bulkier” girl that I had picked out as the initial winner.

It’s about time we all take a step back from our judgments and predetermined ideas to focus on the pure talent that has allowed these sports to become as prevalent and influential to young girls as they have already. The female sporting world is changing for the better. I hope that instead of judging Serena Williams’ level of “femininity” as she wins her matches and breaks records at the U.S. Open, you’ll be cheering along with me at her personal and athletic accomplishments.