Female Athlete Triad : A Condition

When it comes to sports for female athletes they are underestimated for the way they look, and

Women in professional sports fits into the Sex and Power: Global Gender Inequality class because many female athletes have experienced the inequalities in a professional sports setting. Female athletes are being put down by gender inequalities, causing less females participating in athletic programs. Women athletes are being paid less than their male counterparts. Along with being paid less, female and males are receiving unequal benefits in the form of scholarship, media coverage, transportation, and stadium conditions. The professional sport’s world is filled with the obsession of body image and sexuality. Through this obsession, female athletes have been abused from the people they trust the most. There is an increasing inequality in women’s professional sports in the form of pay, sexuality, and abuse.

However, women’s sport has always been criticized for not being considered an actual sport, but rather a softer version of a man’s sport. As a result, women who were very successful were questioned in regards of their true sex. Santhi Soundarajan was a female competitor in the 2006 Asian Games for the 800-meter race. Soundarajan was successful as she received a silver medal for her efforts, however, she was highly disturbed by the “sex testing” which she was required to go through prior to participating in the Olympic Games (Schultz, 2014). Eventually, it was determined that Soundarajan did not fit into the category of female as her testosterone levels were too high and the Olympic Association had taken away her medal. The idea that femininity is a direct link to being female is an imagined paradigm created by society to dominate women and the notion that women are allowed to compete as long as they appear feminine and act feminine is comical. The reason that this idea of femininity exists is because masculinity exists and if an individual is not feminine then they must be masculine. Therefore, sport is considered a masculine space and to be good at sport one must attain masculinity which can be demonstrated through speed, strength, bulging muscles, bravery, and is coupled with having high levels of testosterone. All of these characteristics are the opposite of the feminine embodiment which includes being poise, pretty, having a slender waist with wide hips, and low amounts of testosterone. Currently, the IAAF states that the amount of testosterone allowed within the blood to be able to compete as a female must be no more than 5 nanomoles per liter (Chiu, 2018). This is almost about half of what the pre-existing limit was before this announcement was made, the monumental discriminatory remarks directly affect women

The female athlete triad is a potentially serious condition affecting many women and is particularly common among young women participating in sports. The female athlete triad is a condition consists of three clinical entities includes, menstrual dysfunction, low energy availability and decreased bone mineral density. This complex disorder was first invented by the American college of sports medicine in 1992 after many experts in the filed had noticed a pattern among adolescent and young adult female athlete patients. Low bone density is a dangerous result of the triad, and the degree of low bone mineral density in young patients is significantly dependent on age of onset and duration of amenorrhea. Low energy availability play an important

Within sport, as throughout society, gender differences exist. The socially constructed phenomenon of gender dictates a dichotomous system whereby females are feminine and males are masculine. Focusing on females specifically, society determines the feminine traits and roles ascribed to this gender. Being domesticated, slender, passive and heterosexual are a part of the desirable appearance that society has formed surrounding femininity (Wolf, 1991). On the other side of the dichotomy is the masculine realm that sport plays into. Sport is fuelled by muscle, power and aggressiveness, which are behaviours and images associated to masculinity. Sport therefore, defies all existing female gender ideals. It would be assumed that females have no place within this institution due to the gender clash. However, female athletes do exist, and many are very successful. For this to work, sport has established and reinforced the social constructions of gender that exist in society. Female athletes are viewed as inferior and are pushed into gender appropriate sports. Furthermore, they are often labeled as masculine until they can prove otherwise, and so great attempts are made to reassert femininity. The stigma associated to being masculine or homosexual for female athletes is so great that many have become irrationally fearful of this label. The sexualisation of the female body and overt displays of heterosexuality are used in

According to Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in [the] Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” Because of the establishment of this international document, much progression toward the equality of rights for all with inherited and acquired traits has been achieved over time. In particular, gender equality has made a great deal of headway since the Olympic Games in ancient Greece. Even though this may be the case, there is no doubt that female athletes are far from considered equal as compared to male athletes in modern sports. In today’s sports society, women athletes are still discriminated against based on lower salaries, less media coverage, and lack of opportunity.

In 1983, Jarmila Kratochvílová set the world record for the 800-meter event with a time of 1:53.28, quickly creating an uproar among Olympians and aficionados due to her dominant male physical characteristics. It was rumored that she had been using testosterone, the hormone responsible for male secondary sexual characteristics produced in the testes, to enhance her physical abilities (Vilain 8). Essential, she paved the way for female athletes who also appeared to have certain physical features not correspondent to XX women. During the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Pamela Jelimo from Kenya placed third for the 800-meter event with a time of 1:54.01. In 2009, Caster Semenya earned the 11th place in the world with a time of 1:55.45. In the media, both women were portrayed as masculine which was a form of public humiliation. Although it was never clearly confirmed, these women went through the IOC’s process to verify the suspicion that genetically, they were “XY”, and therefore men. These women professionals are given an ultimatum; to decline participation in the Olympics, or to compete with men. The IOC should not have a criterion to determine a woman’s eligibility to compete, and unfortunately, this has not been the only time that this humiliating act of discrimination has

Throughout many years there has been a great change of gender roles of men and women in our society, and especially in the world of sports. Over the last couple years female athletes have really strived to gaining equal representation and media coverage as much as the male athletes do. Female athletes are also starting to participate in more male dominated sports such as, MMA, hockey and even golf. These few sports have been perceived as “manly sports” which usually makes women feel that they shouldn't participate because they're not masculine enough. Even though there are many female athletes who feel discouraged to playing “manly sports” there are also plenty of female athletes who are trying to show younger generations that it's okay to participate and compete in sports that aren't necessarily “feminine sports”. The way that gender roles have been affecting sports for a long time are through behaviors, stereotypes and the perception of male and female athletes.

As previously stated, the subjects were female athletes who play/played basketball or soccer. The data for this article came from MEDLINE and was through the dates 1978 to 1998 (Ireland,

The interrelated factors of the female athlete triad are energy availability, menstrual function, and bone mineral density each of which develops along a continuum. Each factor may progress to a point where it is a clinical condition such as an eating disorder. The three factors may be present together and have developed in sequence, low energy availability due to low energy (caloric) intake and high energy expenditure leads to amenorrhea that leads to osteoporosis, although each of these conditions can occur independently of the others. Whether alone or in combination with each other, when energy availability, menstrual function, and bone mineral density are comprimised they represent substantial health risks for the female athlete. Low

When it comes to physical activity women are seen as inferior to men. They lack the muscular physique and the lung capacity that men are naturally born with. Unfortunately, when a woman excels in sports it is assumed that she has cheated and is questioned about her performance. In Genel’s article, throughout the process of gender testing, a group of women were found to be genetically male. These women have what is called Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS). Their outer appearance is that of a woman, but genetically they are made up of 46 XY chromosomes, which marks them genetically as males. These female athletes are “born with relatively rare genetic abnormalities that affect development of the gonads”. they are naturally resistant to the strength-promoting qualities of testosterone. When Skyes suggests that each athlete is unique and their circumstances need to be taken into consideration, this is one of those many circumstances.

"Runners are the 'healthiest sick people in the world'", according to ultrarunner Jeff Robbins. In an email that I received from him he added, “One of the problems with the ultras is that you are always stressing things to the limits. Therefore problems tend to crop up. Half the fun in this sport is learning to deal with adversity no matter how it comes." Injury is a runner's most dreaded and aggravating obstacle. Sometimes no matter how much the mind wills it, the body cannot go on without causing itself permanent damage. Pushing beyond these limitations will eventually cause the body to rebel and self-destruct. There are preventative measures that can be taken to stop these

Several studies have shown that female athletes have a considerably larger probability of experiencing an ACL injury than male athletes. Females who partake in high interval, vigorous, and physically demanding sports including basketball, soccer, and gymnastics have a higher risk of ACL injury. According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, “female athletes who participate in jumping and pivoting sports are two to ten times more likely to sustain a knee ligament injury, than male athletes participating in the same sports.” Scholars and surgeons have suggested that females are at a higher risk of knee injury due to strength, conditioning, and neuromuscular control. Other suggested causes for increase injury in females include a narrower

As women, we our taught by family member and society, that we always need to look our best. To be on the best behavor. Yet it is not for us but for the opposite sex. That women are mainly here for male enjoyment. We are also taught that we must be passive and smart but not smarter than males. A woman cannot be too aggressive because no man will want to be with her. Women can not beat a male at anything because we are not supposed to be tuffer than males. In sports males are prided on the aggressive and strength. Yet women athletes are not because the world still criticize women old fashion gender role. If you are a female athlete, you cannot win because the word brings you down by ones looks. In the website, Sport Sister, they show women athletes

Since the beginning of this century women like Babe Didrickson and Billy Jean King have brought female athletes into mainstream acceptance. In earlier times women had not only not been encouraged to be physical it was thought to be harmful for