“We have reached a point where it is unrealistic and unhealthy to have a standard for what the … body is supposed to look like.”
Modern standards for size and body types have overarching negative effects on body image throughout society at large. Certain beauty standards disproportionately affect different populations; one demographic affected in a unique way is young athletes.
High-performance varsity athletes at Harvard are forced to make many sacrifices, including socialization, sleep, and self-determination. They are often required to balance compromises for performance and personal well-being, and when it comes to personal fitness, each athlete is subject to their sport’s respective demands.
It is generally accepted in athletics that each sport favors certain optimal body types and traits, according to which muscles and parts of the body are most fit for the required movements. Some sports require long-term endurance, while others call for brute strength and explosive energy. Height, center of gravity, wingspan, and body fat percentage are just a handful of the numerous characteristics that are prioritized in different sports, many of which are both genetic and out of an athlete’s control. The physical demands that sports place on athletes may often conflict with their personal goals and overall health.
“I feel internal pressure to achieve [a certain] build because a tiny voice in my head says that I will only reach peak performance if my body mirrors this slighter build. But I also know myself, and always striving for this form of perfection is unsustainable, unhealthy, and could result in damaging eating habits,” said one anonymous female athlete.
Every varsity sports team at Harvard has a strength training program that aims to strengthen crucial muscles in order to prevent injury and promote high performance. These sport-specific training programs often differ drastically from cardio-intense workouts popularized by social media today. Sport-specific training is also radically different from strength and mobility training for functional fitness. One focuses on optimizing athletic success, while the other focuses on supporting a healthy day-to-day lifestyle. A 2011 study by The Sport Journal found that 24.2% of Division I female athletes and 30.7% of Division III female athletes were unhappy with their overall appearance. Another study found that at least a third of NCAA Division 1 female athletes were at-risk for anorexia nervosa. These findings may be caused by unrealistic standards for the idealized body types perpetuated by popular and athletic cultures.
Amidst grappling with societal expectations, it can be challenging to maintain confidence in one’s athletic physique. This conflict is compounded by societal perceptions of what it looks like to be “healthy,” “an athlete,” or even “attractive” under Western body type standards.
“On one hand, I feel an extreme pressure to meet society’s expectations [for my body],” said one anonymous first-year female athlete. “This elusive body type is completely irrelevant to the function of my body for sport, yet I can’t escape the constant reminders of what I’m supposed to look like.”
The function of an athletic build is to increase performance with the intent of athletic achievement. Yet it can simultaneously produce negative emotional effects in athlete’s attempts to fulfill conflicting and often harmful body standards. “I feel like I am never doing the right thing to achieve the perfect body because my ideal body type inconsistently changes from a societal expectation and social media phenomenon to a sport ideal,” reflected a female athlete on the Varsity Skiing team.
“I always feel isolated when getting ready with my friends because I know I won’t be able to fit their clothing if I want to change my outfit,” said one athlete on the Varsity Field Hockey team, echoing the sentiment of the conflicting nature of sport and societal demands. She went on to attribute these issues of self-confidence to the expectation as a field hockey player to have “far more muscular legs” than those of her friends who did not play a sport. Society can create seemingly unattainable expectations for athletes because they might not be able to achieve their own physical standards without sacrificing their own athletic performance. Importantly, any individual maintaining physical standards based on aesthetics is influenced by the perception of others and what society deems to be attractive.
Another female athlete said that, in addition to the pressure to have the right body type to excel in her sport, she feels, “an extreme pressure to meet society’s expectations of an attractive female body, and to satisfy the male gaze, which is currently centered around wide hips and a small waist.”
From a dietary standpoint, proper athletic nutrition also differs drastically from ideals that are often set for non-athletes. Typical attempts at eating healthy, including reducing caloric intake, seldom provide the sufficient combinations of carbs, proteins, and fats to provide quick energy and promote recovery required for post-workout nutrition. “I know that if I changed how I ate, I could be disciplined enough to lose weight, but then I wouldn’t be as successful on the field during practice and competition,” another female first-year athlete said. “It’s also really hard to always be in situations where I am eating more than my friends because I have different energy needs.”
Popular culture and social media constantly perpetuate dietary standards that are frequently impossible for high-performance athletes to meet—promoting calorie restriction and excessive cardiovascular exercise. The high demands that varsity sports place on athletes’ bodies, including muscle and energy overexertion, require treatment that does not correspond to what diet culture promotes.
Male sports also place compromising standards on athletes’ bodies. “The taller people in the sport definitely have to be cognizant about what they are doing with their body,” one male member of the Varsity Sailing team said. “Some people…feel the pressure of trying to become the body type that fits their boat.”
Another male athlete, on the Varsity Swim team commented on the extent to which body image issues can influence one’s overall self-perception. “You can be strong, you can be fast, but if you don’t feel that you look that way, you definitely develop a self-consciousness that can erode your confidence, not only in an athletic setting, but also in a social setting.”
Certain sports, such as rowing and sailing, incorporate the external factor of a boat’s optimal weight into the standards set for an ideal body type. This is true of weight classes in wrestling as well. The pressure on these athletes to conform for the sake of performance, one that is dependent on the physics of an external vehicle or the integrity of competition, further strains their ability to fulfill certain expectations of society.
Research is still ongoing as to whether certain physical traits leading to athletic success are inherited or developed, and there are counterintuitive findings in certain sports, like swimming, in which the speed-endurance tradeoff is less clear. It is also important to note that not all high-performing athletes conform to the builds hypothesized to be best for their sport. Yet ultimately, athletes of all sports can frequently experience a body dysmorphia that is complicated by their love of competition. The impact of this conflicting trade-off is widespread, and it is necessary to welcome conversations around athletic physical standards in order to dispel body standards of all types.
“Generally we have a standard on our team that is to do whatever is best for your body and mind,” said one female athlete. “I personally think this is the right standard. There is no one body image that is the right one for you. It is very important to know that {health} looks different for everyone.”
Kate Oliver ’26 (koliver@college.harvard.edu) loves being a Harvard student-athlete.
Annelise Fisher ’26 (annelisefisher@college.harvard.edu) isn’t, in fact, a Harvard student-athlete.