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January Prompt: Person of the Year
As An Athlete, I’m Sick Of Women Having To Look a Certain Way To Play Sports
Ilona Maher is leading the charge and tackling misogyny head-on
“Oh my God, what a beast.” “She looks like a man.” “Are you sure she is even a girl?”
The taunts followed Sarah around no matter where she went. I could see the tears in her eyes as she turned away and pretended she couldn’t hear them.
But I knew the insults cut deep.
When we first starting training together in softball, she was 13 and I was 12. It was obvious she was on a single track to the Olympics. I don’t believe it was a stretch to think that if she had continued to improve, she could have been one of the first women to really break into Major League Baseball.
She was that good.
Unfortunately, though, her body was not “feminine.” She was broad, with large shoulders. She was not the body type that society demands a female athlete fit into — tall, slender, beautiful, and toned.
And so the abuse was hurtled at her. Constantly.
As the years went by, I could see the shift in her. She cared less and less about softball. She trained less. She made it…
