Women Attack, Reduce Olympic Accomplishments to Appearance … Again
Ladies, ladies, ladies. Tsk. Tsk. When will we ever learn that tearing each other down is only making it harder for us (and our daughters) to live in this world?
I know I shouldn’t be, but I was in shock when I recently learned about all of the comments being made about Gabby Douglas’ hair. You know, that poised and awesome sweet sixteen year old gold medal winning Olympic gymnast? Yeah, her. As Gabby won gold medals, women all across social media were focused on … her hair.
HER HAIR.
The commenting grew so controversial–both pre-Olympics and during the Olympics–that the story was picked up by top news agencies and papers. (Did I forget to mention that we’re talking about a 16-year-old athlete’s hair?)
One thing that actually bothered me about the story (aside from the obvious) is that Gabby’s mom gave an interview saying she tried to change Gabby’s hair to make the stories stop and her coach nixed the idea.
“I was trying to get her into a hair appointment and I wanted to move her training schedule around and he said to me, ‘She’s beautiful. You don’t need to change her hair. We need to focus on training. Hair is secondary. We make time for that after training. Don’t mess with my training time,’” Natalie Hawkins, Gabby’s mother, said in an interview with Fashionista, according to The Washington Post.
ALSO ON PRIME PARENTS CLUB : Raising Daughters | Everything is Beautiful (Or, Is it?)
As a mom, I get trying to protect your daughter and make things right, and I’m certainly not judging Natalie Hawkins for wanting to help the chatter die. However, I do have to wonder, as mothers, is this the approach that any of us should be taking with our daughter? Should we be listening to others concerns about appearance over accomplishments? The thought makes me shudder. I mean, a talented 16-year-old female athlete makes history and all we can reduce it to is a hairbrush? Shame on us.
What would you do if this happened to your daughter? How would you handle it?
Image: Keerati
About the Author (Author Profile)
Jacqueline Wilson is a prime parent, wife, published author and freelance writer. She writes here, on Prime Parents’ Club, and on her observational parenting humor blog, WritRams.com: Writer Ramblings on Parenting Imperfectly. Follow her on Twitter as @WritRams and on her Facebook page. She recently wrote an e-Book on the REAL truth about how blogs make money. She recently started Project Purse Club, a support and networking group dedicated to changing the way women treat each other in business and blogging.Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
You know, this totally infuriated me–this incredibly gifted young woman should not be subject to this kind of criticism. NO young woman should.
But that such cattiness actually was presented by journalists as “news” leaves me seething.
I’m not a violent person but this actually makes me want to beat someone with a HAIR BRUSH!