By Sheryl Estrada
Serena Williams is ranked number one in women’s single tennis, winning her sixth Wimbledon championship on Saturday. Sheholds the greatest number of major singles, doubles, and mixed doubles titles combined among active players, female or male.
The New York Times, under fire last year for characterizing TV producer Shonda Rhimes as an angry black woman, is now being criticized for publishing an article the day before Williams’ Wimbledon win, “Tennis’s Top Women Balance Body Image With Ambition. ”
Freelancer Ben Rothenberg describes Williams as having “large biceps and a mold-breaking muscular frame.” He quotesher as saying, “I’m really happy with my body type, and I’m really proud of it” but then highlightsthe testimonies of white female tennis players who don’t want to have her physique.
New York Times Public Editor Margaret Sullivan writes, ” By Friday afternoon, many readers were aghast. They were calling the article (and even The Times itself) racist and sexist. They were deploring the article’s timing, which focused on body image just when Ms. Williams was triumphing at Wimbledon.”
It caused a firestorm on Twitter, particularly when the New York Times sent a tweet with a link to the story, including the following quote:
Serena Williams has a muscular frame. Her rivals choose not to emulate her physique http://t.co/IecMzg4AwV pic.twitter.com/gEGHd3NI3z
The New York Times (@nytimes) July 10, 2015
A woman having to sacrifice femininity for sports is an antiquated topic. Why is it still being discussed
For more than 20 years, Yolanda L. Jackson served as the Senior Director of Athlete Marketing & Promotions at the Women’s Sports Foundation, founded in 1974 by Billie Jean King. She has worked with hundreds of professional female athletes, such as Martina Navratilova, Laila Ali, Michelle Kwan and Sarah Hughes. Prior to this position, Jackson was chosen by tennis great Arthur Ashe to be Executive Directorof Arthur Ashe Athletic Association, serving in the role for almost 10 years.
Jackson currently owns and operates a sports marketing firm and shared with Fair360, formerly DiversityInc her perspective on the topic.
Q. What are your thoughts about the New York Times article
A. I read that article and I posted it on my website and Twitter page with the caption, “It’s a pity that some players value how thin they are over how well they perform!” Two things struck me reading the article.One, if you value how you look on the court more than doing what it takes to be a champion and be at the top of your sport, then you don’t deserve to be a champion.The other is as long as the media continues to promote a “perfect” body image as that of a fashion model, then that’s what most of the players are going to emulate and aspire to. They should take a page from Chrissie Evert’s playbook. When she kept losing to Martina Navratilova, she realized that she had to do more in order to reach her goal of beating Martina.So she got into the gym and started training. You have to have the heart of a champion like Chrissie had in order to be number one.
Q. Why has the dialogue turned from Serena Williams possibly being one of the greatest athletes, male or female, of our time to her appearance
A.The media always portrays a woman who has achieved the ultimate feat in sports as having the masculine qualities of being strong, forceful, and dominating, all unfeminine and unattractive in their eyes. I remember that they portrayed Martina the same way when she reigned as number one in tennis.It is also the case currently with Brittney Griner.As soon as you excel, the media and some of the less intelligent vocal folks out there feel it’s their right and duty to find something, anything, wrong with you.
Q. Is sexism and racism that exists for women in sports the narrative that should be explored by the media
A.Absolutely.But this situation has not changed in the media in the more than 20 years that I’ve been in the sports business. However, I’m noticing athletes in most of the other sports are changing their own attitude about body image and are now loving their strong, muscular, beautiful bodies, as evidenced by the Women’s National Soccer team.If anyone looked closely during the recent WWC tournament, they saw amazing muscles in those legs and upper body.
Q. You’ve fought long for gender equality in sports. Is there still ample work to be done
A. Absolutely. The fight for women’s equality has been waged for over 40 years. Title IX took up the battle back then and organizations like the Women’s Sports Foundation and the National Women’s Law Center are continuing to wage battle against the unequal treatment of women athletes compared to the men. Unequal pay, subpar playing conditions, lack of recognition and respect for the talents and skills of women athletes are still top priority issues to overcome in order to reach parity with the men.
