There is a divisive outrage occurring in Anchorage, Alaska over the fit of swimsuits on young, competitive swim athletes. Last Friday, a 17-year old athlete was disqualified from competition because there was “criticism” of the way her regulation swimsuit fit her curvy young body. Okay, you might say, there should be “appropriate” standards for how competition swimsuits fit the teen athletes.
Not so fast. This student was wearing a standard team-issued swimsuit that all of her teammates were also wearing, but none of them were disqualified from competition. It seems to be a small vocal minority of “ultra-conservative” busybodies who object to how her (lovely) full-figure fills out the suit. Say what?
Apparently she can’t help it. It has to do, it’s speculated, with her racial body type. (Like, the White girls are not being targeted for similar swimsuit fits.) Her beautiful “ample hips” and “dark complexion” appear to be raising the hackles of, well, what seems to be a racist perspective. Photos were taken of this young girl during competition and circulated, ostensibly to demonstrate how, what, luridly? her swimsuit fits her. Uh, circulating photos of underage girls’ behinds is borderline child-pornography and illegal. Given that the photos were reportedly taken by a parent of another competitor, one might wonder if it was an attempt to promote another child at the expense of this one. If so, the judges are complicit in the scheme.
As this story spreads, the controversy has affected school swim competitions all over the state. Body-shaming is particularly egregious when applied to vulnerable young girls (and as athletes). It is this sort of psychological harassment that leads to eating disorders as well as other psychological and eventually, physical damage.
This whole situation is an outrage. We need to bombard the State, and especially the school districts in Alaska, with objections to this hazardous harassment of this girl (and also now, her younger sister!) and its implications for destructive body-image molding for young women of any color.
In fairness, the Anchorage School District has asked (demanded?) that the ASAA decertify the official as well as a asking for a revision of the uniform rule. The ASD issued the following press release on September 10, which was published in the Anchorage Daily News (PDF).
UPDATE just now from TV station KTUU, Channel 2, Anchorage:
Victory for Breckynn Willis, as ASAA reinstates her win
Excellent commentary from another Alaskan school district swim coach: gen.medium.com/...