65% of collegiate athletes in the US are unhappy with their bodies. 90% think they need to lose an average of 13 and a half pounds. Sport, as we know it was built around the 13 to 22 year old male body,. which improves pretty linearly puberty. So the systems reward females mimicking male body standards during an age when it's extremely damaging.
International Women's Week on Intelligence Squared. Equality is no longer enough, women need equity - that's the message of former US 5000m champion, Lauren Fleshman who joins us on this episode of the podcast to speak about the vital need for the world of sport to be reimagined for women. In conversation with host Sophie Penney, sports journalist for Reuters and The Athletic, Lauren looks back at her own career to examine the damaging mental and physical effects of young women being trained in line with the physiological development of a male body, the financial realities of being a professional female athlete, and what it means to be a successful athlete.
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