Disclaimer: This is not supposed to be a thread about Eteri, her training methods, teenage jumping beans and please for the love of god no discussion about Orser vs Eteri. Thank you.
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A scary number of skaters are very active on social media, many of them underaged.
A scary load of attention is paid to these underage athletes on social media (culminating, for example in a scandal in of a 13yo making a stupid joke about doping on instagram...)
A scary load of stupid stuff is written about these skaters on social media that they should not read for their mental health (most prominently Medvedeva and Zagitova said they stopped reading social media and hired pr... I can assure you people still write a lot of bs about the two of them so good decicion!)
A scary load of skaters devellop mental health problems and eating disorders - many of these because they get told a lot they don't have the right weight for the sport a lot and consequently don't feel comfortable in their bodies.
In recent history, there were a lot of media personalities commenting on skaters weight - I remember Liza Tuktamysheva called a guest in a podcast out on twitter because he commented she should lose weight at the start of the season.
This is - as many have noted - not ok.
Now why am I opening a threat?
Because I think you don't have to be a media personality to have responsibility for what you are saying.
There are a lot of underage girls from Russia (and I believe other countries as well) that are very active on Instagram and other social media - like 13yo Shobotova livestreaming that stupid doping joke - and they obviously like to read and watch pictures or comments about themselves.
Somebody linked me this post about 18yo Elisabeth Tursynbaeva who gets bodyshamed by many commentators about her youthful appearance and weight. See for yourself:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BttovuQHcPV/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1e62tssjmxare
Please note how some still do not stop when she personally answers some 'fan-theories' about how her appearance is not normal and she get's starved by her training team.
This is how you devellop body image issues.
I don't know how people believe these posts in social media (that many skaters read!!) are not damaging the skaters themselves.
Sometimes, the skater is even tagged. This is no skating forum - this is instagram. I can only conclude people want the skaters to read their crazy theories about their bodies. This 'fan behaviour' has already reached dangerous levels. Not only coaches or media personalities words can affect a skaters mental health.
Thoughts?
Do you think people can people rethink their boundaries about what to post on social media?
At the moment I'm too sad to be mad about this post that Lilbet read and the comments that even doubted her own words about her own body.
Note: I have also seen other 'hate' posts even tagging the skaters themselves, sometimes it's only about their jumps, sometimes about things they said and sometimes even about their weight. It's NOT about Eteri, it's about the use of social media.
Disclaimer2: Yes, this is Elisabet's natural body shape. She is not starved, she has been at this height and weight for years. She is 18 and spent the last 5 years training in Canada under Brian Orser. Many grown up Kasach women look similar to her. Orser did NOT delay her puberty and she now looks the same training with Team Tutberitze. This problem has nothing to do with Orser vs Eteri. She herself says this is her natural body shape and she eats enough - please do not assume otherwise.
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A scary number of skaters are very active on social media, many of them underaged.
A scary load of attention is paid to these underage athletes on social media (culminating, for example in a scandal in of a 13yo making a stupid joke about doping on instagram...)
A scary load of stupid stuff is written about these skaters on social media that they should not read for their mental health (most prominently Medvedeva and Zagitova said they stopped reading social media and hired pr... I can assure you people still write a lot of bs about the two of them so good decicion!)
A scary load of skaters devellop mental health problems and eating disorders - many of these because they get told a lot they don't have the right weight for the sport a lot and consequently don't feel comfortable in their bodies.
In recent history, there were a lot of media personalities commenting on skaters weight - I remember Liza Tuktamysheva called a guest in a podcast out on twitter because he commented she should lose weight at the start of the season.
This is - as many have noted - not ok.
Now why am I opening a threat?
Because I think you don't have to be a media personality to have responsibility for what you are saying.
There are a lot of underage girls from Russia (and I believe other countries as well) that are very active on Instagram and other social media - like 13yo Shobotova livestreaming that stupid doping joke - and they obviously like to read and watch pictures or comments about themselves.
Somebody linked me this post about 18yo Elisabeth Tursynbaeva who gets bodyshamed by many commentators about her youthful appearance and weight. See for yourself:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BttovuQHcPV/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1e62tssjmxare
Please note how some still do not stop when she personally answers some 'fan-theories' about how her appearance is not normal and she get's starved by her training team.
This is how you devellop body image issues.
I don't know how people believe these posts in social media (that many skaters read!!) are not damaging the skaters themselves.
Sometimes, the skater is even tagged. This is no skating forum - this is instagram. I can only conclude people want the skaters to read their crazy theories about their bodies. This 'fan behaviour' has already reached dangerous levels. Not only coaches or media personalities words can affect a skaters mental health.
Thoughts?
Do you think people can people rethink their boundaries about what to post on social media?
At the moment I'm too sad to be mad about this post that Lilbet read and the comments that even doubted her own words about her own body.
Note: I have also seen other 'hate' posts even tagging the skaters themselves, sometimes it's only about their jumps, sometimes about things they said and sometimes even about their weight. It's NOT about Eteri, it's about the use of social media.
Disclaimer2: Yes, this is Elisabet's natural body shape. She is not starved, she has been at this height and weight for years. She is 18 and spent the last 5 years training in Canada under Brian Orser. Many grown up Kasach women look similar to her. Orser did NOT delay her puberty and she now looks the same training with Team Tutberitze. This problem has nothing to do with Orser vs Eteri. She herself says this is her natural body shape and she eats enough - please do not assume otherwise.