Health

Simone Biles Gets Body Shamed

August 25th 2016

For the past few weeks, star gymnast Simone Biles has been widely celebrated following her 2016 Olympics accomplishments. Even actor Zac Efron gave her some love after she famously kissed a cardboard cutout of him.

But Biles is not without her critics, including one Twitter user who went viral for mocking a photo of Biles and fellow gymnast Aly Raisman:

In a tweet that appears to have been deleted, User @UWantMyD_aniel questioned these ladies' attractiveness, suggesting that muscular women simply aren't as appealing as their less-toned female counterparts.

TwitterTwitter - brobible.com

A lot of people did not share his opinion, however. He swiftly got dragged on Twitter by other users.

As ATTN: noted in a recent video, many women are discouraged from toning up too much out of fear of being shamed for looking "too muscular."

Tennis player Serena Williams is a good example of another female athlete who has been shamed for her muscles.

Last year, a New York Times article about body image issues among female tennis players received a lot of flak online for the way the writer described Williams's body.

"[Williams] has large biceps and a mold-breaking muscular frame, which packs the power and athleticism that have dominated women’s tennis for years," writer Ben Rothernberg wrote. "Her rivals could try to emulate her physique, but most of them choose not to."

A lot of people were not having that article either:

Interestingly, while female athletes seem to get criticism for being muscular, male athletes are seen as attractive for having toned muscles.

Of course, full-time athletes often have toned muscles and bodies from all the — surprise! — physical activity they do, especially if they are at the Olympic-level. Criticizing their muscles is utterly ridiculous and discredits all the hard work they put into their profession.

[H/T BroBible]

Share your opinion

Do you know anyone who has faced body shaming on social media?

No 27%Yes 73%