Emma Hayes says there’s a “problem in the game” with body shaming and praised Chelsea ahead Fran Kirby for talking out on the difficulty.
In Chelsea’s A Comeback: Nothing Stops Us Documentary detailing Kirby’s rehabilitation from knee surgical procedure, the England worldwide stated it “has become more noticeable that people are getting comments about their weight” and the way there was a “fear” of carbohydrates within the women’s recreation resulting from doable weight acquire.
In one clip, Kirby is requested why she is sporting a jacket over her coaching equipment and responds by saying: “Because I get called fat all the time, so I have to cover it up.”
Chelsea boss Hayes believes body shaming exists throughout sport with an absence of schooling round vitamin and the difficulty itself responsible.
“It was an important message Fran put across,” stated Hayes. “I do know I stated through the World Cup why I don’t consider within the women’s recreation we should always have weigh-ins or body composition assessments.
“The media must be aware of the insecurities that may be there. Body shaming is an actual factor and the gamers really feel it.
“I used to be pleased with Fran for saying that as a result of as girls we’re judged sufficient to look a sure means. But with a purpose to carry out on the degree that you’ll want to, you’ll want to eat carbs in addition to a nutritious diet and, sadly, there’s a problem within the recreation.
“I’m not going to just limit it to the women’s game, there is a problem in sport with underfueling and underloading. That comes with the constant demands to look a certain way. Unfortunately, a vitriolic environment that comes from social media.
“Fran has definitely fell sufferer to that as different gamers have as effectively. I all the time urge all people to be aware of that as a result of we’re destroying folks in some ways. I’m actually glad that Fran stated out loud what so many feminine gamers don’t say sufficient.
“My thing is I always just want to try and educate, so I’ll always say to someone, ‘Please can you not take a photo like that’ or ‘Please can you consider that the athlete won’t like that’ or ‘please can you just make sure you take a headshot? I don’t want you to do a zoom-out with that’.
“I feel educating folks round it is vital as a result of possibly photographers usually are not all the time aware of it, or they may take a shot of one thing considering effectively, ‘No one’s ever stated that to me as a result of I’ve solely captured male footballers earlier than’ however I do assume that they’ve to consider it and I’m solely speaking about issues that each one feminine gamers do talk about within the background. I really feel the identical means they do.”
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