Queens Supporting Queens
I hope you’re watching, loving, & crying at the Olympics as much as I am.
But in case you’re not spending 36 hours a day watching 17 sports at a time, here are just a few of the notable things I hope everyone can take with them for life:
Ilona Maher, USA Rugby player who just won a bronze medal, is a Body Positive Queen despite sexism knowing no bounds:
👑Chase Jackson, USA Shot Putter, is also a Body Positive Queen despite systemic sizeism knowing no bounds:
“It took a lot of time to be confident going out there (to the shot put ring) and wearing what I want,” Jackson said. “We grow up and we’re shown this one body, and if that’s not yours, you’re going to feel upset. I think it became important to me to talk about it because I want people to know there’s not only one way to look like an athlete. There’s not only one way to be beautiful. That’s a really important message.”
👑Boxers Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan are showing all of us & the world that there’s no one right way to be a woman despite racism & transphobia knowing no bounds:
“I want to tell the entire world that I am a female, and I will remain a female… I dedicate this medal to the world, and to all the Arabs and I tell you, ‘Long live Algeria!’”
-Imane Khelif
👑Pretty much every black female athlete is a self-love queen despite racism knowing no bounds:
Can we stop trying to control Black Olympians’ hair?
From Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas and Sha’Carri Richardson, Black female Olympians are still unfairly scrutinized
👑This is the first Olympics with gender parity in number of participants:
👑And as a final reminder, Olympians are fucking freaks (I say with the utmost love & respect, obviously) and we should at no point in time be comparing our appearance, performance, or skill to theirs.
Perhaps most importantly–
—just to prove what I’ve been harping on about for the past 6 months– that living your life & spending time with your people have HUGE impacts on your health:
🗼Watching The Olympics can actually be good for you! The social & emotional aspects of literally just watching sports makes a marked difference in people’s health.
It’s almost like women will be criticized for how we look no matter what, so how about decentering appearance altogether, and move your body in ways that feel good & are fun for you!
YAY BODY NEUTRALITY!!!
Now listen. I know all of those things seemed… NOT great.
Or, at least, only partly great & partly very shitty.
Yes.
That is how the world works.
These women are great, and they live in a shitty world.
The both/and.
Not only does none of this detract from their greatness, but it obviously only highlights how much greater they had to be to get here despite the shittiness.
There’s still a week of Olympics left, so get out there, stream The Gold Zone on Peacock to watch 4 events at once, and be inspired by these absolute queens!
TTYL,
☮️💜Deanna
