Lauren Fleshman blasts Maria Sharapova

DNA Patrol wrote:

Dope Patrol wrote:

Serena has the classic look of a woman who has abused HGH and synthetic testosterone.

Serena is allegedly a man (with great genetics that allow for an amount of muscle rare even for a man) who has been made "feminine" with female hormones, not a female who has been pumped full of HGH and Test.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwrP1zHC5Eo

I wonder what her boyfriends think or your statement.

Sport vs Marketing wrote:

Two things: First, any evidence for historical trends in female body types? Or just guessing (to support an argument)?

Second, name the sport where how well a woman does IN THAT SPORT will be impacted by what males think of her attractiveness? Few? Any? Maria S. would have a few million from tennis no matter what she looked like. She has apparently made a bunch more from what she looks like. From a sports perspective, what is the problem here? There isn't one. Just the umpteenth attempt to find victimhood where there is none.

I have no desire to google for you. Look for yourself at the trends in "ideal" women over the last few hundreds year. Hint: I was not guessing.

Rarely have I see someone miss a point so thoroughly. Whether you want to admit it or not (it reads like you don't), the body image issues women face in sports are bona fide. It drives women from sports especially at a younger age. If you can't recognize the connections between psychology and sports performance, I have no reason to try to address them. If you can't recognize how sponsorship dollars contribute to an Olympic athletes ability to train, then I have no reason to try to address that shortcoming either.

Finally, as to your whining, liberal jab about "victimhood," I would hope you someday learn to accept responsibility for your actions. That isn't my job either.

And, to reiterate what I expressly said in my post to be the point: Women should be able to pursue athletics without having to negotiate a gauntlet between athletic success and preserving some cultural notion of how a "woman" should look.

Celebrate athletes for their performances. That seems pretty simple to me.

TrackCoach wrote:

I wonder what her boyfriends think or your statement.

There's a reason that some men get invited on Talk Shows to be told by their "wife" that wifey was born a man.

Men who don't want to end up like the smucks above need to learn to look at the skeleton. A woman should have a waist indent point above the navel (belly button), a man below the navel. Some things a "sex change" can't change....

Serena Williams is a hideous beast. I seem to recall that she did look feminine when she was younger, but now she just looks like a muscular man.

Great post.

Second, name the sport where how well a woman does IN THAT SPORT will be impacted by what males think of her attractiveness? Few? Any? Maria S. would have a few million from tennis no matter what she looked like. She has apparently made a bunch more from what she looks like. From a sports perspective, what is the problem here? There isn't one. Just the umpteenth attempt to find victimhood where there is none.[/quote]

Figure skating. Hunters (equestrian). To name two.

AW Pharmacy wrote:

Sharapova: "Who is Lauren Fleshman?"

Best response yet. Seriously, Sharapova has 35 WTA victories, 8th all-time with 5 grand slam titles, has at least one tour victory for 13 straight years ...

Lauren Fleshman - no major international titles. No podium finishes in major international competitions.

If Sharapova has been as successful as she has been, and makes millions in marketing, then if she doesn't want to lift weights, or thinks she needs to in order to beat Serena, or doesn't care, that's her choice.

What is it with Oiselle athletes bashing those who are still winning while they are marketing their fledgling athletic apparel to middle aged hobby joggers. Your careers are essentially over Kara and Lauren. Just bow out gracefully.

I'm sure when Meb and Bernard's careers are finally done they'll take to twitter bashing other athletes, teams, and companies ... oh no, they won't, because they have class ... and are genuinely happy people.

All female athletes should strive to look sexy and wear minimal clothing. This is obviously why people watch women's sports.

That had record viewership and many obvious bull dykes abounding and had an attractive goalie who acts like a woman who has been in and out of jail her whole life.

Oh, cultural preferences in female body types have changed over the years? Thanks! Didn't need to Google that. Problem is, you said, "Thin, athletically built women are a relatively modern creation." That's morphology and physical evolution, not much more fleeting cultural preferences. If you meant the latter, you should have written more carefully.

You can throw out all of the "poor girls" crap you want, but many of us see lots of different looking girls participating in lots of different sports (recent WC a great example). Obviously, TONS of girls SOMEHOW overcome these pressures. Or, to put it in your terms, TONS of girls ARE easily negotiating that terrible gauntlet to which you refer. And we could list OTHER pressures on boys/men (let's see, this is LRC....maybe real boys/men don't do wimpy sports like XC??). Again, most overcome. So, yeah, the word "victimhood" is solidly in the right neighborhood.

Lastly, what's the solution if there is this problem? Stop boys from making fun of wimpy cross country runners? Stop boys from finding some girls more attractive? Most to the point on this thread, force sponsors to hire athletes who are considered less attractive? None of this will happen, but fortunately, it doesn't NEED to - which, again, is self-evident from the wide spectrum of "attractiveness" in successful athletes.

Lots of problems in the world. Girls not doing enough sports not real high on the list. And certainly not high enough to justify your stifling self-righteousness. Get over yourself.

No , you are the one with the problem. Most women have no issues " negotiating the gauntlet" . Maria S is allowed to have fun with the media. She does work hard in the gym and on the court, this is well documented.

If Lauren was concerned with "real" women health issues , she would tell women to eat real food. Not the overly processed sudo candy bars that she calls "Picky Bars".

Who is Lauren Fleshman?

Double_Dog wrote:

I seem to recall that she did look feminine when she was younger

Serena on the left, Venus on the right:

"Sudo"? I think you mean "pseudo."

Maria works hard--but not hard enough to consistently beat Serena.

Maria is the Ryan Hall of the tennis world--highly desirable to marketers, but pretty much phoning it in when it comes to her sport.

Precious Roy wrote:

I think Fleshman is being way to harsh on Sharapova. I am a guy in my mid 40s and I look at myself in the mirror and wish that I had less cellulite even though I am a fairly fit runner. Sharapova goes on to say that she doesn't lift weights, confirming that she will not exercise just to maintain a certain body image.

Also, tennis players do very minimal strength training. Tennis has become an endurance sport. Pure power does not get it done. Karlovic and Isner smash serve after serve, but get eliminated in the early rounds because they cannot move. Nadal had huge guns when he first started playing, but the extra weight was too much for his knees. He had to stop lifting and actually was even more dominant with a much lighter frame.

"Pure power" does not get it done? Tell that to Serena!!

KAPOWIE wrote:

Maria works hard--but not hard enough to consistently beat Serena.

Maria is the Ryan Hall of the tennis world--highly desirable to marketers, but pretty much phoning it in when it comes to her sport.

She has achieved almost everything in tennis. Won all grand slams in her career and won an olympic silver medal. What has Ryan Hall achieved?

vxcvxc wrote:

KAPOWIE wrote:

Maria works hard--but not hard enough to consistently beat Serena.

Maria is the Ryan Hall of the tennis world--highly desirable to marketers, but pretty much phoning it in when it comes to her sport.

She has achieved almost everything in tennis. Won all grand slams in her career and won an olympic silver medal. What has Ryan Hall achieved?

Ryan and Maria have both achieved the pinnacle of success in sports--the "Blonde, White, and at Least Halfway Decent" award, raking in millions of dollars in sponsorship endorsements that their superior (non-white) opponents will never see in a million lifetimes. Meanwhile, they spend most of their time on other agendas (Ryan: proclaiming the Word of God. Maria: modeling for Instagram photos and being interviewed for articles titled "How to Achieve a Tennis Player's Body"). For these two, winning is an afterthought.

The last time Maria beat Serena at Wimbledon was, IIRC, 2004. Since then, she's had her arse handed to her by Serena 16 times. Since achieving his American marathon record (p.s., he finished SEVENTH), Ryan has won, what? A Rock n Roll half marathon or two?

America needs more WINNERS, not more media hounds!

KAPOWIE wrote:

Ryan and Maria have both achieved the pinnacle of success in sports--the "Blonde, White, and at Least Halfway Decent" award, raking in millions of dollars in sponsorship endorsements that their superior (non-white) opponents will never see in a million lifetimes. Meanwhile, they spend most of their time on other agendas (Ryan: proclaiming the Word of God. Maria: modeling for Instagram photos and being interviewed for articles titled "How to Achieve a Tennis Player's Body"). For these two, winning is an afterthought.

The last time Maria beat Serena at Wimbledon was, IIRC, 2004. Since then, she's had her arse handed to her by Serena 16 times. Since achieving his American marathon record (p.s., he finished SEVENTH), Ryan has won, what? A Rock n Roll half marathon or two?

You are either a troll or you know nothing about tennis. Tennis isn't only about beating the top player. At the top level, tennis is about winning slams. Something Maria has done 5 times and has completed the career grand slam. Ryan Hall hasn't won a single major marathon.