ESPN the Magazine celebrated the 10 year anniversary of its famed BODY issue on Thursday at the Hearst building in NYC. On hand were BODY 10 issue athletes, Saquon Barkley, Greg Norman, Adam Rippon and Lolo Jones who posed in the inaugural BODY issue.
Editor in Chief Alison Overholt engaged the athletes in a lively discussion about their experiences posing for the magazine. A common misconception by most people is that elite athletes would love to show off their bodies and be completely comfortable posing nude. At one point Overholt asked the athletes if there was any trepidation about posing. There were varying answers, with Barkley and Norman being the most confident; Norman even saying he practices in the nude so he wasn’t too concerned. But the one thing all the athletes could agree on was that the shoot is very vulnerable and the ESPN photo crew made them all feel very safe.
As the only woman on the panel, Jones spoke up about the standards of beauty women are often pressured to buy in and live up to. She said she is not always comfortable and wishes she could change things about her body. During one particular moment, she talked about curves being an accepted standard of beauty for women and that she doesn’t have any. She referenced someone on Instagram commenting on a workout picture she posted, the commenter said she should do more deep squats to get a bigger butt. The assembled crowd gasped. Jones said,
“I do a lot of deep squats. I can deep squat 400 pounds, more than your average man. I just don’t have a butt. That’s how my body is.”
Jones’ fellow panelists and the audience really connected with her honesty and willingness to share something personal that may make her insecure.
Prior to the panel, I had the chance to speak to Jones and she talked about these same topics and the importance of ESPN doing the BODY issue and how it is helping to change the standards of beauty, particularly for women.
