Dara Torres: The New Beauty Myth

8th August 2008

Dara Torres: The New Beauty Myth

posted in Body Image, Feminist Topics, Fitness/Exercise |

As if scarily-thin teenage supermodels and aging celebrities who drink regularly from the Fountain of (Botox) Youth aren’t enough to impose unrealistic expectations for women, now we have a new “physical ideal” to strive for.

Meet Dara Torres.

The 41-year-old Olympic swimmer and mother of a 2-year-old toddler was recently featured on the cover of the New York Times Magazine. That is, her and all six of her phenomenally-ripped and sharply cut abs showing absolutely no hint of stretch marks or a post-pregnancy pooch. In addition to being the oldest female swimmer in the history of the Olympic games, the New York Times’ Rings blog reports that Torres is now also being “held up as a physical ideal for mothers, women at or approaching middle age, and just women in general.”

Are you kidding me?

The magazine’s coverage of Torres notes that to achieve her world class performance, Torres employs three coaches (head, sprint and strength), two stretchers, two massage therapists, a chiropractor, and a nanny — at the cost of at least $100,000 a year. The daughter of a doctor, Torres led a privileged childhood life — her childhood home had 10 bathrooms. Her current husband is an Israeli surgeon and she receives considerable funding and financial advantages from her sponsorships from Toyota and Speedo; money she has earned from modeling, TV work and motivational speaking; and a private sponsor for training expenses. For Torres, working out is literally a full-time job and she has the battle scars to prove it. She’s had surgery on her knees, elbows, shoulders, hands and fingers. She is, as her own father describes, not a type-A personality, but rather a “type A + +,” which helps to explain why, while attending the University of Florida in the mid-1980s, Torres earned 28 N.C.A.A. all-American swimming awards — the maximum number during a college career — but she was also bulimic.

And yet this is what American women should aspire to become? Don’t get me wrong: Dara Torres is a mind-blowingly incredible athlete and she’s even more amazing considering her age and motherhood. I am both awed and inspired by her accomplishments and wish her the gold. But there’s a reason why the Olympic Games are the most prestigious event in the world for most of the sports involved: The Olympics, like the beauty myth, is achievable by only a select few. While it’s one thing to admire Torres’ athletic feats and use her as inspiration to achieve great things in your own life, Dara Torres should not be held up as the “physical ideal” for mothers, middle-aged women or any woman. The average woman does not have the financial advantages as Torres; the luxury of being able to dedicate the bulk of her waking hours to working out and training; and only a few share in Torres’ unique personality trait and genetic body type that make the sport a good fit for her. Plus, while Torres might appear to be the epitome of good health, numerous sports injuries and a (past) eating disorder suggest otherwise.

New York Times blogger Tara Parker Pope presents an alternative “physical ideal” for women: 80-year-old Estelle Parsons, who regularly lifts weights, swims and bikes. A better and more realistic example, perhaps, but I say, why must we have a physical ideal at all? As Naomi Wolf writes,

“We do not need to change our bodies, we need to change the rules… You do not win by struggling to the top of a caste system, you win by refusing to be trapped within one at all. The woman wins who calls herself beautiful and challenges the world to truly see her.”

Setting a woman like Dara Torres and the kind of physique only Michelangelo could sculpt as the new “physical ideal” for women only sets an impossibly high bar to reach even higher. The tragedy is that women never stop trying to grasp what they can never reach.

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 8th, 2008 at 11:11 am and is filed under Body Image, Feminist Topics, Fitness/Exercise. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On August 8th, 2008, Jenny

said:

First-time commenter here, but I had to commend you for a fantastic post on an issue that has been increasingly bothering me this Olympic season. The incredible talent of athletes is indeed something to celebrate and I delight in seeing such strong, capable women but this physique being the norm seems as twisted and unachievable to me as the fashion industry’s “heroine chic.”
Of course I agree that the average woman does not have “the luxury of being able to dedicate the bulk of her waking hours to working out and training” - but is this really a “luxury” we should covet? While working out is Dara’s job at the moment, I like to think that if I had an excess of time and money I would use it for something a bit less selfish and more rewarding than sculpting the perfect abs. Dedicating the bulk of my waking hours to working out sounds more like prison than a luxury I would want!

posted on August 8th, 2008 at 11:58 am

2 On August 8th, 2008, mimi

I think we should start a pool for the amount of times Dara Torres is introduced as “41 year old Dara Torres” and how many astonished male sportscasters mention the fact that she had a baby and still manages to stand upright!

Mimi

posted on August 8th, 2008 at 12:04 pm

3 On August 8th, 2008, Michelle

Excellent commentary, Rachel — thank you.

posted on August 8th, 2008 at 12:10 pm

4 On August 8th, 2008, Mindy

My athletic hero is http://www.gothamgirlsrollerderby.com/girls/profile.php?player=beyonslay I want to be her when I grow up.

posted on August 8th, 2008 at 12:17 pm

5 On August 8th, 2008, Janet

that’s just ridiculous. *shakes head* but i suppose it’s not much different than the “American Dream”, where I suppose I should be making over 100,000 to afford all that specialized training for my body…

posted on August 8th, 2008 at 12:22 pm

6 On August 8th, 2008, Rachel

but is this really a “luxury” we should covet?

Good point, Jenny. For Dara, this is a full-time job and she makes a living from it. While I don’t think that one necessarily has to combine a career with a calling, I do think that we all have a responsibility to help make this world a better place. Once again, by couching the “ideal” for women in superficial, physical traits, we’re ignoring the real human “ideal,” which should be altruism, compassion and service to others.

Mimi: I get what you’re saying, but her age and the fact that she’s a mother does distinguish her from most other Olympic athletes. I’m all for breaking stereotypes, so I don’t think this coverage is necessarily all bad.

posted on August 8th, 2008 at 12:44 pm

7 On August 8th, 2008, Miss Minx

Thank God you commented on this. I had heard about Torres on my local radio station the other morning - the morning crew was discussing her abs (though in a thoroughly respectful and admiring way, to their credit) - and I felt this strange feeling of foreboding.

*sigh* Just when I only thought I had to be thin to be worthy, now I have to be totally cut, too. AAARRRGH.

*headdesk*

posted on August 8th, 2008 at 2:15 pm

8 On August 8th, 2008, Rhia

This, in my mind, is another way society allows us to *accept* a woman over 40 as beautiful. (Because we’re supposed to be dried-up, worthless hags by this age.) I’m in agreement that there should be no single standard. Each and every one of us possess a spark of the divine and each and every one of us has beauty and value within us. It shouldn’t be about finding one person or a few people who we are encouraged to aspire to be like. It should be that we honor what is beautiful in Dara along with what is beautiful in Rachel, along with what is beautfiul in me, and so on, and so on. That is the ideal I’m working for.

posted on August 8th, 2008 at 2:16 pm

9 On August 8th, 2008, Rachel2

Nicely said, Rhia.

posted on August 8th, 2008 at 2:56 pm

10 On August 8th, 2008, Meredith

I’m not sure she really is being presented as a physical ideal, honestly. Maybe I’m just more critical of the media messages coming in to my brain but I have read the coverage of her as respectful and admiring. Which is deserved, because let’s face it, no matter how much expensive help you have to get there, this is a tremendous accomplishment. I don’t feel the need to go lift weights or jump in a pool to live up to her standard, and I’m not sure anyone is out there telling me I should aim that high.

posted on August 8th, 2008 at 3:33 pm

11 On August 8th, 2008, Aurora

Rachel, thanks for this great post. I am all for inspirational women, but come on!! Your take down of all the support, (financial, trainers, etc.) that goes into her accomplishment is spot on and should be front and center of all the coverage of Ms. Torres. Along with that great quote from Wolf.

12 On August 8th, 2008, Lil

Y’know, I think Dara Torres is a perfect example - of how society forces women to feel so imperfect and so insecure and so weak just because they’re women that they have to practically kill themselves and spend literally hundreds of thousands of dollars overachieving in order to be seen as ‘an ideal’. So what about the rest of us who don’t have the two ’stretchers’, the nutritionist and dietician and trainers and all that? We’re all pretty much screwed, yeah?

I mean, it said in the article that Torres came from a wealthy family and her childhood home had ten bathrooms. Moneyed families aren’t usually the first place you’d expect *healthy* familial interaction and nurturing. Just look at the Hiltons, for example.

Don’t get me wrong, I think her body is incredibly impressive and what she’s accomplished in her life is astonishing, but I can’t help but wonder if she ever would have wound up on that magazine cover if people had just paid attention to *her* when she was a kid. Overachievers, it seems, have a tendency to get into the habit as a result of neglect or lack of engagement from their families, so I could see the same being true for Torres. Sure, this magazine is calling her ‘an ideal’, but that’s the whole point - ideals, as a rule, are virtually impossible to achieve unless, like Torres, you have exceptional circumstances - or a lot of dumb luck.

Never thought I’d feel sorry for a woman with a six pack that tight, but… well, there ya go. I do.

posted on August 8th, 2008 at 3:35 pm

13 On August 8th, 2008, O.C.

Note that Cheryl Haworth, the 319-pound medal-winning weightlifter, an equally impressive athlete, is not being presented to us for emulation. A little bit of bias there?

posted on August 8th, 2008 at 3:41 pm

14 On August 8th, 2008, Bree

Of course O.C, there is bias. She is perhaps no doubt as healthy and fit as Dana Torres, but because she is 319 lbs and doesn’t have a small waist and hard-rock abs, she doesn’t represent what “real athletes” are supposed to look like. I’m sure someone would comment that if she’s supposed to be an athlete, she wouldn’t be fat.

posted on August 8th, 2008 at 3:51 pm

15 On August 8th, 2008, Cindy

I am so over The Yummy Mummy.

Really.

posted on August 8th, 2008 at 3:57 pm

16 On August 8th, 2008, devil

At first glance, I thought this was a picture of a man in a bikini.

I don’t think we need to worry about Torres becoming the new ideal forty-something woman. No woman I know would want to look like this. Especially not for what it costs.

What I do admire about Torres is her incredible discipline and focus. I’d hope that if I was so driven (toward anything), I could also have a nice balance to my life.

posted on August 8th, 2008 at 6:21 pm

17 On August 8th, 2008, Rachel2

It must be nice to have a spare $100K per year laying around to dedicate to your living…

That’s a bit excessive. No doubt it’s cool that she can accomplish that much, but as other people so eloquently point out, she has been extremely priviledged her entire lifetime and has not had to necessarily deal with stresses like mounting bills, spiraling debt, not enough food b/c of money, etc…

As Rachel also nicely points out, it can’t all be good, as she has previously suffered from a eating disorder. ED’s come in many forms, and obsessive-over excercise and excessive nutritional awareness, etc, are all part of the ED umbrella, as many of us are well, well aware.

But, like even others pointed out, kudos to her for kicking “womanly expectations” in the ass at 40 after two kids! (Despite being uncomfortably overcashed and *able* to spend every waking moment exercising… I’d still not really wish that on my worst enemy. I get so bored after awhile!!!)

posted on August 8th, 2008 at 8:55 pm

18 On August 8th, 2008, Nancy Lebovitz

My first thought when I saw the picture was that she looks desperately unhappy.

posted on August 8th, 2008 at 9:34 pm

19 On August 8th, 2008, Tiptoe

I guess I’m in the same camp as Meredith. I’ve been reading a lot of Olympic coverage about everything, and I think most respect her for her accomplishments, though she is not the only “old” athlete to have achieved success. She’s just the one picked out for this year.

Personally, I think her talking about her bulimia and overcoming it (though I wish she’d elaborate it on it more) is a really admirable thing, especially in the world of sports.

As for her body and beauty, yes, she does have help in getting it to look the way it does, but she also had to do a lot of work as well. That and oh yeah genetics helps too. I’m sure there may be some women who want to look this way, but I don’t think it’s impressionable enough that there is going to be a mass of women hitting the gyms to look like that.

posted on August 8th, 2008 at 11:37 pm

20 On August 9th, 2008, Court

That’s an awesome Naomi Wolf quotation. I really like this post, since, as an athlete (who didn’t respond to your last post because I had too much to say!) I really identify with the trap of ideal bodies in athletics. Good stuff, thanks.

posted on August 9th, 2008 at 1:48 am

21 On August 9th, 2008, Pocomommy

Amen to what everyone else has said here, and thank you bunches for the Naomi Wolf quote. I really needed to hear that today!

posted on August 9th, 2008 at 10:02 am

22 On August 9th, 2008, Amber

Now I would love to have her upper body(It would help in sports)..but I can say one thing as a swimmer myself, and seeing many female swimmers. Like Coughlin, She’s not as thin or muscular as Torres but she’s in top shape. Personally I think women should work out when they can but not try and be that buff. She’s most likely a mesodorphic body type and thats what they usually look like, take a look at some of the track stars if you want.

posted on August 9th, 2008 at 9:09 pm

23 On August 10th, 2008, Hegit

I feel inspired rather than pressured by Dara Torres (and the reporting about her). This is how I can look like - given the effort, not how I have to look like. It’s up to me to make the choice, if that’s what I want. Women need to quit looking for validation outside themselves about their looks/ worthiness/ anything about themselves. If you truly believe you are beautiful, if you know that you are worthy just because you are (not because of what you do/ have/ have not ….)then it does not matter what anybody else says and thinks. It becomes a none-issue that does not affect you in any way. Most comments in this blog are looking for outside support in their thinking/ beauty ideal. That is not the solution.

posted on August 10th, 2008 at 1:41 pm

24 On August 10th, 2008, keshmeshi

What I do admire about Torres is her incredible discipline and focus.

And that’s what everyone should be admiring her for, not for how she looks or how fit she is.

posted on August 10th, 2008 at 6:21 pm

25 On August 10th, 2008, Catherine

I was watching the swimming last night and what struck me was that of the men competing, most of them didn’t have abs like Torres.

posted on August 10th, 2008 at 8:54 pm

26 On August 11th, 2008, jen

I’ve been a swimmer since the 5th grade and a nationally ranked triathlete during my early 20’s. I admire Torres’ drive and talent but by no means would ever expect average women to achieve that level of fitness. I worked out four hours a day, EVERY day to win my races. But honestly, it wasn’t about appearances, it was about achieving personal goals.

Even today I have some relatives who say “Oh, you were SO beautiful when you were a triathlete.” It pisses me off because it wasn’t “about being beautiful.” Some people are just idiots and will never get it.

Not everyone has the drive to win big races, but I hope everyone has the desire to take good care of themselves. Eat well and take long walks!

posted on August 11th, 2008 at 10:33 am

27 On August 11th, 2008, Rachel Akers

This is an interesting debate… Why have bad feelings about someone trying to be the best they can? Would we criticize a female doctor for being far greater than the rest? A female politician for wanting to be president? It’s time we start applauding anyone who excells instead of worrying that they’ll make the rest of us feel bad!

Anyway here’s an amazing story on how Dara manages to still be successful. It’s made a difference for me. Maybe you too!

http://growingbolder.com/media/sports/water-sports/the-secret-to-her-success-181865.html

posted on August 11th, 2008 at 10:54 am

28 On August 11th, 2008, Rachel

Rachel: No one here is criticizing Dara Torres. This post isn’t even about Torres herself, it’s about cultural expectations imposed on women in general.

posted on August 11th, 2008 at 11:21 am

29 On August 11th, 2008, D.

I think we hold where a person comes from way too highly. It isn’t about where or what a person comes from, but what they choose to do with WHO they are. Sure, Dara may have come from a family that had more than others, and sure, she may have more when it comes to the endorsements and other money making ventures. HOWEVER, I believe the main thing we should all take from her is that we can make what we choose of our lives. She could have chosen to not deal with the bulemia. She could have chosen to stay retired. She could have chosen to take the mindset of many American women–that of, “well, I’m over 35 or 40, so I just can’t be that fit anymore”. BUT SHE DIDN’T. She chose to get help for the eating disorder, she chose to get fit and stay fit and she chose to break an age barrier that, stated or implied, we all know exists. I thank women like her for showing me that I don’t have to give up just because I’m nearing my 40’s. I can have a dream, I can be fit, and I’m glad that I have a model I can look to.

posted on August 11th, 2008 at 10:06 pm

30 On August 11th, 2008, Rachel

I know that people on the internet have attention spans the size of a goldfish, but for the newcomers here, please take time to actually read my post. I never said that we shouldn’t be inspired by Torres or that we shouldn’t use her accomplishments as encouragement to become more fit (I strongly encourage and promote healthy eating and fitness). This post is not even about Dara Torres really, it’s about cultural expectations imposed on women. While it’s one thing to be inspired by Torres, it’s quite another to say to women “You should all look like Dara Torres.” It’s unrealistic and only sets an impossibly high bar even higher.

posted on August 11th, 2008 at 10:19 pm

31 On August 12th, 2008, pennylane

Right–it’s the general problem with ideals. Replacing one ideal with another will never be a satisfactory solution because some people will always fall outside of that ideal. I will never be a waif nor will I ever have an hourglass figure (barring surgery). And most of us could never be Dara Torres. Not to mention the athletic ideal always already excludes people with disabilities, illness, etc. etc. No one should be held up as an ideal, just as a variation in the wonderful world of possible bodies.

Incidentally, Torres is not held up as an ideal by a number of her fellow swimmers not only because most of them find their careers limited by financial issues but also because she was well known for having a horrible temper and lashing out at fellow swimmers.

posted on August 12th, 2008 at 7:47 am

32 On August 12th, 2008, unsinkable

Cindy, lol at your comment. So funny!

posted on August 12th, 2008 at 3:35 pm

33 On August 12th, 2008, Liza

Could we also discuss why female beach volleyball players wear bikinis while the men wear workout shorts and baggy tank tops?

One or the other. Either the women get shorts and tanks or the men start playing in banana hammocks.

posted on August 12th, 2008 at 4:29 pm

34 On August 14th, 2008, Petite Yogini

The only ideal that women should strive for is to be their best selves, not what someone else has decided for them.

A few years ago I would have envied Torres muscular body, but my husband has taught to me appreciate my feminine shape. It always bothered me when reading Oxygen mag when they would glorify the cover model if she was also a mother (and lawyer etc), saying “see, if she can do it, so can you!” as if everyone is the same.

I wasn’t aware of all of Torres injuries and surgeries. As an active woman, I’m glad to hear that, because I still get it in my mind that I just need to push myself a bit harder but my body won’t let me, so I always thought it unfair that others can achieve those musulcar bodies with apparently little harm (although I do know that’s not the case, just good to be reminded).

posted on August 14th, 2008 at 10:27 am

35 On August 19th, 2008, kate