Event Title
Anxiety in the Locker Room: The Effect of the Locker Room on Self-Image and Community for Colby College's Female Student-Athletes
Location
Diamond 221
Start Date
1-5-2014 9:00 AM
End Date
1-5-2014 3:00 PM
Project Type
Presentation- Restricted to Campus Access
Description
For my research topic, I will be exploring the locker room. More specifically, I will be examining Colby Colleges existing locker room and shower facility for female student-athletes, in particular, the Womens Track & Field team. I will be examining how female athletes interact with each other within the open and rectangular layout of the locker room and shower space to consider whether or not the space exacerbates body image issues and eating disorders. The very nature of changing and showering in an open space necessarily exposes team members to viewing vastly different body types and can create great stress and anxiety for those concerned with their physical appearance. Indeed, there is little opportunity to hide within the two spaces and the process may become uncomfortable instead of creating a feeling of communitas within the team dynamic. Do the locker room and shower automatically make a participant compare herself to another athlete simply because she is undressed? How does she view her own body after such an encounter? Why do some athletes feel the need to change as quickly as possible, while others love dancing around the locker room naked? Does the fact that an athlete is expected to be in good shape add to the anxiety for those too thin or too big?
Faculty Sponsor
Ben Lisle
Sponsoring Department
Colby College. American Studies Program
CLAS Field of Study
Interdisciplinary Studies
Event Website
http://www.colby.edu/clas
ID
602
Anxiety in the Locker Room: The Effect of the Locker Room on Self-Image and Community for Colby College's Female Student-Athletes
Diamond 221
For my research topic, I will be exploring the locker room. More specifically, I will be examining Colby Colleges existing locker room and shower facility for female student-athletes, in particular, the Womens Track & Field team. I will be examining how female athletes interact with each other within the open and rectangular layout of the locker room and shower space to consider whether or not the space exacerbates body image issues and eating disorders. The very nature of changing and showering in an open space necessarily exposes team members to viewing vastly different body types and can create great stress and anxiety for those concerned with their physical appearance. Indeed, there is little opportunity to hide within the two spaces and the process may become uncomfortable instead of creating a feeling of communitas within the team dynamic. Do the locker room and shower automatically make a participant compare herself to another athlete simply because she is undressed? How does she view her own body after such an encounter? Why do some athletes feel the need to change as quickly as possible, while others love dancing around the locker room naked? Does the fact that an athlete is expected to be in good shape add to the anxiety for those too thin or too big?
https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/clas/2014/program/65