Analysis Of Little Girls In Pretty Boxes By Joan Ryan

Even though Gelsey Kirkland was a graceful and amazingly fit dancer, George Balanchine, then director and choreographer of the New York City Ballet, approached her during a barre routine, pointed to her upper chest and whispered, "I want to see bones." At 5'4 and 100 lbs, she was already under weight for her height, so did she really need to lose more? Although shocked and appalled by her directors comment, she immediately put herself on a diet. By the end of the season she was down to 92 lbs, a virtual dancing skeleton. She kept this weight off for many years, sometimes by eating one apple a day, cut into fourths with an added spoonful of cottage cheese. Unfortuntately she didn't think about how this behavior would affect her in the future,

The essay talked about the "little girl" image attached to women athletes. As I was reading the essay, I came across a quote made by a young skater, "Even if you know something is not good for you, you don't think long-term. You think now: 'I need to lose five lbs'." This quote really stuck with me because it's so true. Those girls don't think long term, they think only about the present. They don't think about how an eating disorder can affect their chances to bear children when they decide to have a family, or that when they're 25 they will have the bone density of an 85 year old. Do they even think about how malnutrition affects every organ in the body? And thena ll of a sudden it hit me. Why can't nutritional classes become a part of their curriculum? Having a qualified nutritionist who teaches a few classes could be beneficial to the eating disorder dilema. Maybe if the girls knew what to put inot their bodies and still stay fit, they wouldn't feel the need to starve themselves. True, this would increase tuition to help the company pay for a nutritionist, and we all know how expensive training can be, but I really feel the benefits outweigh the monetary setbacks. The statistics show that the majority of these athletes will battle an eating disorder related to their sport sometime in the future. The chances their families will endup paying for a nutritionist as well as a few hospital bills

So many of these girls eat, drink, and sleep what they do. They get up at 5am, go and practice for 4hrs, do school work, practice some more, and then go home and rest. All of this seems ridiculous for such short lived sports. Figure skaters are pretty much washed up when they are 25, gymnasts when they're 20, and ballet dancers are lucky to still be performing onstage when they are 35. Many of these athlets get depressed because most of the time, this isn't what they want to do. They would rather be out with their friends, attending public school or private schools instead of being tutored, or ever something as simple as just sleeping in. Sometimes they will sabotage their career and health with an eating disorder. In many instances, these girls are too afraid to confront they parents about not wanting to train anymore, so they feel that developing an eating disorder is one way to make it stop. The parents need to speak frequently with their children concerning their sport in order to make sure this is what they want to do. The bottom line is that we have to remember that even though the may be incredibly talented at what they do, they are still children, and part of the process of becoming a healthy adult is by having a healthy