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Title details for Little Girls in Pretty Boxes by Joan Ryan - Available

Little Girls in Pretty Boxes

The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters

by Joan Ryan
Jennifer Jill Araya
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Welcome to the world of women's gymnastics and figure skating—the real world that happens away from the cameras, at the training camps and in the private lives of these talented teenage competitors. From starvation diets and debilitating injuries to the brutal tactics of tyrannical gymnastics guru Béla Károlyi, Little Girls in Pretty Boxes portrays the horrors endured by girls at the hands of their coaches and sometimes their own families—and is now updated with a new introduction and foreword that address the sexual abuse scandal perpetrated by USA Gymnastics national team doctor, Larry Nassar. This groundbreaking book shows how a longstanding culture of abuse made young gymnasts perfect targets for a sexual predator, and continues to plead for sanity, safety, and an end to our national obsession: winning at any cost.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 9, 2021

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781705254776
      • File size: 247034 KB
      • Duration: 08:34:39

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 1, 1995
      ``The female gymnast's career is a race against time and nature,'' writes San Francisco Chronicle sports columnist Ryan, and the same appears to be true of world-class female figure skaters. In both sports, the contemporary ideal is a girl with a boy's body: sans breasts and hips. To achieve this ``ideal,'' the athletes overtrain at a time when their skeletal development is supposed to be the greatest, suffering injuries to vertebrae, arms and legs at the same time that they are constantly being ordered to lose weight. The result: anorexia and bulimia. This expose, which absolves the exploited trainees of most blame--though some are apparently monomaniacal about becoming Mary Lou Rettons or Dorothy Hamills--is scathing on the subjects of parents, coaches, judges, the U.S. Gymnastic Federation and the U.S. Figure Skating Association. Ryan concludes that females aged 13 to 18 are not only exploited but abused. Such a powerful plea for reform may have some results.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 29, 1996
      Sports columnist Ryan presents an expose of the physical and psychological suffering endured by young Olympic hopefuls.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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