Photo: jenaragon94 | Wikimedia | CC-BY-2.0
She was only 16 when a modeling agency told her she was "too heavy." Priscilla Frederick-Loomis is now a 31-year-old Olympic high jumper who still dreams of becoming an actress after she achieves her goals on the athletic field. She has now come to a place of loving herself after spending years rejecting her appearance, prompted by remarks from people deeming her not skinny enough for an athlete, just as she was subjected to the pressure of being a Black female. She underlines what she has been through: "When you are trying to be an elite athlete, on top of trying to get signed on, on top of dealing with coaches, you also have the pressures -- one for me of being an African-American female representing a Caribbean island. And you're adding, on top of all that, body shaming." Juggling with all those different sources of pressure had her experience anxiety with food. She later learned that a significant number of female athletes have eating disorders.
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