Rebecca Adlington’s body image anxiety mirrors that of most women
▻http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/20/rebecca-adlington-im-a-celebrity-body-image-women-willerton
Monday night’s episode of I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, started with a scene that had already played out a hundred thousand times that day, in offices, gyms, bedrooms and staff rooms up and down the country. “Oh God, I look so awful,” grimaced Miss GB winner Amy Willerton, as she squinted into the mirror on waking. This was followed by a Greek chorus comprising Rebecca Adlington and Lucy Pargeter, who wailed that they looked much, much worse. TV doesn’t have a great reputation for accurately representing women and the way they feel about their bodies, but in this instance, the scene was alarmingly accurate.
Later, Adlington decided against wearing a bikini, because she was anxious about doing so next to Willerton, who was already sunbathing in her two-piece. Adlington is an Olympic double gold medallist, and as such, a professional wearer of swimsuits, and yet the idea of baring flesh in this context made her feel self-conscious.