(1) Walking into the gym where my cheer team was about to hold our annual “Mini Cheer Camp” the first thought that invaded my mind were not “I do not belong on this team because of my size.” (2) Of course, a fourth grader whose mind has been brainwashed into thinking that girls should look a certain way to be on a certain team, did have this thought. (3) I had only been in the room for around fifteen seconds before, without any form of trying to hide it, a little girl asked out loud why I was even on the team. (4) You might be able to predict, that was not the biggest confidence booster. (5) I had to constantly remind myself throughout the rest of the afternoon that my size had nothing to do with how good I am at what I do, and I deserve to be on this team just as much as everybody else, even if I do not look the way most people probably think I should. (6) Normally, people are expected to fit in with a certain social standard. (7) In a world where kids, teenagers and adults are ridiculed about their bodies and forced to conform to a certain body type, there is bound to be judgment upon those who don’t “fit in” with the social standards. (8) Women especially are made to feel like they have a body image to live up to. (9) When you include the deeply-ingrained societel demand of being a certain body type for female athletes, the judgment is even more extreme. (10) In football, it is praised when a boy is big and buff. (11) He is expected to be able to be one of the best. People look at it as a great thing if boys on a football team weigh over 250 pounds, it is welcomed even. (12) So why is it that when females in their sports are overweight, it is looked at as a completely wrong and negative thing?