Sarah Glenn has 120,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok. Photo: Telegraph/Dan Giannopoulos. . Between Ashes for England and Hundred for London Spirit, she explores the scrutiny female athletes face when it comes to body image.
First example: herself. Glenn is known to his England teammates as someone who brings «glamor» to tour, including a nail salon, and is a self-proclaimed beauty lover. But despite being accepted by her team, she has come to understand that it also means she will be underestimated, objectified, and subjected to online abuse simply for being herself.
Honestly, she's tired of it. On International Women's Day this year, Glenn posted a tongue-in-cheek video on TikTok of herself in front of a mirror before a match. she says in voiceover. “Girls just stick on false eyelashes in sports, and men comment: “Why are you wearing this? You must focus on the game. Blah blah blah'.»
She adds sarcastically, “You know what, I really think it might be related: because of this eyeliner, I think I'll be making pies in this game from now on. This little concentration time will definitely distract me from all the hours I've been training, the early mornings, the highs and lows of international or any other sport. For girls who are afraid to prove themselves, I'm always here for you.»
@sarahxo3 🤍 #fyp #foryou #crickettok #cricket #englandcricket #cricketok #internationalwomensday #iwd #womensport #womenscricket ♬ original sound — Sarah Glenn
Unfortunately, Glenn has more than a decade of experience. When she started playing cricket with the boys' team and became a teenager, it coincided with her experiments with makeup. Teammates and opponents made fun of her and said she was looking for attention. «I'm just being myself, but everyone will be like, 'Who are you doing this for?' or «She just wants to please boys, she's here to get attention,» says 23-year-old Glenn. p>
“These comments are flying around and I just want to play cricket. Do I have to look like a boy or do girly things to avoid getting these comments? I would feel embarrassed if it looked like I made an effort, or I wouldn't feel completely confident when I tried to perform. This continued until I started playing for England. It was a really difficult balance to be the only girl on the team.”
On a sunny spring morning at Trent Bridge, where England will open the Ashes for a five-day test in June, the multi-format series against Australia has already sold a record 55,000 tickets.
The Derby native sports a full English kit and has a fresh a layer of artificial tan. She has a snow-white manicure, an elegant collection of silver rings and small hoops in her ears.
Her sense of style is part of her daily routine, whether on or off the pitch, and even part of her pre-match routine to calm her nerves. Glenn, who has played in three World Cups and finished fourth in the ICC Twenty20 international bowling rankings, says women's cricket is the most accepting area she has ever played in the sport, but still pays attention to her looks.< /p>
This mostly manifests itself online, where she has 120,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok. «I'll be damned if I do it, I'll be damned if I don't,» she says of the make-up while playing cricket. “I do it to feel more confident, but people will comment saying really derogatory things. Do you really think that one layer of foundation will change the way I bowl?»
Glenn could make his test debut in the first episode of Ashes on Trent Bridge Photo: Telegraph/Dan Giannopoulos
She is not alone. Less than 24 hours after winning the European Championship with England last summer, Ella Thun went viral, saying she was «really gutted» for not wearing her trademark false lashes for the occasion. Sprinter Dina Asher-Smith has described the joy and confidence of experimenting with her make-up on competition days and is one of a long line of track and field athletes to showcase her style in competition.
< p>Tennis player Coco Gauff told Telegraph Sport last year that while on tour, she scouts out the best beauty salon in every city she visits to update her intricate manicure. But data shows that women in sports are often taken less seriously simply because they adhere to or follow beauty regimens that break stereotypes.
For this reason, Glenn explores some of the worst examples of elite female athlete trolling for earning a degree in sports sciences, which she does through the Open University.
Alisha Lehmann of Aston Villa, who has 12 million followers on Instagram. , every day struggles with insults and expresses his dissatisfaction about this.
“When I looked at the comments on her Instagram, it really pissed me off,” Glenn says of his research. “It's all about her looks. It's demeaning and rather shabby, saying that she's only doing it for publicity. People think that she doesn't work and train so hard because she's too busy doing that kind of stuff. Don't people realize how long it takes to apply eyelashes? By the way, not for long. I think she's a really cool, cool soccer player and she has style. It's just sad to see her getting so much hate for putting on a couple milligrams of foundation.”
For Glenn, even her England debut was marred by trolling as she received derogatory comments about her. size and make a manicure for the occasion.
She says women can't win anyway. “I performed well and I was very excited, but there were so many comments about how I look or judge me — I felt a little objective. Don't get me wrong, I see it happening in the men's game — girls write about the players they like — but I think they don't get comments saying they're doing it to get attention, pretending to be me. did not work on his case. — to get to where I am. It's disappointing.”
Glenn has previously spoken about her ambition to one day create an all-female gym to help women who feel condemned while exercising.
For now. , she intends to continue discussing this issue publicly. “I just want to try and take that stigma off because I know a lot of girls growing up can shy away from being themselves in sports. It doesn't have to be makeup, it can be anything, for those who don't do what is expected of them in their sport.
«I don't want girls to feel like they have to fit in.» category to participate.
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