Earlier this week, Serena Williams posted a picture of herself in a bikini, holding her six-month old daughter and captioning the image with a message about embracing her postpartum body.
“Loving yourself is essential,” she wrote. “I find that I have to remind myself of that self-love through all different stages in my life.”
“Right now I love that my body is not picture perfect. I love that I smell like milk – that milk sustains Adira Ohanian,” referring to her second daughter, who was born in August 2023.
Not picture perfect? I’d disagree. But hey – everyone’s idea of perfect is different, isn’t it? Some people have higher standards of ‘picture perfect’. It seems that even for the likes of Serena Williams — widely considered to be the GOAT in tennis — there is pressure to adhere to the unreasonable standards set by our patriarchal society.
“I love getting to know a new version of my body,” Williams continued in her post. “It is a change, but it’s a change that has been well worth it. So start this week, knowing that you are loved, and that starts with you.”
She added a little cheeky line at the end: “Ok, now I’m about to go to the gym 🤪”
Ah – the self-love body positivity trope rears its head up again. I’m responsible for how I see myself. Never-mind the hundreds of years’ worth of patriarchal standards that insist I must follow the strict, unyielding definition of what constitutes a beautiful body.
The 42-year old mother of two frequently posts images of herself on Instagram, and has been open about her own body issues.
In November 2020, she was interviewed by British Vogue, where she revealed her positive self-image from an early age.
“[But] I’ve never been a person that has been like, ‘I want to be a different colour’ or ‘I want my skin tone to be lighter,” said cover star. “I like who I am, I like how I look, and I love representing the beautiful dark women out there. For me, it’s perfect. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
“When I was growing up, what was celebrated was different,” Serena Williams continued. “Venus looked more like what is really acceptable: She has incredibly long legs, she’s really, really thin. I didn’t see people on TV that looked like me, who were thick. There wasn’t positive body image. It was a different age.”
In 2016, she revealed she didn’t always embrace her body-confidence. In an interview on ESPN’s The Undefeated In-Depth: Serena With Common, Williams said, “There was a time when I didn’t feel incredibly comfortable about my body because I felt like I was too strong.”
“I had to take a second and think, ‘Who says I’m too strong? This body has enabled me to be the greatest player that I can be. And now my body is in style, so I’m feeling good about it. Like, I’m finally in style! It took a while to get there.”
She went on to credit her parents for giving her the confidence.
“I could have been discouraged, and I wouldn’t be as great as I was because I would have done different exercises or I would have done different things. I totally embrace who I am and what I am.”
Serena Williams is among a cohort of female players throughout history who have faced sexist and misogynist commentary over their bodies. In an interview with Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times in 2015, Williams revealed that she struggled with how to exercise and her self-image.
“I don’t touch a weight, because I’m already super fit and super cut, and if I even look at weights, I get bigger. For years I’ve only done Thera-Bands and things like that, because that’s kind of how I felt. But then I realised that you really have to learn to accept who you are and love who you are. I’m really happy with my body type, and I’m really proud of it. Obviously it works out for me. I talk about it all the time, how it was uncomfortable for someone like me to be in my body.”
Rothenberg’s article was widely criticised for comparing Williams’ physique to other non-black female players.
Rothenberg wrote, “Williams has large biceps and a mold-breaking muscular frame, which packs the power and athleticism that have dominated women’s tennis for years. Her rivals could try to emulate her physique, but most of them choose not to.”
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Throughout her career, Williams has faced constant public scrutiny over her body — from being called “manly” to being referred to, with her sister, Venus, as the “Williams Brothers.” She has consistently maintained a strong, healthy mind-set.
In July 2018, she told Harper’s Bazaar U.K, “It was hard for me,” Williams said. “People would say I was born a guy, all because of my arms, or because I’m strong. I was different to Venus: She was thin and tall and beautiful, and I am strong and muscular—and beautiful, but, you know, it was just totally different.” Bazaar then asked Williams about a 2004 report in which she said one of her goals, at the time, was to reach a size four. “Oh God, I’ll never be a size four,” Williams replied. “Why would I want to do that, and be that?”
With twenty-three grand slams to her name, and arguably the best female sports player of all time, it’s certainly dismaying to see her face all this negativity.
After the birth of her first child in 2018, she gave multiple interviews where she opened up about the difficulties of being a parent.
“Sometimes I get really down and feel like, man, I can’t do this,” she told Vogue. “No one talks about the low moments – the pressure you feel, the incredible letdown every time you hear the baby cry. I’ve broken down I don’t know how many times. Or I’ll get angry about the crying, then sad about being angry, and then guilty, like, ‘why do I feel so sad when I have a beautiful baby?’ The emotions are insane.”
Later that year, she told Harper’s Bazaar UK, “Honestly, sometimes I think I still have to deal with it. I think people have to talk about it more because it’s almost like the fourth trimester, it’s part of the pregnancy.”
“I remember one day, I couldn’t find Olympia’s bottle and I got so upset I started crying … because I wanted to be perfect for her.”
