It was difficult to miss Ilona Maher at the Paris Olympics this year. If she wasn’t impressing onlookers with her rugby tackles, she was making them laugh with her Snoop Dogg and cardboard bed TikToks. However, since leaving France, the 28-year-old has gone viral for something other than her athleticism and wit.
Since July, Maher has modelled for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, competed on Dancing with the Stars and posed on the Emmys red carpet, all while steadily increasing her follower count, which now exceeds 4.3 million on Instagram and 3.1 million on TikTok. Though her humour is certainly part of the appeal, it’s her stance on body image and beauty standards that has transformed her into a household name.
Ilona Maher has become a household name since the Paris Olympics thanks to her refreshing take on body image.Credit: Getty
“All body types matter, all body types are worthy,” she said in a TikTok in July. “From the smallest gymnast to the tallest volleyball player, from a rugby player to a shot-putter and sprinter, all body types are beautiful and can do amazing things. Truly see yourself in these athletes and know that you can do it too.”
This video was viewed more than 6 million times. Most of Maher’s body image content, much of which is accompanied by the hashtag “Beast Beauty Brains”, gains similar traction, including one video in which she corrects a user’s inaccurate understanding of BMI. This has had 8.4 million views and counting.
Maher’s burgeoning success reflects broader shifts within the beauty space, says health psychology scholar and associate professor at Flinders University Ivanka Prichard.
“There’s more awareness around celebrating the body for what it can do rather than how it looks. Athletes like Ilona help with this,” Prichard says. “Ilona’s success on the field showcases the functionality of her body, and highlights the importance of looking beyond someone’s appearance.”
Dr Sarah Bonell, a psychology lecturer at RMIT, says this could be evidence of a departure from the secretly insidious “wellness talk” of the past decade.
“Fatphobia and appearance-related stigmas have often been cloaked in wellness talk. People would say, ‘we’re worried about her health, that’s why we’re shaming her’. Athletes obviously can’t fit into that because they’re super healthy, but usually look bigger, strong, almost traditionally masculine. They’re challenging that narrative.”
Other female athletes sharing a similar message include Australian swimmer Libby Trickett and Australian Rules footballer Sarah Perkins, both of whom have worked with health promotion charities such as the Embrace Collective. Elsewhere, US gymnast Simone Biles modelled for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit twice (2017 and 2019), and members of the Matildas posed for Vogue’s Nike shoot last year.
Thanks to these kinds of initiatives and the online presence of certain female athletes, athleticism is increasingly associated with beauty, says Melbourne fashion stylist Christina Robert.
“Physical strength is considered sexy now. So, clothing brands are selling this back to women with clothing that enhances muscles, such as racer back tank-tops and the trend of wearing bike shorts as mainstream fashion items. Even gym-wear is becoming more revealing.”
This is closely connected to the rise of athleisure, a sector that grew by 42 per cent over the past seven years. By 2026, Robert says, the segment is expected to reach a value of $386 billion or more.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we see fashion campaigns and catwalks featuring more models like Ilona with obvious musculature,” Robert says.
As perceptions shift, more women are turning to strength-based sports. Powerlifting coach Thomas Lilley says 36.5 per cent of the Australian Powerlifting League’s membership was female in 2022. Now, it’s 42 per cent.
“Many of our female athletes have filtered into the sport after being inspired by female strength athletes they’ve followed on social media,” Lilley says. “This has been bolstered by more gyms offering female-only powerlifting competitions, showcasing that powerlifting is not strictly a male sport.”
Beyond the health benefits of strength-based sports, such as improved bone density, muscle quality and the prevention of type 2 diabetes, exercise scientist and national champion Olympic Weightlifter Dr Mandy Hagstrom says strength sports made her feel more confident as a woman.
“I became the most comfortable with my body after becoming a competitive lifter,” Hagstrom says. “I knew I was strong; I felt powerful, and this empowered me all around. I work hard for my muscles. If that makes someone uncomfortable, they probably need to look internally as to why.”
As promising as it is to see muscular women such as Maher on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Bonell says there’s still progress to be made.
“Physically capable women are still quite jarring for people,” she says. “We’ve equalised the genders in many ways, but one thing men still have is being generally physically bigger and stronger. We need to create space in which they realise they don’t need that as a gender. Then women can move into that space without it being inherently threatening.”
“Fitspiration” content can also be just as damaging as “thinspo” content, says psychology emeritus professor at Flinders University Marika Tiggemann.
“Beauty ideals are shifting slightly to allow for larger butts and thighs, to be toned all over, and no longer be skeletally thin, but that’s actually just as hard for women to be. It takes lots of work at the gym. And unfortunately, people are still often thinking about looking strong rather than being strong.”
Dr Emily Matheson, associate consultant at Everybody Consulting, spearheaded the development of Body Confident Sport and says we may be moving towards healthier body image messaging online but much of the content can still amplify body image concerns.
“In 2022, the Dove Self-Esteem Project found that 90 per cent of girls followed at least one social media account that made them feel less beautiful,” Matheson says.
“And it’s still very common for thinness to be associated with overall health and performance, and for girls and women to be body-shamed, particularly those living in larger bodies.”
Make the most of your health, relationships, fitness and nutrition with our Live Well newsletter. Get it in your inbox every Monday.