Allison Shafter
My Stories
‘Dance accesses humanity’: A profile on Stephanie García
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Biography
Allison Shafter is completing her final semester as a journalism and dance student at the University of Utah. She has performed in multiple School of Dance productions and shows throughout Salt Lake. Her dance background fuels her passion for ensuring female athletes receive proper media recognition. Shafter creates social media content for The Daily Utah Chronicle to showcase student journalism at the U. In fall 2024, she began contributing to loveDANCEmore, merging her two passions. When not dancing, writing or working toward her degree, Shafter enjoys reading, hiking, coffee shops and improving her crochet skills.
Reporter's Notebook
As I opened a blank Google tab and typed a vague description, “Women AND medical research,” I audibly laughed at the top search result. “Why we know so little about women’s health,” as the highlighted title confirmed my suspicion that female athletes face far more barriers than equitable broadcasting and financial support. Through more tailored research, I found that the underrepresentation of women in sports and exercise medicine research has been acknowledged by researchers internationally.
When I began investigating this inequity, I was shocked by its magnitude. I considered that less research on female injury could lead to misdiagnosis for these athletes, complicating certain recovery timelines. Its impact reaches far beyond this. Less research on female athletes means there is less knowledge of female specific anatomy and its impact on athletic performance, less rehabilitation strategies catered towards female athletes and fewer women in medical leadership positions. I wondered, do female student athletes feel these ramifications?
It turns out they do.
In my early reporting I found that many felt they had been brushed off by their healthcare providers. One student athlete was encouraged to play on a damaged shoulder to finish a college recruiting season. Another was told that she was fine and “this is the time of the season that you go on pain meds.” I realized that this problem is real, female student athletes are experiencing this.
One of the greatest challenges for me in writing the story was its scale. It would be impossible to detail all the impacts of the research gap. I found that I would have to narrow my reporting to one injury that is eight times more likely to impact female athletes than male athletes in the same sport, anterior cruciate ligament injuries.
Ashley West, a player on the Utah volleyball team is currently rehabbing this injury. Her interview changed the trajectory of my story completely. Through our conversation, it was clear to me the determination of female athletes to return to their sport is at the center of this story.
It is important that during times of upset surrounding inequality, that we prioritize voices of resilience. West said that it is through positive self-talk, teammate support and hard work in the training room that she can persevere through injury. From podcast appearances to Instagram takeovers, there should be spaces where female athletes can be heard sharing stories that extend beyond their game feats. It is through these conversations that more awareness can be drawn to pressing aspects of the female athlete experience. Inequalities can be read about, but I feel that it is through hearing people’s firsthand experiences that we can begin to develop further empathy and passion for change.