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Icons are figures that their audience look up to in today’s generation to learn moral lessons and good ethics from. Serena Williams portrays that she is an icon by using her own life journey as an example to give her crowd the message that putting in the effort and having patience will lead you to your final goal, this message has impacted the many lives of her young audience. Lebron James is displayed as an icon, by giving kids new lives so they can have access to education, by doing this Lebron James has opened doors for the future for many of the young, so they can have a good outcome. Venus Williams takes the place of an icon, by bringing attention to equality for young female athletes and drawing a focus for equal pay. Yes, icons exist today as they have a global audience that sees them as a role model that makes an impact in their lives and their icons broaden their perspective of the world in many different categories that are relevant today. This can be seen by examining the journeys and deeds of Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Lebron James by the impact they have made in society.

Serena Williams can be seen as an icon when she used her pregnancy journey to inspire her fans and young mothers. Serena Williams pregnancy journey highlights how she was determined to get back on the tennis court, in moments she thought she was vulnerable. Serena Williams stated, “ It was beautiful but then everything went bad''.( 1 ) Serena said this a couple of hours after she gave birth, the reason she said this is because of her history with blood clots. Serena went through many struggles after her pregnancy which made her think that she was going to lose her life. During this time she had her mom and her fiance holding her together when she was falling apart. A few weeks after her surgery she came back on the media and shared her thoughts on how she was feeling, and she mainly encouraged her fans to not give up on anything. Serena also gave her fans the message that if she did not have hope in herself she would not have come back to the tennis court, in the same way, she has kept her pregnancy story as an inspiration to many of the fans. Serena Williams is also well known to promote body image and self-acceptance. In one of her films, Serena said “ I get asked about my body all the time. From an early age, I think I was always body-conscious, in terms of girls aren't supposed to be fit. But I never thought people would talk about my arms or curves.” ( 2 ) Serena Williams stated this in one of her interviews and later she talked about the importance of body image and self-acceptance and how no one should be ashamed about their body. She even talked about how she had some of her fans being self-conscious about themselves but she said that’s how she felt during her pregnancy and how she wanted her body back to the way it was. In her interviews, she talked about how viewing yourself and body image is a big issue with many girls as they like to compare themselves with people they see on social media or celebrities, this, in turn, leads to lowering their self-esteem. Serena Williams used her pregnancy story to let many around the world, that the state you are in is temporary and soon you will see yourself in a position you thought you’d never be in.

Lebron James is shown as an icon due to him building a school for the students that cannot afford to go to one. When Lebron James grew up a bicycle was very important to him for transportation “A Bicycle, for me, was the only way to get around the city. If I wanted to meet some of my friends, travel across the city, go to school, play basketball-anything-the bicycle was the way I got around”. ( 3 )This quotation shows how Lebron got around with only a bicycle in his childhood. So the school he created, he also had made a bunch of benefits for the students. One of the benefits is he said each student will receive a bicycle for their transportation. He knew that some students are not able to travel to school by car or bus etc because of many reasons such as money, so he provided a free and healthy way for the student’s outcome of transportation . He showed an impact from his childhood on his students for a good outcome. Lebron James had big dreams growing up and one of his dreams had come true which is building a school. “The jitters before the first day of school are real right now!!! Tomorrow is going to be one of the greatest moments(if not the greatest)of my life when we open the I Promise school. This skinny kid from Akron who missed 83 days of school in the fourth grade had big dreams.” Lebron was very excited that his school’s grand opening was just tomorrow and he couldn’t believe his dream finally came true.He had big dreams as a kid and one of them was to build a school for the kids that aren’t able to go for many reasons. In part of the quote, it states that “A skinny kid from Akron who missed 83 days of school had big dreams” From this it basically says that even though as a kid Lebron missed school he still had a dream which was to create a school. This can tell young kids to elderly people that if you are able to make your dream come true then do it.

Venus Williams is an icon because she fought to obtain equal rights and equal pay for female athletes and she motivates others to fight for equal gender rights too.Venus Williams believes and advocates for female athletes to earn the same pay as male athletes.“ I think in the Grand Slam events, it should be equal pay, and the ladies should do something about it instead of just accepting it for years to come”( 5 ). This quote demonstrates how Williams is motivating herself and other women in all types of careers to mobilize to get what they deserve from their work instead of accepting what they get which is often less than what males get. Venus tells the world that females deserve equal pay and gender should not dictate what a person earns, but instead that talent and merit should be rewarded. Venus’ statement could also be related to all women in society who don't get something they really should get on the basis of sex. It motivates women to fight for their right to equal pay and freedom from discrimination.

The ESPN article (2013) explores how Venus Williams has strongly informed her justification that female athletes truly deserve equal pay. Venus wanted to see this issue resolved in her lifetime. . “… you get to this stage, and you’re told you’re not the same as a boy …”( 2 ) In this quote Williams shared her own experience of being told that females are good but not as good as male athletes. This represents the common issue that women dream, work as hard as they can and sacrifice their personal life, but in the end they are not compensated and assigned less value for their hard work. This is not at all the same case for men. Roger Federer won the men's championship with $ 1.13 million in prize money. However, his female opponent Venus Williams only won $ 1.08 million, but they both played equally well, but the male athlete was paid more than the female athlete, which is completely unfair. Williams spoke out against this inequality a day before the Wimbledon final. Williams addressed a meeting, urging the Wimbledon and French Open to pay male and female players equally. As a result, she was the first female athlete to receive equal pay. This may inspire many of us to fight until we get what we deserve.

Yes, icons exist today as they have a global audience that sees them as a role model that makes an impact in their lives also their icons broaden their perspective of the world in many different categories that are relevant today. Serena Williams has portrayed that she is an icon by using her own life journey to give inspiration to her fans and display the importance of body image and self-acceptance. Lebron James had shown he is an icon by opening doors to give kids a good future, he did this by building a school and this allowed the kids to have access to education. Venus Willams is recognized as an icon by fighting to give equal rights and pay for the female athletes and she has motivated others to fight for equal gender rights . These are the reasons why these three athletes are shown as icons around the world.

Citations

( 1 )Haskell, Rob. “Serena Williams on Motherhood, Marriage, and Making Her Comeback.” Vogue, Vogue, 16 Jan. 2018, www.vogue.com/article/serena-williams-vogue-cover-interview-february-2018.

(2)Cohen, Claire. “Serena Williams Must Be Saluted as Tennis's Greatest Feminist Icon.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 4 July 2016, www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2016/07/04/serena-williams-must-be-saluted-as-tenniss-greatest-feminist-ico/.

(3)Zillgitt, Jeff. “LeBron James Opens New Public School in Akron: 'One of the Greatest Moments' of His Life.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 31 July 2018, www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2018/07/30/lebron-james-promise-school-akron-ohio/862159002/.

(4)Lauletta, Tyler. “LeBron James Explains Why Giving Every Student at His I Promise School a Bicycle Was an Important, Personal Part of His Mission.” Business Insider Malaysia, 20 Aug. 2018, www.businessinsider.my/lebron-james-i-promise-school-students-bicycle-2018-8.

( 5 )Ford, Bonnie D. “Venus Was at the Forefront'.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 1 July 2013, www.espn.com/espnw/nine-for-ix/story/_/id/9441441/venus-williams-equality-change-espnw.

( 6 )“The Inspiring Story of How Venus Williams Helped Win Equal Pay for Women Players at Wimbledon.” Women in the World, 6 Aug. 2019, womenintheworld.com/2015/07/10/the-inspiring-story-of-how-venus-williams-helped-win-equal-pay-for-women-players-at-wimbledon/.

Body paragraph #1( Serena Willams): Suhana Sirajudeen

Body paragraph #2(Lebron James): Agshitha Jegatheeswaran

Body paragraph #3: ( Venus Williams): Pravina Pirapakaran

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