'Beautiful to be strong:' Duke women's soccer's Morgan Reid confronts social media critics

Morgan Reid was the anchor on defense on one of Duke’s best teams ever, and she wants to be thought of as such. 

The senior, who was recently picked No. 38 overall in the NWSL Draft by the North Carolina Courage and has found fame on Instagram with nearly 200,000 followers, penned in a Players' Tribune article that she wants to be seen simply as a player. Forget the demeaning comments and headlines about her body—negative or “positive.”

“MEET MORGAN REID — DUKE SOCCER PLAYER — HOTTEST PHOTOS,” read just one example. 

In the Players' Tribune article, Reid said she was told there was nothing she could do because these headlines were supposedly "positive," but she questioned whether they were indeed so. 

“Was some journalist ogling my Instagram photos supposed to be a positive thing?” she asked. 

She got other many other "nasty" comments from followers on her account that she said made her feel like her body was under a microscope. 

“Ewww, she looks like a man. Being that muscular isn’t cute,” one read. 

Reid says she hopes to use her platform on Instagram to challenge standard definitions of beauty that leave female athletes feeling insecure about their bodies. Some might worry that strength training would leave them not looking "like the models in fashion magazine," but Reid wants to dissuade others from this negativity by posting soccer and workout videos and pictures. 

When she was drafted, she recalls meeting her new coaches, who welcomed her and complimented her on her play at Duke. To them, she was "simply a player." 

“A lot of what is said about me on the Internet is out of my control,” Reid wrote. “But on that day, I made my own headline….Morgan Reid Drafted.”

The full Players' Tribune story can be found here. 

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