http://reembody.me/2013/09/10/the-6-most-shockingly-irresponsible-fitspiration-photos/
Hmmm. I partially agree with my friend Winston. I've posted his response below, with his permission:
I totally disagree with this article. My reason is that you can place any of these arguments on any Fitspiration meme no matter who made the meme and what the meme says. This article is riddled with fallacies: the Existential fallacy, the Fallacy of exclusive premises, the Fallacy of appeal to common sense, Proof by verbosity, and so many more ...To me this reads like a Glen Beck/Howard Stern/Rush Limbaugh/Bob and Tom writing style. Shock valued, morning circus to draw attention to the writer and not what they are actually writing about.
I partially agree with Winston, but I can also see the author's points. You have to admit, all the fitspiration memes focus thin women and cut men though. Rarely do they focus on the stockier build of strong people. I'm not saying that this is the meme creator's intention to further impose the "skinny is beautiful" agenda, but rather a result of the conditioning of society upon our belief of what defines "health."
There was a show....The Doctors or Dr. Oz or something like that, where a tall woman who was stocky was next to a smaller petite woman, and they were both on a treadmill walking at 3.0 mph. The taller woman exercised regularly and the petite woman never did. The heart monitors showed that the petite woman's BPM shot up fast and the larger woman's was slower and steadier. The audience assumed the smaller woman would be healthier because she had a lower weight and size. You know the rest. Petite woman struggles, eventually has to stop, and the stockier woman keeps up with a steady heart rate.
Another example, a friend, Zach Henn used to be a personal trainer and cut as all get-out, but his cholesterol was >400 because of his heredity. (His dad died from a heart attack at a young age and also had crazy high cholesterol.) Zach had to take cholesterol-lowering meds as a result. His diet wasn't always fantastic...okay, sometimes he ate like shit (Arby's. LOTS of Arby's), and used to drink like a fish, yet he is thin and lean so people would assume he was super healthy. I'm fatter with 31% body fat and my cholesterol is WICKED low. Genes suck sometimes.
I guess my point is that we're so conditioned to see shape as fit or not fit, but I barely look much different from a year or so ago when I was WAY less healthy.
I guess we should reinforce that exercise is the key and not the body's shape that it's in. That everyone starts somewhere....that it's not about where/when you start but that you recognize the importance of health and getting fit and that you take a step in that direction and keep moving.
I'll be the first to admit that too much of anything is bad. And that's the point about the anorexia/hypergymwhatever that the author points out. I guess it's all a balance, and toned fit bodies are healthy-looking and TYPICALLY healthier than ones with higher body fat and other obvious issues, but isn't the whole issue about health....not SHAPE? Again, it's not that shape isn't an indicator, but it shouldn't be ALL that we focus on. Just a piece.
I don't know. I may never look like the fitspiration pics I see, but I am happy to be headed in the DIRECTION of healthier me, and that is good. I can feel my body doing things it couldn't do a year ago. And that's great.
But showing a set of stairs that I've conquered instead of my still-albeit-less-flabby abs isn't as inspiring as a cut half-naked chick.
I think I'm just tired of the oversexualization of America despite our Puritan roots that tell us just how bad sex is. It's ridiculous. There was a good relationship book I read that I recommend. You should check it out: http://www.amazon.com/Mating-Captivity-Reconciling-Erotic-Domestic/dp/0060753633
But that's for another post another time! And on that note, I'm out!
P.S. More this: https://www.google.com/search?q=female+olympic+weightlifters&espv=210&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=6whgUsPCFonCywHL3oEQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1440&bih=732
Less this: https://www.google.com/search?q=female+olympic+weightlifters&espv=210&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=6whgUsPCFonCywHL3oEQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1440&bih=732#es_sm=93&espv=210&q=sexy+fit+females&tbm=isch
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