I think it's pretty safe to say that I'm crap at blogging these days. I usually have a great idea of something to talk about at 2 in the morning when I'm trying to sleep, and my brain won't shut down. By the time I wake up (you know how this story goes), the idea is long gone.
So, here goes. The one thing that's been on my mind a lot these days.
I think that it’s impossible to have a blog about training, getting stronger and achieving physical goals without delving into some realities about body perception.
I’m overweight.
This does not make me a bad person. This does not mean that I am less valuable than a thin person, or that I am any less worthy of love and respect than anyone else.
However, weight seems to be one of the last remaining socially-acceptable forms of discrimination. Some is subtle, and the rest is not. In fact, it’s painfully blatant.
In a completely informal and sociologically biased poll of many close friends, I’ve discovered that we have faced many similar challenges in our roads to health.
(Please note, this is about a journey to HEALTH, not a journey to SKINNY. They are not the same thing.)
The same person who looks in disgust and makes oinking noises at me when I order anything but a salad will also be the person making faces at the sweat flooding off of me when I dare to walk the same trail, (albeit at a much slower pace than them).
The same companies which relegate clothes in my size to the shadowy back of the store, where people my size won’t taint the image of the brand will also refuse to make workout gear in plus sizes…again, so that overweight people are not tarnishing their image.
The fact is, it’s socially acceptable (yet morally repugnant) to look on the overweight person with disdain because they’re “fat”, “lazy”, “dirty”, “smelly” and any number of unkind adjectives. But the same societal views that pigeonholed us into this stereotype also refuse to offer a hand-up to those attempting to make healthier choices.
I’m here to say, you don’t get to have it both ways.
I’m overweight.
This does not make me a bad person. This does not mean that I am less valuable than a thin person, or that I am any less worthy of love and respect than anyone else.
However, weight seems to be one of the last remaining socially-acceptable forms of discrimination. Some is subtle, and the rest is not. In fact, it’s painfully blatant.
In a completely informal and sociologically biased poll of many close friends, I’ve discovered that we have faced many similar challenges in our roads to health.
(Please note, this is about a journey to HEALTH, not a journey to SKINNY. They are not the same thing.)
The same person who looks in disgust and makes oinking noises at me when I order anything but a salad will also be the person making faces at the sweat flooding off of me when I dare to walk the same trail, (albeit at a much slower pace than them).
The same companies which relegate clothes in my size to the shadowy back of the store, where people my size won’t taint the image of the brand will also refuse to make workout gear in plus sizes…again, so that overweight people are not tarnishing their image.
The fact is, it’s socially acceptable (yet morally repugnant) to look on the overweight person with disdain because they’re “fat”, “lazy”, “dirty”, “smelly” and any number of unkind adjectives. But the same societal views that pigeonholed us into this stereotype also refuse to offer a hand-up to those attempting to make healthier choices.
I’m here to say, you don’t get to have it both ways.
Also, my body is MY body. It’s my possession. Just because it’s a larger size than others would like doesn’t mean that I’m somehow public property. If I want to order an Oprah doughnut (maple bar with bacon) and chase it with a soda, I will. If I want to be huffing, groaning, and dripping sweat on a trail, I will. No one gets to police me because I’m overweight. No one gets to tell me that it’s not acceptable for me to make my own choices because I’m the chubby girl in hiking boots.
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