A word about fitness and diet goals
Gonna come right out and say it: fitness & diet goals for the new year are Patriarchal Bullshit™.
One of the things I’ve been thinking about at length is—as mentioned yesterday—Patriarchal Bullshit™. There are tons of ways that it affects us in our everyday lives.
There are the obvious things in places of employment , where a guy gets paid more than a woman for the same job (and a white woman often gets paid more than a woman of color). Or the shit that comes up at the holidays when women do almost all of the “creating holiday magic,” which includes the cooking, cleaning, decorating, and shopping, while the dudes . . . don’t.
And then there are the more insidious ways, which include the worlds of fashion and the fitness industry.
The fashion industry creates and favors its own “ideals”, and for the past half-century or more, that ideal has included improbably thin women. Heck, the industry is once-again touting the “heroin-chic” look, which is both thin and flat as a board (little in the way of boobs or hips), including the gaunt, pale look of a serious drug addict.
Models in magazines and other print ads are airbrushed or Photoshopped to meet the impossibly thin image that the industry seeks. Even when a “plus-sized” model is used, it’s likely she’s a size 12. The average clothing size of an American woman in 2022 was a size 16.
The fitness industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, and it is only too happy to pick up where the advertising leaves off. The revenue of the gyms, health & fitness clubs industry in 2022 was over $32 billion. The diet industry brought in revenue in excess of $142 billion in 2022.
They are getting wealthy by telling people—including an awful lot of women—that if they don’t meet the fashion ideals, then there is something wrong with them, and they need work to be in compliance with those (bullshit) norms. The patriarchy is keen to promote the idea, too: your worth as a woman is measured in part by how pretty you are, and how pretty you are is determined by whether you comply to the ideals or norms set by the fashion and fitness industries.
Why is the patriarchy happy to promote diet and fitness goals?
Let me count the ways.
The patriarchy favors men—especially white men—holding wealth and power. It would just as soon that women not have the energetic bandwidth to work against that, so if women are diverted by focusing on bullshit weight and fitness goals, then they can’t put their full energy into fighting the patriarchy.
Pursuing fitness and diet goals keeps women trapped in a cycle of self-abuse. They spend so much time beating themselves up for gaining weight or not fitting a particular ideal that the patriarchy doesn’t really have to get involved in that particular area of abuse.
But of course, the patriarchy does get into that area of abuse by assuring women that if they are too large (or loud or confident or successful), then they deserve mockery or even threats of harm or death.
Women who are diverted by trying to look (or act) a certain way are easier to keep in line—or they keep themselves or other women in line without any white men having to get involved.
At least one-third of women report thinking about their body and body image daily, or almost daily. About one-third of women are on a diet at any given time. As many as 97% of all women have a negative body image. Ninety-eight percent of girls report feeling pressured to look a certain way.
Imagine if those girls and women could dedicate their time and energy to excelling in their fields of interest, or even to enjoying their lives and spreading joy in the world. Imagine the social change we could all see if women had the time and capacity to devote themselves to changing the world for the better, instead of beating themselves up.
And then: imagine who benefits the most from women not having the time and ability to do that.
Get why I’m calling it Patriarchal Bullshit™?
Of course, not all fitness and diet goals fit the bill. But if you are feeling pressured to make one of those goals for the new year, ask yourself who is driving the goal-making.
Is it something you want for yourself? Then go for it, as long as you aren’t engaging in harmful behaviors.
Or is it something you are being told you should want in order to meet with external approval (such as to appeal to the male gaze, or fit in with societal ideals)? In that case, it’s Patriarchal Bullshit™.
