Wednesday, May 16, 2012

"Fitspiration"

Hello My Lovelies!

As many of you know, I'm an advocate of the "Beauty Redefined" movement.

A brief synopsis, Beauty Redefined was founded by Lexi and Lindsay Kite, PhD Communication students at the University of Utah. Beauty Redefined's purpose is simple, poignant, and IMPORTANT; "Beauty Redefined is dedicated to counteracting harmful media messages about women's bodies and worth. Through our website, http://www.beautyredefined.net, ... we work to help all people recognize and reject distorted ideas about beauty, health and happiness. Join us in the fight to take back beauty for girls and women everywhere!"

Their message has profoundly impacted Changing My Life Today. More aptly, it has profoundly impacted me. Their message reached me at a critical moment in my physical, emotional, and mental transformation. Their message aided me in changing my personal perception of myself. Their work, their research, their openness, honesty, and dedication to exposing the harmful messages in the media solidified my change from the need to be "skinny" and "hot" to being "healthy" and "happy."

A recent trend, labeled "fitspiration", has become an obsession of mine. It has also come under close scrutiny by women and men participating in the social movement that encourages healthy living as opposed to fat-shaming or skinny-shaming. Often, images of incredibly toned, sweaty, and scantily clad women in athletic apparel are the background for a motivational and inspirational saying.



Beauty Redefined recently posted a wonderful post in regards to this topic. You can read it here: http://www.beautyredefined.net/why-fitspiration-isnt-so-inspirational/

Let me insert a few excerpts here, passages that hit especially close to home.

"Ever heard of a thing called “thinspo” or “thinspiration?” It’s an online world of thousands – even millions – of females who share and collect pictures of very thin women as inspiration to keep up their eating disorders... Beauty Redefined is here to reveal truth – to speak about things as they really are – and we echo Charlotte over on The Great Fitness Experiment: “Fitspo may be thinspo in a sports bra.” 


Be very aware of any “fitspiration” that is advertising something... Pay attention to the advertising so often being done in these “fitness inspiration” messages and you will see what is really being sold here. Is it a message of real health and fitness or a message asking you to commodify yourself by buying sports bras, yoga pants, the latest fitness DVD, etc. to appear a certain way. 


Next time you see one of these “fitspiration” messages, please ask yourself how it makes you feel. If these images and texts motivate you to respect your body as something that can do so much good, make and reach fitness goals, and maintain health that will keep you happy and able, then they are appropriate for you. If they motivate you to worry about being looked at or to improve parts of your body to meet a beauty ideal you see in media, you must be aware of this. 


[A fitspiration photo] It has effectively chopped a woman into just a part of her – without a head as is so often done in objectifying but totally normal and harmless-looking media. This part of her also happens to be sexually alluring to men, which is so often the case in this same objectifying but totally normal and harmless-looking media. Her hand is placed in her pants in a way that looks very reminiscent of a woman about to pull down her pants in a sexually alluring way. Her hip bones, navel, and cleavage are highlighted by the lighting of the shot, which say nothing of fitness or whatever the “it” is spoken of in the text. Nike leaves this ad open for interpretation so the “it” can be a well-meaning physical fitness goal, but the image would lead one to assume it is a look – a vision of oneself – that is the goal. A sexually appealing, “to be looked at” goal that leaves little room for worrying about internal indicators of health or meeting a fitness goal like hiking to the top of that peak or finishing that race or getting your heart rate up every day. 


If these images and messages categorized as “fitness inspiration” actually inspire body shame – you feel ashamed of the beauty ideals you cannot reach and want to hide or judge your body or covet other women’s bodies – then these messages are not inspirational at all. They trigger you to feel anxiety, hopelessness, and ask you to resort to extremes to get somewhere largely unattainable for healthy people. 


We borrow from the fantastic Virginia Sole-Smith again for our last very important point: “Any motivational statement that has to diss another type of body in order to make you feel good about your body? Not. Helping. Anyone.” You’ve seen those photos of Marilyn Monroe vs. Nicole Richie with the words: “When did this become hotter than this?” or some variation. Ugh. When we pit female against female, we get nowhere fast. We continue minimizing each other to our bodies EVERY TIME we judge each others’ bodies, comment on them, even compliment each other. 


You are capable of much more than being looked at. When you believe that, you break free from the prison walls that keep you confined to your body, pitted against every other woman/prisoner in her own individual cell, always monitored by a gaze that controls your beliefs about yourself and your actions. Beauty Redefined is here to shine a light in on that lonely prison cell and remind you what you are capable of in a world so badly in need of you – not a vision of you – but all of you. Thank you for joining the fight!" 

I'm guilty of more than I'd like to be after reading that article. But, as they always do, the delightful Beauty Redefined Duo has me thinking, changing, evolving, growing, and understanding the various problems with my infatuation with "fitspiration".

I expressed my opinion earlier on Facebook openly as this:
  • I find the objectification of the human form repugnant. Being healthy & happy is what is important, not being skinny. If there is one thing I cannot tolerate it is the relentless hounding we receive via media to be a certain size, a specific weight, look a specific way. The judgement of our physical body that so prevalently permeates our society causes irreparable psychological and emotional damage to people. I DO NOT WANT TO DO THIS. Hence the disclaimer on my [fitspiration] album. May I reemphasize the fact that we do NOT have to look like the people in these photos (in all honesty they don't even look like that). Our value and worth is not dependent on our physical aesthetic. We are more than our physical bodies. The culmination of our being is what defines us. Our humor, our intelligence, our passion, our charity, our devotion, our loyalty, our spirituality, and our health identify us, set us apart, and dictate our humanity. We have an obligation to exercise each and every component of our being. This includes the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual entities of our being. We are remarkable creations and as such it is our responsibility to live up to our potential.  
The disclaimer on my "fitspiration" album reads as this:
  • This is NOT an album promoting "thinspiration". These are sayings that I find motivational and encouraging in helping me achieve a healthy lifestyle. I understand that the images have been altered, photoshopped, edited, and manipulated to sell a lifestyle and/or brand. I understand that they are objectifying of the female form. So please, don't think that you, OR I have to look like this. And guys... please don't post comments endorsing the objectification of the women in the pictures... rather the endorse the motivational force in the pursuit of health and happiness.
I maintain the statements said above. I will also admit that in several instances I've had male friends comment on the "pictures" and not the motivational statement attached. Those comments instilled in me a seed of anxiety which takes root and grows more every time a man comments on them in an objectifying manner (whether he does so knowingly or not).

I've realized that I'm perpetuating an ideal I do not endorse. So I make an apology and a promise to myself, to my Twitter followers, to my Pinterest followers, to my blog followers, to my Facebook followers, to my fellow women, to the young family members who are my friends on Facebook, to any person striving to live a healthy and happy lifestyle...

  • I am sorry for spamming your feeds with objectifying, potentially harmful, and counter-productive images under the pretense of "fitspiration". 
  • I promise to henceforth edit what I put up to encourage and motivate myself and others to live a healthy lifestyle. I do find the messages motivational and inspirational in my continued fitness journey. But I see the harm in utilizing unrealistic physical ideals to promote fitness. 
I will re-create these motivational saying and phrases with more appropriate photos and backgrounds. In no way do I discredit, not appreciate, or undervalue the dedication and time that the women in the photos have put into their physical bodies... I simply do not want to endorse the objectifying manner in which the women are being portrayed.





As human beings, we are more than our weight, our clothes, or any other variable of our physical appearance. We are a unique combination of brains, beauty, and brawn and all of these most elemental aspects of ourselves should be revered and appreciated. We are also responsible to continue to develop those human attributes. We do this by living a lifestyle where in we care for our bodies in every facet imaginable. We utilize and strengthen it physically, nutritionally, mentally, intellectually, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. That is one of the many keys to a happy life. A healthy lifestyle promotes unity, understanding, charity, love, compassion, support in our families, friendships, relationships, social circles, and communities. Healthy lifestyles foster positivity, optimism and happiness and thusly aids in negating and dissuading the harmful messages of the media and the critical and hurtful social standards of judgement.

So thank you Lexi & Lindsay Kite. Thank you for Beauty Redefined. Thank you for again helping me further understand, solidify, and verbalize my opinion on myself, my lifestyle, and how I want to help others understand themselves.

Love it.

Love them.

Love YOU my dah'ling network of support.

You're wonderful.

 ~ Mychal

7 comments:

  1. Thank you, be proud of WHO you are.You are a whole and beautiful person.

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  2. Good stuff...I was a little concerned about this. Glad you sorted it out.you're getting all grown up!

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  3. Oh my goodness, Mychal, this is amazing! Thank you so much for your honesty, your humility and your dedication to real health, real fitness and real happiness. You're such an example of someone who is an inspiration to others, and it's clear you take that responsibility seriously and are totally accountable for the example you set. Thank you for sharing this and for being such a wonderful supporter of Beauty Redefined. You're incredible and we love you so much!
    -Lindsay of Beauty Redefined

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  4. I feel so inspired!!!

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