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Is Working Out Fatphobic? This Exercise Addict Says Yes!
Fitness has become a beauty contest, plain and simple. It is no longer a viable method for us to get stronger, live longer, improve our skillset and endurance in our respective sports, or have fun moving our bodies.
We glorify the almighty six pack as the gold standard of health, although too many women are pushing their bodies to the limit from exercising for hours a day, dieting aggressively by consuming the amount of calories a child would eat, and losing their periods to achieve washboard abs.
We praise large, bulging muscles and extremely toned bodies as #bodygoals, although the bodybuilding community is rife with body dysmorphia, eating disorders and rigid diets, plus steroid and drug use. Yes, you read that right.
Here’s a little secret: just because someone claims they aren’t injecting steroids into their ass cheeks does not mean they aren’t taking PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) or other supplements to give them an edge, the same edge everyone else has because they’re all doing it.
I have no problem with fat activists calling out the inherent fatphobia in fitness. Frankly, the fitness industry is largely made up of a lot of smoke and mirrors, and if you go behind the veil you will discover a lot of unhealthy practices.
