Fitspiration hall of shame

[Helen S]

Originally Posted by Eibhinn

I think the point, and I agree with it, is that these images tend to perpetuate a very narrow, and unattainable for most people, image of what fitness is, and they're often paired with shaming statements implying people who don't look like those images are lazy, making excuses, not attractive, etc. That is problematic in itself, but I think she makes a particularly compelling point in showing how objectifying most of those pictures are. While you are right that the women in those photographs should definitely be proud of all of their hard work, they are people and the way those photos are edited and text added does not celebrate them as human beings. It generally reduces them to some abs or breasts to be stared at (hence her pointing out how often they are headless/faceless). I wouldn't say it's jealousy: I'd say she thinks those women deserve better, and women who do not look like that needn't feel ashamed about that either.

I agree with this and you said it better than I could.

Originally Posted by Chomper

WHOA.

No one is attacking the women in the photos. Those are fantasy women. They do not exist.

I assume what this blogger wants is REAL women in the photos. Someone who looks like someone you'd see in the gym or jogging down the street or in your yoga class. Or like you. That's certainly what I want.

Cellulite is normal, people. We can be beautiful with more than a 15 % body fat. That's a very different message than the one some people are getting from this. I am really confused as to why.

However, I also know that some of the women in these photos do exist. I've seen them in the gyms and at fitness competitions. They work hard for those bodies. I don't mean they just work hard at the gym. As most of us know, their results come from a very clean diet.

So I don't want to take away from their discipline and just assume it's genetics, photo shopping, plastic surgery, etc. Some of their boobs may come from plastic surgery but they earned their muscles.

[TinierTina]

Originally Posted by Chomper

I just wanted to come back and add that I certainly for one am admiring women's bodies probably more than is normal for a straight married woman.

I am not the blogger, but I understood where she was coming from and it made me smile. So I guess Joni O, Vintage VFer and CoolGirlInFL888's comments threw me for a loop.

I'm sure I'd even give you an admiring glance too, TinierTina. You certainly painted an evocative picture.

Duly noted.

Whether or not one buys into the patriarchy's market-oriented vision of same-gender corporeal aesthetic admiration (or even something more ... is this a manifestation of "cheating on a marriage" or "being straight" ? ... as with all behaviors, it's on a continuum ...) or not ...

... the condescending, challenging, agenda-laden (marketing) taglines (marketing) superimposed on the pictures (marketing) are something else again ...

[sophiesmom]

I think #3 the cupcake one is Jennifer Nicole Lee? I recall that photo on the Daily Mail. She was working out in a park.

[TinierTina]

Originally Posted by sophiesmom

I think #3 the cupcake one is Jennifer Nicole Lee? I recall that photo on the Daily Mail. She was working out in a park.

Unless she's in some action flick, cult TV or, increasingly, guesting on a talk show; sorry, but I don't know who she is ...

Reality show player?

[Bluebelle]

Originally Posted by TinierTina

Unless she's in some action flick, cult TV or, increasingly, guesting on a talk show; sorry, but I don't know who she is ...

Reality show player?

I haven't tried them but I believe she created the JNL Fusion workout dvds.

[cristinalatina]

I'm surprised by the implication that the blogger might be just jealous! Not everyone aspires to having a fitness model body! In my case, slim and fit enough to care for my very active boy is enough, but to each their own. Doesn't anyone think that some of the women posing for these pictures might be extremely self conscious ?

[Chomper]

Originally Posted by Helen S

I agree with this and you said it better than I could.


However, I also know that some of the women in these photos do exist. I've seen them in the gyms and at fitness competitions. They work hard for those bodies. I don't mean they just work hard at the gym. As most of us know, their results come from a very clean diet.

So I don't want to take away from their discipline and just assume it's genetics, photo shopping, plastic surgery, etc. Some of their boobs may come from plastic surgery but they earned their muscles.

Ok, I didn't intend to be taken so literally. I know the fitness models really do exist in our space time continuum. The photos, however, are a representation of reality. Photos can be art, and they can be marketing. And they can be candids. Or selfies. In the case of most of these photos made into memes on the blog, they were staged and managed and produced professionally. Maybe some of them were candids from paparazzi, if that is Jennifer Nicole Lee in one of them (a DVD fitness instructor and was she a figure competitor as well?) and maybe even the one with the mom and her kids was a family photo, I don't know.

But photos are not reality, they are a snapshot in time, from a particular angle and do not provide the full truth. This discussion made me think of Helen Mirren's bikini photo from a few years ago. That was the kind of photo I would have preferred to see with a fitspo meme on it. And when I searched for it online, I came up with a short interview where Helen Mirren herself says she feels haunted by that photo. That it wasn't really her in the photo. She is not speaking literally. She is talking about the difference between photos and reality, not confessing to hiring a body double.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...rest-life.html

[Chomper]

Another article about the difference between photo images and reality, from the perspective of women in the photos. This is worth reading, and will explain where the blogger was coming from for people who are having trouble understanding her.


http://www.runnersworld.com/runners-...out-our-bodies

[TinierTina]

Originally Posted by Chomper

Another article about the difference between photo images and reality, from the perspective of women in the photos. This is worth reading, and will explain where the blogger was coming from for people who are having trouble understanding her.


http://www.runnersworld.com/runners-...out-our-bodies

Yup, that other time when Lauren Fleshman was slouching.

That's another thing I learned from a dance teacher ... "I hold my belly in when I'm teaching, performing; and most of the time I'm working out. It's the American way regarding abs, they have to be developed for our goals here. I stand naturally at all other times .."

Thus, either:

The mind and body are both "on" during the moment the snapshot is taken ...

or

the effortless way, that even a vidiot might understand:

Fotoshop by Adobé

[LynnO]

Yes, women, never object to being objectified, it means you have low self esteem and are jealous.

Jealously assumes someone has something you want. None of those photos are of anything i want. Those women may very well have fun and excitement in their lives that might make me jealous, but the photos- nope. Not a single one has a body I would be interested in having unless it was magically morphed on to me. Then I'd gain ten or so pounds and love the way I look. (well minus the fake boobs, not something I would ever want.- but to each their own.)