This.

I can see what you mean. I do think the other half of the sentence, which talks about 80s disco culture/consumerism, is part of it too, though. My read on the point was that it was comparing the current obsession with obesity to an earlier period where this was expressed differently in the marketing, suggesting that body image and popularly upheld ideas about health – whether or not they are helpful, and often I think they are poorly expressed in the media – are bigger factors in gym attendances than they were. I think the broad argument that line is intended to be in service to is that rather than the “lifestyle” marketing of Fonda, which of course ties into body image, but also an Eighties class conception of the good life – there is now a more punishing aesthetic built more explicitly around guilt and around “fighting” one’s body. Class is still a part of it, hence “executive gyms”, but the marketing comes out differently, with (for Les Mills) the “war on fat” martiality front and centre. And this obsession wasn’t started by Les Mills; rather it’s everywhere at the moment. I can only speak for myself but I felt that the post more generally was aiming to look at how we are intended to feel and act by the marketing, rather than how we should.

I’ve been told to gym up by doctors in the past who’d never mentioned it before, and I do think that it happened because they’d decided, as part of their target system, to make obesity a “health priority”. It was horrible and I resented it – I’m a fan of Health at Every Size myself – but the pull was very strong and I did go. It did become one of the reasons I was there, much as I didn’t want it to- it was absolutely framed that way by everyone who dealt with me. When I got there, I was asked outright on a quiz sheet whether I wanted to “just feel healthier” or “lose weight”, which I thought was interesting. The gym was (in that instance) clear that these were separate ideas. I couldn’t work out what to think of it. On the one hand it separated shape from fitness which was useful, but on the other it made shape, which was listed first, a distinct priority, and after my GP’s reaction I ticked both boxes. (That wasn’t Les Mills, though; that gym was much more “girls! Shape up!” in some of its poster materials.)

I can’t speak for what Kirsty’s view is on these issues but in case it’s interesting here is another of Team BR on gym-going recently- in terms of focus this post *is* more about HAES, gymgoing and body image on a more personal level: http://www.badreputation.org.uk/2012/01/24/exercising-and-exorcising-on-fitness-and-fatness/

Edit: *friendly reminder for prospective commenters, since the issues in this mini-thread are emotive for the majority of people: please try to keep things civil and constructive if you don’t agree with another commenter.*

I’m a sucker for bad arguments so I have to respond to this

It’s one thing to talk about fat discrimination, but it’s another to take something out of context.

You said:

“I didn’t think I’d see a piece on BadRep which just trotted out fatphobic rhetoric about obesity=unhealthy!!!, without some sort of critique of the obesity=lack of exercise idea.”

This is interpreted as 2 premises:

1. Kirsty’s claim is obesity=unhealthy
2. Premise [1] is uncritical acceptance of fatphobia

Obesity is a technical term. Kirsty actually said obesity is on the rise. Public health data shows that over the past 4 decades, Obesity (DefN: BMI over 30) has consistently risen in England [source: http://www.noo.org.uk/NOO_about_obesity/trends%5D. The data also shows that it is prevalent in more young girls generally compared to boys. Also the data shows that the general trend of obesity rising does not apply for reception aged girls, where it is on a marginal decrease. Kirsty has stated a fact that the operationalised term of obestity is on the rise. This isn’t fat-phobic, this is data. Unless you want to discuss whether the methodologies had issues, or whether you consider self-report a problem, or whether you think spearman’s Rho is better than Pearson’s, or whether you think obesity is a categorial or relational operational term, you are reading too much into this point.

Obesity is a health problem. Why? Obesity is a statistically significant correlate for earlier mortality, heart conditions, type 2 diabetes, and it is said, various forms of cancer. In fairness the article wasn’t about obesity, and while many would hold that fat is a feminist issue, it’s also an health issue, and a factual issue, and an issue of epidemology and statistics. The facts show these correlations to hold in datasets beyond the UK. This, I hold, to be a separate but not entirely distinct issue from: the social perception of fatness; the disapproval of fatness and the relative invisibility of overweight people in popular culture. The only way to object to this is to claim correlation is not causation (fair point), or to say in specific instances that the operators in multivariate or bivariate analyses do not pass tests of statistical significance.

Either you are saying that Kirsty is making some claim tantamount to fatism, in which case this is an invalid inference, as the enthymeme involved doesn’t obtain. To say that the rise in obesity is an health issue is different to saying ‘we want less fat people’. I think this is not a valid inference or legitimate logical conclusion, but perhaps the phenomenon of priming more than anything else: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priming_%28psychology%29

Perhaps the point you actually wanted to say was more akin to: “I can’t believe this article doesn’t look at fat acceptance/body acceptance!”, which (1) is a different point to accusing Kirsty of fatphobia and (2) should be better worded.

By the way I’m sorry to sound so mean. Fat discourse wasn’t the topic of the post, it’s a valid feminist concept I certainly think, but to paraphrase my friend Destre: “You can’t call Aristotle sexist when it wasn’t a concept in own time, remember context”.

Much love
Antisophie x

I think with being a chain, you shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Sure its all corporate and generic and each class is pre-defined, but because its a big chain it means there’s accreditation methods for the teachers and a way for them to get a wider audience by a recognisable brand.

In my experience of seeing some of these classes (and being a few regularly). I can attest to the real joy of bonding with other people in a shared pursuit that most other’s don’t understand. Yes, les mills classes are incredibly gendered, but I’ve seen some real sistahood and socialising among the class members before the class begins. I’ve been in classes which are socially diverse (and not the 20-30 professional) with all kinds of ages. I like that about the class, I must admit that I don’t like being the only guy. I think to myself a mix of: am I invading your space in an almost all woman class? and also: why are you mocking me that I find this harder than you?

Fitness is for everyone, regardless of fitness level or age or gender. The more things like body pump can appeal to women, the better! Fitness should not and isn’t limited to the gym. Attesting to my own experience, my (60 something) mum has really gotten into a lot of fitness classes lately, and her big appeal is getting together with other people and getting to know new people and having fun while keeping fit. My mum has joined a belly dancing class, yogalates (still no idea what that is) and zumba. My mum does a zumba class in a local church hall and another class at a community college. I understand that some of the students at the belly dance class even get a chance to perform. There are other places than a plasticy shiny gym to keep fit!

Advice i’ve gotten from my own sister is to look out for local clubs. My sister is getting involved with a running club in her area and they go around the local area. To you readers out there: keep a look out for tennis courts open to the public or badminton clubs if it tickles your fancy!

Maybe it says more about my gym but I really like that there are older people in these classes i’ve been in and observed, okay less so in Body Combat. By the way, if you are interested the youtube profile for bodybuilding.com has loads of really interesting accounts from female bodybuilders on fitness advice.

Great post!
M

– I didn’t think I’d see a piece on BadRep which just trotted out fatphobic rhetoric about obesity=unhealthy!!!, without some sort of critique of the obesity=lack of exercise idea.