Ok, most of
us at some point have probably talked about how we “need” to go to the gym,
often disparaging our bodies in the process. There’s this cultural notion
around exercise, around eating, around anything to do with our bodies that
tells us that we need this, need that, and often with a tone that implies that
we won’t enjoy it (and let’s be real, often times we won’t). We’re told doing
these things is what it means to be healthy from the very start with grueling
PE classes where teachers critique our movement based on times and fitness exam
standards. We center movement around two main ideas;
One, that
it has to meet a number, whether that’s a goal weight, a mile time, ect.
Two, that
it’s about the result, not the process, and certainly not how it feels for us.
For some
people, goal setting like that totally works, and that’s great for them. For a
lot of us that’s just not the reality. When we make movement into something we
only do to lose weight we take away so much from the experience of it-
including the fact that your movement and your health- its for you. As a
culture we’re particularly bad about this for women. Health is a broad concept
and can vary widely from person to person- you can be healthy regardless of
what your body type is. When we cheapen movement to something we only use to
lose weight, we’re often focusing on its ability to shape our bodies to appeal
to others. Honestly though, is that really what we want to make our discussions
of personal health and wellness center on? What it does for someone
else, for the gaze of other people on our bodies?
Here’s an
alternate view- Maybe it’s about the process instead. Finding movement that
feels good for us. We have a cultural sense that what’s honorable or valued is
what we struggle with and push ourselves for, and that somehow what feels good
is not worth as much. Not only is that a draining way of looking at things, but
it means that for a lot of us, we’re less likely to keep coming back to the
behavior of exercising. When I was younger, I hated PE- and by extension, I
used to think I just plain didn’t like exercise. It was a setting where I only
ever felt like I was failing. The thing is, if you’re doing the activity,
you’re already winning- you don’t fail at running a mile just because you
didn’t do it fast enough. The exercise you got doing half of a mile doesn’t
disappear if you don’t make it to the end. Judging it that way is absurd. In
the end, the movement that is successful in terms of health is not the one that
burns the most extreme amount of calories, it’s the one that the person continues
to do. And we tend to do what’s pleasurable.
One more
important note on this topic- When people talk about this topic of health, it’s
often to tell others what to do with their bodies on the basis of how they
perceive the other person's health. Firstly, not really any of that first
person’s business, right? Additionally, not only can you not tell a person’s
health status based only on their body type, but if you’re truly concerned
about health, then let’s talk about mental and emotional health. Health of the
body doesn’t exist in some bubble outside of the cultural contexts that affect
the health of our minds. What does it do to the mental and emotional health of
our young women to have this emphasis placed on losing weight? Even just in
terms of thinking about exercise, it makes their efforts and their bodies
essentially about someone else, an all too common trend that crops up in many
social issues.
All in
all, our thoughts on health and exercise are often strikingly unhealthy,
and I would deeply encourage others, especially in my field of health, to
re-think the way we frame exercise.
Written by Dana Lund, Trans Program Intern
