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Feminist Fitness in WGS 101

2/23/2015

In my WGS 101 class, Introduction to Women's Studies, after establishing some basic concepts like the social construction of gender and the meaning(s) of feminism, we consider a variety of topics like health, work, beauty, racism, and family.

This semester I included a video about fitness binaries along with our other readings including a reading about women's health, a chapter from bell hooks' Feminism Is for Everybody, "My Fight for Birth Control" by Margaret Sanger, "If Men Could Menstruate" by Gloria Steinem, and the preface to Inga Muscio's book, Cunt: A Declaration of Independence. These diverse readings provide some historical background and some contemporary issues related to women's bodies and women's health.

This was the first time I have formally introduced the idea of feminist fitness via my research and the ideas developed in my book, Women and Fitness in American Culture. I have given several talks using a version of the power point I made into a video, and have found that while feminism continues to be an "F word" in our culture, people generally respond positively to ideas about feminist fitness.

There is still some confusion over the term, particularly when people assume that feminist is equal to feminine, a common misconception about the term feminist as well. Feminist fitness is not about different approaches to fitness based upon one's biological sex, or even one's socially constructed gender. Feminist fitness is an ideology about fitness--a critical lens for considering mainstream ideas about fitness and a tool for creating fitness beyond the superficial ideals of size and the trends of "elite" fitness.

I asked my students what they think feminist fitness is, and here's what they shared:

"I would say feminist fitness is not working out because someone wants to achieve the body view media portrays women to be, but because they want to be in a healthy state. Feminist fitness helps support one another in achieving a goal and it realizes that everyone’s body is different and we all aren’t going to have the same body type. It is helping others find out what will work best for them and knowing that something that works for you won't work for everyone."

"That is what feminist fitness should be. Taking care of you so that you can live life to its fullest as it comes along, feeling happy with who you are now."

"I believe 'feminist fitness' is about living a positive life. Striving every day to have a healthy body, mind and spirit by being physically active, consciously in the moment, taking care of yourself by getting enough rest and consuming food that is good for your body."

"I had never heard the term 'feminist fitness' before this class. The most important message and what I found to be at the very core of feminist fitness is the connectedness of the mind, spirit, and body. In general the components are viewed separately and the whole is not taken in consideration for its connectedness. This principal makes me reflect on the idea of synergy and how the whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts. My idea of feminist fitness is a personal and unique level of ability that is idiosyncratic and results in a life full of pushing ones limits and remaining in a state of constant challenge and activity."

"I think 'feminist fitness' is teaching all women young and old that being healthy physically and mentally should be the sole purpose when seeking to become fit. It's saying getting fit shouldn't be about visually pleasing anyone and not to take what the mass media says is fit or acceptable into consideration. It's saying we shouldn't need to look a certain way either when we go to the gym and that we should only dress to be comfortable not to look like we came out of a Dick's Sporting goods magazine. After watching the YouTube video I think the slide stating 'Ultimately, fitness beyond body, beyond binary calls for a feminist approach' hits the nail on the head as to what women's fitness should be about."

"Feminist fitness means many things to me, a healthy life style and body building are my immediate thoughts. When a women works out to maintain a healthy lifestyle that ideal for me. It should not be about the inches in your waist or the size of your butt. We all have different body builds, and should all do some sort of fitness to maintain a healthy balanced life. But, I also think of body building because I find it so fascinating to see the female form pushed to its boundaries. It’s the extreme of what I see in glamour, and it is great in my opinion for a woman to express herself in a way that she sees fit."

"I think it is a women’s intellect and her ability to enjoy quality of life. Thin does not mean fit as noted in the video and as noted in real life. Feminist fitness offers a constant contradiction in our society. I have chosen the idea of mindfulness by adding a daily log of sleep patterns, food and water consumption, exercise and other self-care practices. I have developed a plan of care for myself, by setting goals and discussing my journey with online classmates in my nursing course."

"I think 'feminist fitness' is the confidence of a woman. A woman can be physically fit and still be unhappy, she could have straight A’s and still be unhappy. Any woman that is confident with herself and what she does with herself to me is feminist fitness. I watched the video, and it analyzed women in the fitness world, which basically just talks about the sex appeal of a woman. Women are much more than that. We are mothers, daughters, sisters, co workers and overall human beings. We shouldn’t be judged upon appearance, but unfortunately, we are."

"I think feminist fitness is a reality check. The truth verses the myths employed by media. I never realized that fitness was a tool once again being used to deconstruct a women's body image. Why do we continuously have a target on our back??! I swear it seems no matter what the topic is concerning a women, it is taken and deliberately used against us for destruction.......it's making me very f#$%^g tired! Enough already! We need to wake the fuck up, sleeping women and men (myself included)!!... Ok, now that I have taken a deep breath of release, onward I will go :/"

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Binge and Purge U.S.A.

2/12/2015

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I have always had an unhealthy relationship with food. I learned it from my family, a habit passed down from generation to generation. Besides the fact that we were, generally, a fat family, we were focused on food, rewarded by food. We lived with plenty and what reason did we have to deny ourselves what we wanted? Such a situation is a disease of affluence and a disease that plagues Americans. About 1 in 7 households in the U.S. don't get enough to eat (and eat food of poorer nutritional value), about 14.5%. On the other hand, obesity rates are around 30%. Our social and cultural problems with food mirror our national schizophrenia.

But I never considered this unhealthy relationship as an eating disorder. Eating disorders were anorexia and bulimia. I had seen the after school specials. Later, in women's studies classes, I saw the documentaries--girls and women starving themselves and/or expunging food from their bodies. It was a matter of control, the analysts argued. Under the thumb of overbearing parents, under the shadow of the thin sister, one's own body is the only thing she can control. But anorexia and bulimia are different and there are all sorts of combinations and shades and methods and reasons for such behavior. And sometimes such behavior is not about being acetic; it's an obsessive compulsion. It's not simply about those numbers on the scale. The problems go deeper.

Food is something I can control. In theory. I can decide when to eat, where to eat, and what to eat. But, I can't control myself when it comes to food. I love it too much. And, at times, it substitutes for all sorts of different things including those things I can't control and those things that none of us can control. But mostly, overeating is an unconscious act. And this is yet another problem that plagues the U.S.; we are unconscious in so many things we do. Eating is only one such manifestation. Eating junk is only one thing that is pounded into our heads by media and culture. It's easy to choose not to think too much. The bag is full. pop another one in your mouth.

It's become common knowledge in the last few years that a variety of eating disorders plague the U.S. Statistics about the number of children who think they are fat or who are on diets reflects our culture back to us. For instance, Miss Representation offers the fact: "80% of 10-year-old American girls say they have been on a diet. The number one magic wish for young girls age 11-17 is to be thinner." With the highest rates of obesity and morbid obesity in the world, it is obvious that overeating is becoming more visible as a problem. But this isn't simply about overeating. It's also about health care, poverty, inequality, globalization, education, media, and food security and insecurity. These are complex problems undercut by a billion dollar diet industry, a billion dollar fitness industry, and a load of misinformation and misunderstanding. Where do we begin to sort it all out? And once we do, are our choices that much different?

Recently, I decided that it was time to get perspective on my eating disorder--my compulsive overeating, my binging without purging. When I mentioned the problem to my mother, and said that I was considering seeing a counselor, she confessed that she had talked to a counselor about her issues with bulimia. I was stunned, saddened. I couldn't ask for further details; I didn't know what to say. But it made sense. She was dealing with issues passed down from her parents that were modeled for me so that I was dealing with issues from my parents. And both of us were trapped in a culture that values thinness while also being trapped in a body that prefers soft curves. The issues compounded. And they were weighing me down.

The problems we pass down from generation to generation are weighing on us as a nation. We choose not to question too much what we put in our bodies, just as we choose not to question too much of what we put in our minds. In both cases, our choices are limited, passed down to us by those who have chosen not to witness the corporate take-over of farms, the consolidation of media outlets, the genetic engineering of grains and corn, the surgical and photographic manipulation of bodies and images, the over-fishing of our seas, the mass inundation of technological gadgets, the medicating of our cattle, the medicating of ourselves. These are problems that have compounded and these problems continue to grow. The scales are tipping.

There is no easy fix. I will always struggle with eating only as much as my body needs. Such a relationship with food requires mindfulness, conscious eating, letting go of control, and working out other kinds of problems. It requires breaking old patterns of thinking and unconscious action. This is not the path to healing that our culture models for us. Quick fixes and miracle cures are what we seem to be about. Or we ignore the problem, hoping it will go away. We cover it up with baggy clothes, convince ourselves that we are bloated, swear we'll go to the gym after work. We figure we'll start that diet next week, next month, next year. But we don't often turn to mindfulness, to a conscious relationship with what we take into our bodies or minds out of habit, ignorance, or hopefulness.

When the binging is over, purging is not the only useful method. Before or after the purge, we have to figure out how we got full in the first place.

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Sarah Hentges

I am a professor and a fitness instructor. I work too much, eat too much, and love too much. To borrow from Octavia Butler, I am "an oil and water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty, and drive." Because my work is eclectic, so are the topics I write about.

I will be focusing on a Feminist Yoga for Every Mind/Body blog series this winter/spring. I will also be blogging about my sabbatical and my forthcoming book, Girls on Fire: Transformative Heroines in Young Adult Dystopian Literature.

Feminist Fitness in WGS 101

Binge and Purge U.S.A.

Sarah Hentges

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