Feminism Fitness

Luke Rickleff
12/11/14
English Comp. 101-12
Lora Strey

Feminism Fitness

            Fitness in contemporary society can often be accused of working in diametric opposition to such celebratory expressions of physicality. So often, physical endeavors are linked to pursuit of an aesthetic, with no focus on empowerment and strength. Physical activity has the potential to provide happiness and to celebrate the female body outside of dictates about what it should look like. With so much societal pressure on woman to fit, there is no wonder that feminism has started to become of fitness as well. 

            
          When promoted in a healthy, feminist fashion, wellness can be a vehicle for individual, community, and social empowerment. One only needs to sit in stillness and take a few deep breaths to innately feel it – wellness is about physical practice. Inherently selfish, personal endeavors, physical motion and meditation provide pathways to connect the external with the internal, and to revel in what can be found in that space. This makes fitness a tool for woman to use to strive to increase their own personal goals and self worth. But sole reliance on fitness for this sense of happiness can be problematic. As woman age and take on more challenges, it becomes difficult to stay active and fit like their younger selves. 

       Most people know the kind of pressure put on celebrities and people in general to look goof and be in shape. Yet few people know the unrealistic figure that models and fitness freaks have and try to maintain. One less well known fact is that fitness models and people who compete in the figure category in fitness competitions aren’t actually at the height of healthy when they compete. By the time “game day” comes, they’ve followed a regime that no one recommending a healthy approach to fitness and diet would recommend. They’ve eaten too few calories for the intensity of workouts they’ve been doing. And they’ve reached a weight that they have no intention of maintaining. In short, their bodies, admired as models of fitness by so many, are unrealistic even for them.

      As you can see there is outstanding social and unrealistic model that are glorified for being perfect bodies. This lead people to do irrational things to be like those people and be compared to them. But with new and more simple and realistic workout ideas being geared by self drive and some feminist perspectives as well. But no matter what social or economic problems people are facing, fitness and getting fit can be a break and stress relieve for people from all walks of life.

Work Cited

http://www.genderforum.org/issues/special-issue-early-career-researchers-i/re-thinking-wellness-a-feminist-approach-to-health-and-fitness/

http://time.com/3588846/time-apologizes-feminist-word-poll-robin-morgan/

What Being Healthy Really Means

Becky Picha

Blog Post

3 December 2014

What Being Healthy Really Means

            The TIME article called Feminist Is a 21st Century Word, written by Robin Morgan, is about the word feminist and how over time what people think of the word has changed. At first, many did not want to be considered a feminist and avoided that word. Instead, some chose other words with similar meaning to describe fighting towards equal rights for women. Recently, that has all changed. Women aren’t afraid to call themselves a feminist and the word is losing its negative connotation that it used to have.

            Relating this article to fitness and health, I thought about the word ‘diet’ and how to many it has a negative connotation. When hearing the word, many think of eating very little and losing weight. With dieting comes fad diets and other harmful ways of losing weight. The word ‘diet’ needs to be looked at in a different way.

            Being truly healthy and fit is about more than just how you look, it’s about how you feel too. Most of the time, dieting doesn’t make people feel very healthy, especially when the diets are harmful or dangerous. Dieting and being healthy really means having a well-balanced diet that is full of nutritious food, spending time being physically active, and working on improving your mental health and happiness.

            The reality is that not every woman is a size 2 with a flat stomach and small thighs, and not every man is tall and extremely muscular with a 6 pack. Being healthy comes in all shapes and sizes. As long as you eat well, exercise, and feel happy and healthy, that is what matters. ‘Dieting’ needs to lose its negative stigma. Dieting isn’t about starving yourself or over working yourself with exercise.

Works Cited

Coila, Bridget. "What Does It Mean to Be Physically Healthy and Fit?" LIVESTRONG.COM. LIVESTRONG.COM, 16 Aug. 2013. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.

Morgan, Robin. "'Feminist' Is a 21st Century Word." Time. Time, 17 Nov. 2014. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.

The Braindead Megaphone

Anfernee Raine,

Lora Strey,

Composition 101-12,

November 24^th 2014        

Speaker to the Voices in Your Head

 

            Have you ever noticed that there is something quite peculiar about the media. Its not them or the information that they are putting out there but it is how the people are responding to it. It seems like no matter what is said on the air or written in news articles, people do not find it appropriate to question any of the messages being sent. In the article “The Braindead Megaphone” the writers speaks about social situations that are dominated by people with a larger voice and how this affects the people listening. He uses the metaphor of a party to talk about a person who is forcing his ideas on other subconsciously through the use of a megaphone. (Saunders 1958) The megaphone is the metaphor for a larger voice like newspapers or blog posts. His representation shows how ideas can be spread in a much more aggressive manner. In this way people can push their suggestions and opinions on others. The scary part about this method is that the ideas are fed to them in such a way that the people affected believe that they are their own. This is the effect of the brain-dead megaphone.

            From the information in “The Brand-dead Megaphone” article we can see that it is fairly easy to plant ideas in to people’s minds and get them talking about what you want. This is fairly true in real life when you get down to it. Just think of how many commercials you’ve probably seen advertising some kind of product that no one for any reason would ever really need. These commercials are clever though! They make sure to show how much everyone in the commercial is excited about the product and it makes it click in your mind as “Wow, it must be great if they all like it so much!” This is how companies make their profit. Making it seem like they are already a hot commodity.

            Companies have been making lots of profits through the subliminal messages that have become so popular. Since the 80s people have always been looking to the media for the latest in dieting fads and crazes. Fitness has become a craze in America and it is growing larger as the media continues to press  it’s ideals of a perfect body weight and what foods should or should not be eaten. “With the obesity epidemic that is currently going on in the United States, fitness and weight loss has been growing in popularity, if not becoming an obsession, for Americans.”( Fitness 2014) Lately gluten has been the main thing to avoid in a “perfect” diet. “Gluten is to this decade what carbohydrates were to the last one and fat was to the ’80s and ’90s: the bête noir, the bad boy, the cause of all that ails you—and the elimination of which can heal you.” (Kluger 2014) Companies are using this fad as a way to market themselves towards health enthusiasts who get all their information about dieting and healthcare from celebrity magazines. They even market items that never contained gluten to begin with as “gluten-free.” Somehow this manages to make it more appealing to people because well, “it has to be good for me if its already that healthy.” This is a prime example of how the media controls how people think.

 

Works Cited

"Eat More Gluten: This Fad Must Die!" Time. Time. Web. 26 Nov. 2014. <http://time.com/2912311/eat-more-gluten-the-diet-fad-must-die/>.

"Fitness Industry Analysis 2014 - Cost & Trends." Fitness Industry Analysis 2014 - Cost & Trends. Web. 26 Nov. 2014. <https://www.franchisehelp.com/industry-reports/fitness-industry-report/>.

Mass Media/Technology Influences on Fitness

Luke Rickleff

11/13/14

English Comp. 101-12

Lora Strey

Mass Media/Technology Influences on Fitness

With technology becoming such an important part of our everyday life with our phones, computers, and TV controlling most of it. But what role do these new technology and the mass media that comes with it play in fitness. All of the factors can add up to an unclear understanding on whether it truly helps with fitness. New fitness technologies and way to stay fit make it easy for people to stay fit and workout. With home workout videos like P90X and Zumba, they bring the gym right to the consumer. 

Yet television, computers, video games and social media take up more of peoples time that they use to be online and sitting around rather than being active.A study conducted by University of North Carolina Chapel Hill researchers and published in Obesity Reviews,"they observed that the  U.S., total physical activity trends went from 235 MET hours per week in 1965 to nearly 160 MET hours per week in 2009. Our sedentary lifestyle increased from 26.4 MET hours in 1965 to 37.7 MET hours in 2009." This is a substantial change and can be explained by the major increase in technology and its role that it plays into our every day lives. With this data from that study "forecasts physical activity to be around 142 MET hours per week by 2020, using linear trends based on 2003-2009. In 2030, it's even lower - 126 MET hours per week due to declining work-related, domestic and travel physical activity." To put that in perspective, sedentary time or time spent laying around will have increase by over 42 hours per week by 2030 more than the average work day for most people. With pleasure and sedentary time increasing quickly, this leaves less time for other activities including working out and fitness.

But there is hope that technology and social media could spark a new movement to become more active. Technology can be used to promote physical activity and change exercise behavior. For years, pedometers, accelerometers, and heart rate monitors have been used as motivational tools. Newer technologies and approaches being used to promote physical activity include global positioning system, interactive video games, and persuasive technology. Also, experts suggest that Internet-based physical activity interventions should be used by clinicians to promote and change exercise behavior. Social media like Facebook and blogs like ours can be links to tools and technology that make it easy to keep track of your health and fitness.They help you connect yourself to others and to use them to keep track of your own progress. Another important factor is that social media is an endless stream of information. Participating in Twitter chats and joining niche groups on Facebook gives you access to like minded people. Updates from other runners can inspire you to push harder, and links to races can inform you of events you may never have known about. These people, their information and experiences, make you want to be to do your very best.

So as you can see technology and mass media is a double edged sword. It can both help and hinder your physical fitness. There are technology and social sites and groups that can motivate and give you new workout ideas or event dates and times. But on the other hand technology as a whole will continue to affect the level of activity for ordinary people. As the long run trend shows that sedentary time will continue to increase as physical activity while then suffer because of it. No matter how you look at it technology is here to stay, so we can either continue to let it hinder the our physical activity levels or we can adapt it to help promote fitness for the future.

Work Cited

"15 Top Fitness Gadgets." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 19 Oct. 2014. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.

Ciccolo, Marcus. "Using Technology to Promote Physical Activity." Human-kinetics. 27 July 2010. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.

Qidwae, Aisha. "Technology Negatively Affecting Our Health, Study Shows." Technology Negatively Affecting Our Health, Study Shows. Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, 23 July 2012. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.

Soba, Tara. "The Power of Social Media to Affect Our Health and Fitness." Greatist. 25 July 2013. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.

Fast Food and Fitness

Anfernee Raine

Lora Strey

Composition 101-12

November 6th, 2014

Fast Food and Fitness

    “Over the last three decades, fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American Society.” (Bedford 2013) Fast food is such a prevalent factor now that it goes pretty unnoticed by most people. It is a heavily integrated part of American society. The process of purchasing fast food itself has become so routine that it can be compared to stopping at a red light. (Bedford 2013). The fast food industry has come from just a few stands selling hot dogs in the streets to major chains and brands with international branches. Not only have fast food industries grown but they have prospered very much so.

    As ironic as it is, fast food has managed to dominate athletics. It is becoming more and more prevalent seeing fast food being endorsed and supported by professional athletes even if the athlete does not actually partake in the restaurants products. So why would athletes have any reason to endorse these companies? “ Athletes enhance their income while companies enhance their sales and brand, using athletes’ fame and achievements to promote their products.” (Godelnik 2013) This seems like a legitimate reason able to justify their support for these companies but what are the real impacts of their actions. How does their support of industries like Mc’Donalds and Burger King actually affect their fans or athletes who look up to them?

    Obesity is becoming one of the world’s most pressing health public health challenges. (Baytor 2012) Being overweight can be  a real issue for people. It can lead to complications in health like diabetes, high cholesterol and even heart attacks. One of the biggest contributors to obesity in today’s society is fast food. Fast food has gained so much power in the past few decades that there is hardly anyone able to question their methods. They have even grown to the point where they have dominated the olympic games. Majority of the advertisements in the Olympic games are by companies like Cadbury that sponsor the events to gain popularity. The representation of unhealthy foods by athletic events is unfavourable for several reasons. It gives athletes that watch events like the Olympics and look up to those athletes feel that fast foods are slightly nutritious and in some way good for them. Why else would professional athletes be affiliated with them right? “Further, pairing athletics with unhealthy food advertising conveys a misleading message to children that poor nutrition is acceptable if accompanied by an active lifestyle.” (Baytor 2012.) This is unacceptable because sporting events like the olympics are meant to inspire the next generation of athletes and show them that the boundaries are always being pushed. The fast food industry has taken advantage of the influential power the games hold and is using it to market itself.

Works Cited

"Swifter, Higher, Stronger…Fatter?: The Olympic Games and Junk Food Advertising to Children." ONeill Institute Blog Swifter Higher StrongerFatter The Olympic Games and Junk Food Advertising to Children Comments. Web. 6 Nov. 2014.

"What Will Get Athletes to Stop Endorsing Unhealthy Foods and Beverages?" Triple Pundit RSS. Web. 6 Nov. 2014.

The Evolution of the Ideal Body

Becky Picha

30 October 2014

The Evolution of the Ideal Body

 

  

The article “What Does Friend Mean Now?” was written by Joseph P. Kahn in 2011, which was first published the Boston Globe. It explains how the meaning of the word “friend” has drastically changed through the years. Previously, the term “friend” was used to describe the few people one had close relationships with and see often. But recently, “friend” has described much more. Almost everyone nowadays has social media with hundreds of friends on Facebook and kids are taught at a young age that everyone is a friend.

Relating fitness to how the meaning of ‘friend’ has changed, I realized that the meaning of the ideal body for women has changed as well. The photo on the top of the article on the right shows the ideal body in 1900, called the “Gibson girl” and the photo on the left shows the ideal body in 2000, a Victoria’s Secret model (Bahadur). It is really obvious that there has been a huge change in what women want to look like. In 100 years, the ideal body has gotten thinner and thinner, and currently models and actresses are smaller than the average American woman. In fact, the gap between the size of models and the average woman has grown larger at an extremely fast rate.

Centuries ago, being full figured was a symbol of wealth and beauty, but more currently, both men and women strive to be thin (Edmonds). Many times, people go to extremes to be thin, such as eating disorders and plastic surgery. People want to look like a model, and as the difference between the bodies of average women and models continue to grow, the amount of things done to try to look like them grows as well. In 2010, $10.1 billion was spent on cosmetic procedures, which was a 1.2 percent increase from the previous year.

If someone with the “ideal” body in the 1900’s tried to get a job in the modeling business today, they would definitely not get the job and mere thought of them thinking they could be a model would be strange. It would be the same reaction if it was 1900 and a woman with a body like a Victoria’s Secret Angel wanted to be a model. It’s clear that the standards for women to look a certain way has changed, and personally I do not think it has changed for the better.

Works Cited

Bahadur, Nina. "It's Amazing How Much The 'Perfect Body' Has Changed In 100 Years." The Huffington Post. The Huffington Post, 05 Feb. 2014. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.

Edmonds, Molly. "10 Ways the Definition of Beauty Has Changed." HowStuffWorks. N.p., 27 July 2011. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.

Kahn, Joseph P. "What Does "Friend" Mean Now?" America Now: Short Readings from Recent Periodicals. Ed. Robert Atwan. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin's, 2013. 379-82. Print.

Stereotypes and Fitness

Stereotypes

Luke Rickleff  Blog Post 4

9th October 2014

Stereotypes and Fitness

  In “Some Thoughts On Mercy” by Ross Gay, he talks about his perspective of the world as a black man. How growing up in Philadelphia made in almost complacent with the racism in everyday life since heard it from almost everyone around him whether it was the black jokes to his face, hearing it as he walked down the hall, being profiled by security at any store he went just because of his race. But the most shocking thing is how even as a fully grown adult he still feels the need to buys something at any store he walks into to put the clerks at ease that he isn’t steal. Ross gives us a glimpse into the hided racism of our world were people stereotype black people just by race. But why are black people portrayed differently than whites in the media?

        Racial stereotypes are not a thing of the past but rather still an issue in today’s world more than ever specifically in sports.There is a stigmas being made about black athletes by the media as them being more prone to drugs and domestic abuse when in reality it isn’t true as Dr. Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at the University of Central Florida said “It's not that there's a higher percentage of African American athletes who are crossing the lines than White players but the media have created two perceptions—that athletes in general are more inclined to be violent against women and use drugs, and that Black athletes are more inclined to do both. And neither is true."(Muhammad)
         Another stereotype that black people get put into is that majority of them play professional sports. Henry Gates  an authority on African American literature and culture, told his buddies that there were approximately 35 million black people living in the United States. He then wagered $5 to anyone who could tell him how many African Americans make a living playing professional sports in the United States. They all being avid sports fans they throwing out numbers like 10 million, 500,000 and 5,000. “ As Gates reported in Sports Illustrated, the facts about black athletes in America at the time his article was published were stunningly low. There were 1,200 black professional athletes in all United States sports there 12 times more black lawyers, 20 times more black dentists and 15 times more black doctors than black athletes” (Fulwood III) As you can see this stereotype is very untrue and belittling making it seem like black people are only good for one specific thing when in reality, they have the same skills and opportunities as anyone else. 
         So as you can see these stereotypes are widely untrue and weigh heavily on athlete as they are watched so closely by the media. This same pressure felt by Ross Gay when we was pulled over by the policeman or when being profile after walking into story my security. Stereotyping of all kinds is a major problem in todays world both in sports and in everyday life. We do it everyday almost without noticing, it’s so natural to us we almost for get that each and every individual is different from the rest.

Work Cited

Fulwood III, Sam. "The Media's Stereotypical Portrayals of Race." Name. 5 Mar. 2013. Web. 7 Oct. 2014.

Muhammad, James. "Stereotypes, the Media and Black Athletes Who Get into Trouble." The Final  m Call. 15 Dec. 2009. Web. 7 Oct. 2014.

The Guy Code and Fitness

Guy Code

Anfernee Raine Blog Post 2

24^th September 2014

The Guy-Code and Fitness

            In “Bros Before Hos” by Michael Kimmel, the writer discusses what the guy-code really is. He brings up the idea of the guy code as something has become a socially accepted concept which is why it is so prominent. Kimmel talks about the idea of “being a man” and where it comes from. According to studies done in his writing he says that the for most guys, they get all these ideals from either the men in their lives who helped raise them, the ones who they were raised alongside or their friends. This is a clear indication that the idea of the guys code is just a concept that is perpetuated by amount of peer involvement. It is such an engrained idea that is put in our heads at a very young age. So what is it to “be a man?” What does it truly mean to “man up.”

            Gender stereotypes are a byproduct of the idea of guy code. They are a major issue for a lot of athletes especially female athletes. These stereotypes more than often force females to be portrayed a certain way by the media and this bring on other issues as well. Female athletes mostly lack representation in full contact sport because women are seen as more fragile and frilly by society. An example would be the NFL’s “lingerie league.” It’s a football league for women but instead of it being a normal sport the women are objectified and play in their underwear. In normal football the men are expected to be strong and be very well rounded athletes and they aren’t bothered by the stigma behind gender stereotyping. The fact that this is socially acceptable shows how women are seen in today’s society.

 In one of the articles we read “Sports, Media and Stereotypes, Women and Men in Sports Media.” The writer talks about how males get a great deal more representation in sports media than women and it effects how women are viewed by society in sports. This is completely true because women often lack a major role model to look up to because most females who are muscular are considered “manly” and that isn’t a socially acceptable role for girls in this time. On the other hand in another article we looked at called “Threatened masculinity and muscularity: An experimental examination of different aspects of muscularity in men,” the author talks about how the ideals for a normal man have become increasingly unrealistic over the years. (Hunt) This has become apparent because of how the media portrays not only men but women as well. It changes how people view themselves and their bodies. Society has set a lot of rules in place that affect the lives of many. All of these ideas mostly come from what the universal expectation of being a man is.

Works Cited

"Threatened Masculinity and Muscularity: An Experimental Examination of Multiple Aspects of Muscularity in Men." Academia.edu. Web. 25 Sept. 2014.

“Sports, Media and Stereotypes Women and Men in Sports and Media” Web. 25 Sept. 2014.
"The Ultimate Upper Body." @MHFitter. Web. 26 Sept. 2014.

Fad Diets

Becky Picha Blog Post 1

22 September 2014

Fad Diets

“Conspicuous Consumption” from America Now: Short Readings from Recent Periodicals, is an article about spending money on luxury items and services to display wealth and status (Atwan). People, especially Americans, tend to publicly show others that they are rich so they will buy things that are expensive but not needed. Thorstein Veblen, the author of the book called The Theory of the Leisure Class, describes the modern consumer as “someone who desperately wants whatever others possess” and claims that ”emulation is probably the strongest of economic motives.” Veblen realized a lot of consumers want things that are expensive and useless, and buying those things show “wasteful expenditure.”

After reading the article “Conspicuous Consumption,” I tried to relate it to my group’s blog topic: fitness and health. I started to connect the two by asking questions such as why do so many people purchase diet pills or follow fad diets even though it’s expensive and most people know getting great results is rare. I thought that knowing the answers to questions such as this one would give me an insight into a lot of people’s health and fitness choices and why fad diets are so popular.

Before talking about why many people choose to follow fad diets, it is important to understand what a fad diet is. An article about health education describes a fad diet as “a weight loss plan or aid that promises dramatic results. These diets typically don't result in long-term weight loss and they are usually not very healthy” (Nutrition). Fad diets almost always claim that with their program, you can “shed unwanted pounds fast!” but most claims are false and even if pounds are lost, the weight is normally gained back after the diet is stopped.

Many people follow fad diets even though they know it won’t work for a variety of reasons. According to Mayo Clinic, “the reality is that there's no magic bullet for losing weight” (Weight Loss). Despite the claims by weight-loss companies that state that it’s possible to lose weight fast and to keep it off, there really is no such thing as a quick fix to shed all unwanted pounds. Although many people know this, most Americans are still willing to try anything, no matter how expensive. If one weight-loss program doesn't work, Americans are quick to jump to another, which according to CBS News is why the diet business continues to thrive, as over $35 billion is spent a year on weight loss products by Americans (Mcnamara). Fad diets are popular because many of them work for a short period of time but the weight lost is almost always gained back, states familydoctor.org (Nutrition). People want to look and feel better so they spend their money on diet programs that they know probably won’t work but still have hope that they will. Even though it seems like the weight-loss industry doesn't seem to be becoming less popular anytime soon, Businessweek states the truth, “Here’s the only way to maintain weight loss: Eat less and exercise more for the rest of your life” (Reisner).

Works Cited

Atwan, Robert, ed. "Conspicuous Consumption." (n.d.): n. pag. Rpt. in America Now: Short Readings from Recent Periodicals. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin's, 2013. 162-65. Print.

Mcnamara, Melissa. "Diet Industry Is Big Business." CBSNews. CBS, 1 Dec. 2006. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.

"Nutrition for Weight Loss: What You Need to Know About Fad Diets." Health Education. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.

Reisner, Rebecca, and Derek Thompson. "The Diet Industry: A Big Fat Lie." Bloomberg Business Week. Bloomberg. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.

"Weight Loss." Mayo Clinic. 5 Apr. 2014. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.