Inspirational or "Fat Shaming"

Nike used to run ads like this all the time in the 90s. I don't remember a freak out then. People have to work hard to be offended sometimes.

 

Perhaps it's inspirational, though, not being a woman and thus not a mom, hell if I know. The word "excuse" strikes me as a coaching tactic more than an inspirational tactic.

I don't think she had any intent at all to, uh, "fat shame." I imagine she self-identifies as a "reformed fat person." Thinness is merely the physical state she currently inhabits. Her motivation and circumstances, and thus her body weight, will likely fluctuate.

Mostly, it's self-congratulatory promotion designed to temporarily get her and her current lifestyle attention. Thin people, fat people, fit people, flabby people engage in that, and I can't say I ever find it laudable when they do.

I think everyone's pretty clear that, yes, it takes really hard work to have a body that good, and people who have even decent bodies did not merely genetically luck into them. People are just arguing to argue because it's an Internet message board.

 

Now I call bullshit here. Everybody knows a car full of fat people has at least two fat adults in it, and they let one of them off to do the shopping while the rest listen to the radio. What you perceive as laziness is actually fat people cruising their scene, jamming out to Barry White or Mama Cass. Being relatively non-fat, I learned this the hard way, when I ate last of a Wendy's spicy nugget four-piece in the vicinity of such a car in such a lot, and risked bodily harm in the oncoming rush of inquiries on my apparent secret spicy nugget stash, for there was no Wendy's in sight.

 

This is exactly it.

I have mixed feelings on this whole affair. On one hand, I have posted on thread after thread after thread about how much shit smaller women take, my wife being a smaller woman. Like YF, I don't like the "genetic lottery" accusation. I'm not a woman, but I'm 5-foot-9 and tipped the scales at about 215 a few years ago. I don't carry it well, which is an understatement. I was chubby my whole life, but I had become obese. Not morbidly, but I was definitely obese. Now I maintain at about 150, and I do it by getting up before 4 a.m. every day and hitting the weights or treadmill, and trying to watch what I eat. No one is going to mistake me for a fitness model, but I'm fit, and I certainly didn't win the genetic lottery. Far from it. (I do think that this woman might have won the genetic energy lottery - I think I did, too - but I digress.)

That said, my wife is also a working mom. We have two children, a 4-year-old who is a beautiful little hellion, and a 10-month old whom she is diligently breast feeding. I didn't read Wonder Woman's story, but I imagine she's not breast feeding. It takes a lot out of a woman. She's also self-employed and, for all the work that three young children are, it's much different when you are answering to someone else outside the home each day.

I also cringe because this photo is just one more thing for mothers to feel bad about, and it's already a jungle out there. I hate being the you-don't-understand-if-you-don't-have-kids guy, but, yeah, you don't understand if you don't have kids. There needs to be some backlash against it, because sites like Pinterest are single-handedly driving the anti-depressant industry that YF rails against.

Bottom line: OOP is right. It's the words she used. Using the word "excuse" puts people on the defensive, because it has a perjorative connotation.

P.S. I liked the post about learning Mandarin. Yep. Any person could post something about their accomplishments while juggling things, and put other people down for it. My wife's students test through the roof. I suppose she could make a poster in which she holds up her 99 percentile student scores and sneer at stay-at-home moms for it. That would go over really well.

Bottom line: People have different interests. Just because you don't look like Alex Morgan doesn't mean that you're eating Bon-Bons and watching soaps all day.

 

Yeah, but as Mencken pointed out, Nike (and others) have used terminology like this in ad campaigns for years. They've specifically used the tag line "no excuses", and their motto, "Just Do It" doesn't come with a list of caveats.

Like a newspaper editorial, it's not nearly as effective without a call to action.

When it's directed to men, you don't hear as many complaints:





Though they've also used it to market to women:



I think what upsets people/women is that this person is purportedly a "regular" person. It's one thing for a world class athlete to work harder than us -- and they have the "time", money, and coaching to do it. That doesn't threaten us.

And, the former Army Ranger who runs a marathon on an artificial limb is also someone with a level of dedication most of us know we don't have.

But, along comes this woman, who says she's just a normal mom, and that if she can do it, then so can you, and well, that makes people defensive.

 

She's not putting anyone down. She's proud of her accomplishments and wants people to know that they are perfectly achievable for anyone who so wishes.

Think of it this way: You have an advanced degree. You are and should be proud of it. You could also choose to encourage others to seek the degree because they are perfectly capable of obtaining one if they apply themselves and work hard. If they still don't want to, fine. But they shouldn't judge those of us who DO want to better ourselves by earning that degree.

 

Do you really not grasp that the new mom aspect of her poster is a complication not present in those Nike ads aimed at couch potatoes?

I get that you don't think depression is a thing, but motherhood, and in particular motherhood with small children, is a precarious time. And this kind of naked shaming is not helpful. What would be helpful is some sort of movement encouraging women to take care of themselves before they take care of putting the homemade pastel-colored frosting on their 20th mini-cupcake and finish constructing their 15th Halloween decoration made just-so from two toilet paper roles, a role of orange crepe paper, and three trips to the crafts store today. But that kind of nuance - which, like I said, is valid, though perhaps feministic - is lost here.

Also, I know you don't really believe in mental illness, but I assume you do believe that physical pain is real. And pregnancy can take a toll. Is it an excuse in every case? Hell, no. But it's not as simple as just stepping out of the hospital and onto the treadmill. There is some recovery time needed. Having a child isn't like taking a crap.

Like I said: I have mixed emotions. Because I get her point, but I think it's presented in an unhelpful, even counter-productive, way.

 

I think her point was self-promotion. I think she rather helped herself get the attention she desires.

 

You must be reading a thread in an alternate universe if you think someone is making this argument.

 

You had to go there, didn't you, you "education shaming" son-of-a-bitch.

 

If she lives in Elk Grove, I feel sorry for her, no matter how great she may look...

That suburb has been decimated by the recession. Houses that were selling for $700K are now going for $150K. My aunt lives there, in what used to be one of the nicer areas and she had five foreclosures on her block.

As far as this lady is concerned, good for her... I think one of my friends' wives works out with her. She's been posting her stuff on her page for awhile now... I didn't know she had gone viral...

 

For the record, I think that people make way too many excuses. For everything. I just think her delivery, from the word selection to the emphasis on physical beauty, obscured her message, which is a reasonable one: Take care of yourself.