Calling BS on fitspo

polergirl started this discussion · 1/20/2014

I'm done with fitspo memes that have pictures of mostly unattainable bodies. I think they do more harm than good--ESPECIALLY when combined with a growing emphasis on competing, and a seemingly growing self-assessment from dancers all over that they're somehow not "good" unless they compete or can do all the tricks that the competitive polers are doing. I'd like to hear thoughts from the dancers here. If you're interested I wrote a blog post about it for UPA. http://unitedpoleartists.blogspot.com/2014/01/pole-is-for-all-shapes-and-sizes-but.html

6 replies

Schtoffen · 1/20/2014
Guilty! lol I love Fitspo. Especially the gym bums :)
poledanceromance · 1/20/2014
I get so conflicted because I think women aspiring to be strong and have muscles is clearly a better alternative to women aspiring to be extremely thin. However the images of female fitness models often come out of unhealthy practices like dehydration and fasting before shoots to increase muscle definition. The pictures don't tell the whole story. Sometimes the pictures are of elite athletes who are training for the function of their sport, not just to look a certain way. Their bodies are essentially a mixture of luck and accident in the sense that they have the genes to be an elite athlete and intensely skill-focused training that results in a particular build. So for me I guess it comes down to a more general belief that, while it might be healthier for women to aspire to a muscular physique instead of an extremely thin physique, as long as the goal is about achieving a particular aesthetic and not about achieving health and skill, then it's not really healthy.
polergirl · 1/20/2014
PDR, exactly. I don't mind the memes in and of themselves (though some of them are kinda lame and cheesy, IMO) -- but I do mind the implication that I'm less-than if I dont have a full six-pack. So many of these images come out of, as you say, mostly unhealthy practices to cut up before a photo shoot. Yet we're being told that if we don't have abs that could slice paper, it's because we're not trying. And people who are naturally very thin, who have difficulty putting on weight and muscle mass.... fitspo is every bit as negative for them. They're being told their bodies aren't right either. I feel like fitspo is just another way of propagating a body-shaming mentality.
Lina Spiralyne · 1/20/2014
I like muscles but I don't like Fitspo. Cold and depressive is my overall impression of those memes and their pictures. Few of them speak to me. I hope that PR for pole dancing is not going to look like this in the future because so far I think it hasn't.
Phoenix Hunter · 1/20/2014
I read your blog polergirl and I really liked it. for me, looking at those pictures just make me feel bad about myself. maybe it works for other people. I feel like it is another source of body-shaming.
aliceBheartless · 1/20/2014
I liked your blog polergirl! Another post along the same lines that I just dug up again here: http://reembody.me/2013/09/10/the-6-most-shockingly-irresponsible-fitspiration-photos/ Sums it up really well for me. I don't like fitspo. I understand that people look for inspiration and we are always told to "shoot for the stars" as it were, but I feel fitspo usually entirely misses the mark. And I liked the article that is linked in the beginning from the massage therapist: http://dalefavier.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/what-people-really-look-like.html How cool is that?