There’s this really weird health and fitness trend that I just can’t get my head around. Actually, calling it a trend is misleading, because it’s been happening pretty much the entire time the fitness industry has been a thing. Why is it that the majority of the health and fitness products, services, merchandise, and advertising are made by thin people for thin people?
We are constantly bombarded with reminders about how our collective blubber is going to end civilization as we know it (after first draining our collective wallets)… and yet the very industry that is supposed to help us not be fat any more is in the habit of ignoring – or, worse, excluding – us. Shouldn’t they be catering to us instead?
Here are a couple of the more ridiculous ways in which this manifests itself.
From Athleta to Lululemon, fashion for fitness is pretty much exclusively made for thin people. As you’ll remember, the former CEO of Lululemon even said their clothes aren’t for fat women. Even ‘regular’ companies like JCPenney and Old Navy generally fail to provide attractive activewear for sizes greater than a 14. Seriously, what’s up with that? Why don’t these companies realize there are millions of dollars up for grabs from fat people who want to look and feel good while working out?
Another way in which thin people dominate the health and fitness world is through words. From Gwyneth Paltrow’s cleanse advice to books by Cameron Diaz, there are tons of thin, genetically blessed people out there who think they have something to teach those of us who are not thin and genetically blessed. It’s kinda funny, really, to think of someone naturally thin having anything to teach me about making my naturally fat body smaller.
For just a few (!) hundred dollars, you can look poop like Gwyneth!
Magazines and websites with names like Shape and Women’s Health and FitSugar regularly include articles about so-and-so’s diet, so-and-so’s workout. Right now on Glamour.com there’s a headline that reads: “Celebrity Bodies That’ll Make You Want to Hit the Gym… Like, Yesterday.” Well, Glamour, I hit the gym today, and yesterday, and most every day last week… so why don’t I look like those 19 celebrities? I guess I’m doing it wrong, and I should probably subscribe to your magazine so I have a better shot at a celebrity bod, right?
(This entire discussion doesn’t take into consideration the fact that nobody – celebrity or scientist – has figured out how to permanently make fat people thin, but that statement sure isn’t gonna make anybody rich, now is it?)
Just the other day I came across a website for fitness clothing designed by a thin celebrity. The best of everything! It’s called Fabletics, and it’s the brainchild (I guess?) of Kate Hudson. In case you need a reminder of what she looks like, here she is in some Fabletics clothing:
And here’s the size chart that’s available on the site:
Well then. In general (and let’s remember that pretty much every manufacturer just makes up clothing sizes on a whim), each size is a range, such as 0-2, 4-6, 8-10, 12-14, etc. But the clever people at Fabletics have separated sizes in the middle into single numbers, because… Actually, I’m not sure why they did it. So what is typically a Large would be considered an Extra Large, thus ensuring they won’t get any of the money fat women are ready and willing to give someone if we could just get some nice workout clothes?
Is there really a need for another thin celebrity endorsement or workout or book, or another line of workout clothes that only fits thin people? Seems to me like that market is pretty much saturated. There are plenty of people who actively participate in fitness who are fat – and not in a “until I get skinny” kind of way, either. I want to see these people represented in the media, in magazines, in advertisements for my gym. I want to see their faces and bodies and read their words. And I want to see some really fantastic workout clothes that fit and flatter us.
In conclusion: Can you lend me some money to start a activewear clothing company for fat people? I’m thinking of calling it Fatletics.
