The Body Issue
Guest post by Ashley Maree Collis from Meet Me at The Barbell
I was recently standing in an airport newsagency and I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated. I had stupidly finished the last chapter of my book the night before and I wanted something to read. None of the books available for sale were tickling my fancy, so I thought a magazine might do. I looked at what was on offer and found nothing in the first stall. I moved to the second and found nothing there, either. I didn’t want to read a fashion magazine or a beauty chronicle. I wanted to read something in the ‘sports and fitness’ category. I wanted to read something relatable. Alas, I found nothing even remotely close to relatable.
I found the men’s fitness magazines. There was Mark Wahlberg in a dark t-shirt and jeans, side-on with his triceps subtly flexed. His workout for his latest movie role was inside, apparently. Next to him, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson detailed his massive daily caloric intake which helps him gain such impressive size.
I shuffled left towards the women’s health and fitness sectioned and was immediately met with dismay.
There were at least four different women’s fitness magazines and all the covers were graced with similar-looking women wearing a bikini. Two were actresses and the other two were models, and all were claiming to divulge their secrets to a flat stomach.
The women on the front of those magazines look nothing like me. And this is nothing against them…I know plenty of women who look like them and I love them. In my community, my fitness community, I see women who look like me. These are women who have trouble finding jeans to fit their thick thighs and women who are constantly covered in bruises from atlas stones and deadlifts.
When will we be represented consistently on the cover of magazines?
We don’t want recipes to fight bloat or tricks to get a flat stomach in ten days. I don’t want to read an article about the so-called best ways to get your man to pick his towel up off the floor. Fuck the towel and fuck the man who won’t pick up after himself.
I want to read about the world’s strongest woman and how she juggled a full time career, family and her strength training.
I want to read about women using their physical strengths to overcome mental health issues.
I want to read about the struggles women have in gyms around the world to build a safe, inclusive space for themselves as they embark on a journey to become the strongest women in the world.
I don’t want to read about fit teas and detox smoothies.
I want information on macronutrients and recovery methods for sore glutes.
I want to see photos of women of all sizes, gritting their teeth, covered in sweat and pulling double their body weight.
I don’t want to see another photo of a perfectly manicured woman doing a plank in a white studio. I have seen that photo. I have seen that photo on the cover of every women’s health magazine since I was fifteen. That is fifteen years’ worth of poorly edited articles about the best makeup to wear at the gym to give you a natural glow. Do you know what else gives you a natural glow? Working your damn arse off and being really proud of your efforts.
Give me meaty journalistic insights into the link between mental and physical health. Give me opinion pieces on women who have overcome physical, mental, cultural and gender disadvantage to dominate in their chosen fields. Give me testimonials of women who have encountered sexism, fought back against endless amounts of bullshit exclusion and overcome men who think it’s really funny to have group chats where they ‘rank’ the women in the gym.
We are lucky to live in a world which is becoming more and more encouraging and accepting of women’s involvement in strength-based pursuits. We are better educated, but perhaps not better equipped, than our parents on the issue of mental health.
We are encouraged to be strong, but our efforts are not publicised.
Be strong, be brave…but not in public.
With the rise of strong women, should this not be correlated in the media and publication spheres?
On the occasions when I do see women who most strongly resemble myself, aesthetically or in terms of interests, struggles and pursuits, it is most often in the form of a ‘body confidence’ issue. You know the ones…they boast an un-photoshopped image on the cover and converse about body image issues and self-confidence. I think this is great and any conversation is a great conversation if it gets people talking and opening up to remove the stigma associated with these topics. My issue, however, is with the lack of regularity in which these matters are distributed. My body image doubts are not occurring just once a year. They are not an annual issue. For some of us they are a daily struggle.
Men’s health magazines are littered with references to muscles, strength and gains every single month and yet when I look at women’s magazines all I see are the words ‘tone’ and ‘firm’.
Fuck being firm.
I want to tow a damn airplane.
The publication world is flooded with messages encouraging women to change everything about themselves. Why don’t we focus on encouraging women to be their best selves? Their most stable selves?
Their healthiest selves?
Their happiest selves?
Their strongest selves?
Strength looks different to everyone and on everyone. So why are we seeing the same image everywhere we look?
I hope we see a change soon.
I found the men’s fitness magazines. There was Mark Wahlberg in a dark t-shirt and jeans, side-on with his triceps subtly flexed. His workout for his latest movie role was inside, apparently. Next to him, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson detailed his massive daily caloric intake which helps him gain such impressive size.
I shuffled left towards the women’s health and fitness sectioned and was immediately met with dismay.
There were at least four different women’s fitness magazines and all the covers were graced with similar-looking women wearing a bikini. Two were actresses and the other two were models, and all were claiming to divulge their secrets to a flat stomach.
The women on the front of those magazines look nothing like me. And this is nothing against them…I know plenty of women who look like them and I love them. In my community, my fitness community, I see women who look like me. These are women who have trouble finding jeans to fit their thick thighs and women who are constantly covered in bruises from atlas stones and deadlifts.
When will we be represented consistently on the cover of magazines?
We don’t want recipes to fight bloat or tricks to get a flat stomach in ten days. I don’t want to read an article about the so-called best ways to get your man to pick his towel up off the floor. Fuck the towel and fuck the man who won’t pick up after himself.
I want to read about the world’s strongest woman and how she juggled a full time career, family and her strength training.
I want to read about women using their physical strengths to overcome mental health issues.
I want to read about the struggles women have in gyms around the world to build a safe, inclusive space for themselves as they embark on a journey to become the strongest women in the world.
I don’t want to read about fit teas and detox smoothies.
I want information on macronutrients and recovery methods for sore glutes.
I want to see photos of women of all sizes, gritting their teeth, covered in sweat and pulling double their body weight.
I don’t want to see another photo of a perfectly manicured woman doing a plank in a white studio. I have seen that photo. I have seen that photo on the cover of every women’s health magazine since I was fifteen. That is fifteen years’ worth of poorly edited articles about the best makeup to wear at the gym to give you a natural glow. Do you know what else gives you a natural glow? Working your damn arse off and being really proud of your efforts.
Give me meaty journalistic insights into the link between mental and physical health. Give me opinion pieces on women who have overcome physical, mental, cultural and gender disadvantage to dominate in their chosen fields. Give me testimonials of women who have encountered sexism, fought back against endless amounts of bullshit exclusion and overcome men who think it’s really funny to have group chats where they ‘rank’ the women in the gym.
We are lucky to live in a world which is becoming more and more encouraging and accepting of women’s involvement in strength-based pursuits. We are better educated, but perhaps not better equipped, than our parents on the issue of mental health.
We are encouraged to be strong, but our efforts are not publicised.
Be strong, be brave…but not in public.
With the rise of strong women, should this not be correlated in the media and publication spheres?
On the occasions when I do see women who most strongly resemble myself, aesthetically or in terms of interests, struggles and pursuits, it is most often in the form of a ‘body confidence’ issue. You know the ones…they boast an un-photoshopped image on the cover and converse about body image issues and self-confidence. I think this is great and any conversation is a great conversation if it gets people talking and opening up to remove the stigma associated with these topics. My issue, however, is with the lack of regularity in which these matters are distributed. My body image doubts are not occurring just once a year. They are not an annual issue. For some of us they are a daily struggle.
Men’s health magazines are littered with references to muscles, strength and gains every single month and yet when I look at women’s magazines all I see are the words ‘tone’ and ‘firm’.
Fuck being firm.
I want to tow a damn airplane.
The publication world is flooded with messages encouraging women to change everything about themselves. Why don’t we focus on encouraging women to be their best selves? Their most stable selves?
Their healthiest selves?
Their happiest selves?
Their strongest selves?
Strength looks different to everyone and on everyone. So why are we seeing the same image everywhere we look?
I hope we see a change soon.