By Sharanya Gopinathan
I read this story recently that just broke my heart. It was talking about “skinny privilege” (if you have any complaints with this term feel free to discuss elsewhere), and compared the comments on two social media posts: one showed a slim woman eating some tall and monstrous amalgamation of different meats, the kind of thing you regularly find on menus in the United States, and still having room for dessert after, the other was a picture a thirteen year old girl posted of herself, saying something like “I finally feel brave enough to go out in a bathing suit” in the caption.
The first woman was lauded and hailed as “wife material” (oh hurray). The comments on the second picture, on the other hand, swept the bottom of the virtual cess pit, with people saying the picture made them want to puke and gouge their eyes out. Not that it matters or changes things at all, but the child in the picture suffered from a medical condition that causes her to put on weight. And you know in your heart that the girl has seen these comments, and as an adult in this world, you don’t know what to apologise for or how, but you’re just left feeling awful.
I was somehow reminded of that terrible thing when I saw this new video by Vitamin Stree.
It features 46 women– dancers, fitness enthusiasts, differently abled basketball players– all with diverse body shapes and sizes, but all in excellent physical shape. Titled Fit Is Not a Body Size, it busts the myth that fitness has anything to do with being a specific (tiny) body size, or that having a body size that doesn’t conform to fashion runway standards is a bad thing.
It’s super pumped up and energising and makes you want to jump rope athletically with a determined look on your face. In a good way. Enjoy your new workout song!