Fear of Judgement: appearance, why the image of ‘fit’ needs changing

(Leeds 10km 2017 - not the most flattering photo of myself but THAT'S THE POINT)

This Girl Can was created with the aim of bridging the gap between the number of men and women frequently participating in sports. Research has shown that the biggest unifying barrier stopping women from taking part in sports is fear of judgement. This fear is held by many for different reasons, it could be the fear of judgement of appearance, judgement of ability, or of judgement that you haven’t got your priorities in order. These things stop women from wanting to take part in sports and at Leeds Girls Can we try and help women combat these worries and help them to get active.

This is the first of three blog posts that will explore some ideas relating to the fears that This Girl Can has identified in women. But have you ever stopped to think why do women hold these fears. Particularly women. Yes, some men too suffer from the same insecurities and I’m not writing them off but there are some things that are very particular to women. I find these very frustrating as I have come to understand why women feel a certain way about their bodies, especially about their bodies when they are exercising. Let’s think about the fear of judgement of appearance.

Social media. It has different implications for different people. Every day we continuously scroll through images of perfect abs, slim and strong women barely breaking a sweat during their workouts, expensive activewear, glamorous gyms and slimming products. These are designed to make you feel second best, so that you will buy that fitness blogger’s workout guide, so that you will invest in that extortionate sports bra and so that you will sign up to an expensive gym. I’m not saying that if you use an influencer’s guide, own a Sweaty Betty sports bra (I do!) or like to pay slightly more for your gym membership then you’re a bad person. That’s not what I’m getting at. What I’m trying to say is that Instagram particularly, is often used as a marketing platform and the images that you see are often trying to sell you this perfect ‘healthy’ lifestyle. A lot of the time, it is not the real world, these are set up scenes of the fitness world that for 99% of us is not real. I think it’s important to remind yourself of this every now and then.

Many women are so afraid of their appearance being judged because we think that we are supposed to look like the cover star of Women’s Health if we are ‘fit.’ That isn’t what fit actually looks like. Hats off to Women’s Health though, they have started making an effort to put a more diverse array of bodies on their cover.

Overwhelmingly, what I see recurring on social media and in magazines is a lack of fat and a constant emphasis on fat loss. Most people’s biggest insecurity is ‘I look fat.’ When you stop and start to think about it, excess fat is something that we should worry about for health reasons and the effects that it has on your body but in terms of appearance why are we so fussed? Your body needs to have a bit of fat on it to be healthy. People with a very low body fat percentage that they specifically worked towards, for example bikini body builders, only do this for a short period of time for competitions because having extremely low body fat (unless you are somebody who is naturally very lean) is just not natural. You should have a bit of fat on your body but not an excessive amount to be healthy.

So then, if somebody is exercising and improving the way that they eat to lose fat for health reasons then that is fantastic. But, we should never make somebody feel like they are inadequate in the way that they look because of the appearance of fat. Fat has become a word which causes alarm and it is misused. If you type ‘fat definition’ into Google it comes ups with ‘a natural oily substance occurring in animal bodies, especially when deposited as a layer under the skin or around certain organs’ and it also gives the chemical definition. It then gives the definition of fat as an adjective. As far as I am concerned fat should not be used as an adjective to describe somebody. It is a thing that is created in our bodies, it should not be used to describe the way you look. It’s like saying ‘oh yeah, you know my friend Max, the protein one.’ My friend Max is a very strong and muscular person, but I don’t go around and describe him as ‘protein-y.’ That just sounds ridiculous. Calling somebody fat suggests that it sums up who they are, like you might say that somebody is nice, or kind. Fat is not a way to define yourself, it just relates to a chemical substance that is part of your body. 

So why then is the word fat thrown about at people and used to cause upset and self-consciousness. Fat is a normal thing, it shouldn't be used as an insult.We need to stop thinking of ourselves as fat in appearance and focus on what it means in terms of our health. You Tuber Louise Pentland a.k.a. Sprinkle of Glitter calls her arms ‘meat sticks.’ Because that’s what they are! We get too hung up on what they look like, we should focus on what they are capable of. Leeds Girls Can strives to get women of all shapes and sizes active because this is what real people look like.

It’s not just magazines and social media that continue to influence the way that people view themselves. It happens right inside our own houses. I am very lucky in that my family and friends have (in the most part) been very supportive of me, especially with my sports and fitness. It’s shocking that to hear that some of my friends still get told that they look ‘fat’ in a certain top by their parents. I would guess that this happens in the minority of cases but even so, doesn’t that make it even more important that as a society and in our communities we need to change our attitudes towards body image so that this small group of narrow minded and unsupportive people are truly put into the minority.

Many women do not exercise because they are scared of the way that their appearance will be judged. Wider society needs to change the way that it presents what ‘fit’ looks like. However, it encourages me to know that most people out there know that ‘fit’ looks red, sweaty, a bit messy around the edges, it might not have a visible six pack and it’s getting stronger every day.

Em x

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