“How much do you weigh?”: the question I received from a stranger in the locker room. “103 pounds”, I answered flatly. Knowing what would come next, based on her perplexed look, I explained that I was a runner and spent my time at the gym doing strength training and yoga. “Oh okay, good. Cause you don’t need to lose weight!”. “..I know”, I said flatly.
As I proceeded to do my workout I couldn’t help but dwell on the previous interaction. How this woman, for some reason, found it acceptable to bluntly ask me my weight. How I’m sick of people rolling their eyes whenever skinny girls work on their bodies, in any capacity, whether it’s hitting the gym or occasionally opting for fruit in lieu of sugar. This is because we are assumed to be a body obsessed product of the patriarchy. But this post isn’t about the woes of being skinny because lets face it, thin privilege is real; despite the fact that all women (from underweight to overweight) are affected by society’s expectations of “the ideal body”, being skinny is still (overall) more socially acceptable.
This post is about what really bothered me about this woman’s comments: the malignant misconceptions we have about exercise & fitness. Continue reading
College In The Cornfield 