Should Gyms Ban Skinny People?
SodaHead Living
2012/06/20 20:53:29
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Did you ever notice that most gyms are filled with skinny people? So did Wendy McNary, an overweight woman in her early fifties who felt too out of place to join a fitness club. Until she discovered Body Exchange. You see, Body Exchange, in North Vancouver, Canada, admits only plus-size women.
For Wendy McNary, Body Exchange was exactly the kind of environment she was looking for. “It’s intimidating going into a gym setting,” she told The Province. “I honestly think some people in a gym setting are judgmental to people who are overweight or have a different body type.”
Now, she exercises six days a week, is training for her second 5K race and is down 50 pounds. But does it make sense to ban fit people from the gym? Louise Green, founder and CEO of Body Exchange, thinks it does. “Many of our clients have not had successful fitness pasts so I can see the anxiety before we get started and I can see the relief and happiness after we finish,” Green told The Province. “People are often too fearful to become active. There wasn’t a model that offered camaraderie.”
But we have to wonder: Do they throw you out once you slim down? How do they decide who is too skinny to join? And wouldn’t a gym that’s only for thin people offend everybody? Hmm…
For Wendy McNary, Body Exchange was exactly the kind of environment she was looking for. “It’s intimidating going into a gym setting,” she told The Province. “I honestly think some people in a gym setting are judgmental to people who are overweight or have a different body type.”
Now, she exercises six days a week, is training for her second 5K race and is down 50 pounds. But does it make sense to ban fit people from the gym? Louise Green, founder and CEO of Body Exchange, thinks it does. “Many of our clients have not had successful fitness pasts so I can see the anxiety before we get started and I can see the relief and happiness after we finish,” Green told The Province. “People are often too fearful to become active. There wasn’t a model that offered camaraderie.”
But we have to wonder: Do they throw you out once you slim down? How do they decide who is too skinny to join? And wouldn’t a gym that’s only for thin people offend everybody? Hmm…
As a plus size woman myself, I can see where this woman is coming from, though.
Believe it or not, when a larger person tries to exercise, we tend to get harassed. Because some nasty individuals take it upon themselves to show their disgusting prejudices. In a regular gym, this happens more often than those of you who are not large might realize. And even if there isn't direct harassment, people will see it as their sovereign duty to come give the fatty advice, assuming that said fatty is an exercise newbie. More often than you might think, said fatty exercises faithfully.
This is a specialized setting for people of a certain body type, so they won't have to endure being mooed at or treated with disdain or treated like stupid children while they're trying to do their thing. Those with thin privilege have no idea what it's like to try and work out in a public place when you're a larger person.
I'm not reading the comments on this one. I don't have enough Sanity Watchers points. I can just see them now. "Fatties, bla bla bla, fatty, bla, derp!"
I wonder if people who think it's okay to rip on another person for their body type ever re-read what they've written and see just how IQ-impaired they sound.
And will athletes will be forced to work out outside? The overweight are not being discriminated against solely because they are a minority. Jeez...