That Peloton Ad

If you haven’t yet seen the ad for Peloton bikes titled, “The Gift that Gives Back,” you can find it here. In the ad, a man surprises a woman (apparently his wife), with a brand new Peloton bike. She proceeds to film her workouts over the next year for, as we come to find out, a video thanking her husband for this “gift that gives back.”

Much has been made of this particular shot of the woman at the start of this whole process:

Does this bike make me look anxious?

She does not seem… well, enthused to be doing this exercise. Though she keeps up with it, surprising herself with doing some exercise 5 days in a row and having the trainer on one of the live classes say her name. At the end, she says to her husband via video, “A year ago, I didn’t realize how much this would change me. Thank you.”

I… have a few things to say about this, coming from someone in a fat body.

First, a pro tip: DO NOT GIVE YOUR LOVED ONES EXERCISE EQUIPMENT FOR CHRISTMAS. Or at any other time of the year. UNLESS and ONLY UNLESS they actually ask for it with their own words. Exercise equipment should never be a surprise gift. It sends a terrible message, no matter what. It says, “Something is wrong with you and I think you should use this machine to fix it.”

Pro tip addendum: Maybe don’t spend $2,000+ on something without checking with your partner first? That’s generally a good way to end up in an argument, regardless of whether that money was spent on exercise equipment or not.

Like I said, much has been made of the expression on the woman’s face at the start. She DOES seem anxious. So much as been made about it, in fact, that Ryan Reynolds has used the same actress in a commercial for his gin where she uses the same expression. Her two friends have taken her out for a holiday drink, and as she snaps out of her wall-eyed reverie, she toasts “to new beginnings.” One hopes that she has by now left her husband who makes questionable life decisions and maybe sold the Peloton so she can buy something that she really, actually wants.

The original commercial just leaves me wondering what was so wrong in this woman’s life that using an overpriced exercise bike was the solution? So much of the time people in fat bodies or people who are dealing with depression or other mental health issues (or both) are prescribed “exercise” as a way to fix it, or at least to cope with it. But while exercise certainly does have many benefits both for the mind and body, it is not a substitute for ACTUAL HEALTHCARE. I personally cannot think of a single, rational problem where this bike can be the only solution.

Exercise is not some mythical thing that we can only do on a machine or in a gym. It is in every movement of our bodies. It should not be coerced. It should not be done out of guilt. It should not be done to prove to someone else how much you’ve “changed.” It should be joyful! It should be because it makes you feel good. It should be done any damn way you please. If that’s going for a walk outside or getting on your $2,000 bike, neither way is better than the other. Do what pleases you for you and for no other reason.

When Fitspo Tries to Masquerade as Body Positivity

When I first started hearing about Brittany Runs a Marathon, I saw a lot of images of a fat woman running and a lot of commentary about how “inspirational” the story was and “daring.” I thought for a brief moment that it might actually center a true story of a fat person learning to love movement for the sake of movement and not to lose weight, which is the most common narrative.

Then I watched the trailer.

The very first scene in the trailer is the title character going to a doctor and being told that she should get healthy by losing 55 pounds. I immediately rolled my eyes because here we go, the false equivalence that weight loss equals health. And then things got worse from there. Suddenly Brittany’s out-of-control life—her inability to get a job, her loneliness, the way she’s treated by other people—all starts to get better. The pieces miraculously fall into place as she loses the weight while training to run the NYC marathon.

I could not physically roll my eyes any harder.

But I didn’t want to rely on my own perceptions of the movie from the trailer, especially because I no longer had any desire to see it. This article from a fat runner in Runner’s World gave me an interesting perspective on just what the movie gets wrong about running while fat, something I think I knew instinctively but needed someone with real experience to say:

Dr. Kate Brown, Runner’s World

Dr. Brown goes on to say that she herself is a fat runner who weighs the same as she did when she started training 5 years ago.

Dr. Brown, Runner’s World

I am very lucky to follow several other people doing the same kind of work I am. One of them writes on Medium and Twitter (among others) as Your Fat Friend. She saw the movie and wrote one of her incisive analyses of media and the world that I have come to rely on. While the movie claims body positivity and that “You running this marathon was never about your weight. It was about taking responsibility for your life.” that message is subsumed by the entire set up of the film.

Source: https://medium.com/@thefatshadow/brittany-runs-a-marathon-and-thin-fantasies-of-fat-lives-f0496408a2aa

I’m glad that Your Fat Friend saw the movie so that I didn’t have to. From the trailer I instinctively knew that this movie was not written for me. Just seeing a thin actress in a fat suit “get thin” told me that. This movie is for thin people to feel validated in their treatment of fat people. That if only fat people would take responsibility for ourselves and lose the damn weight, we’d suddenly be worthy of the same basic courtesies that thin people offer each other. If I suddenly lost weight, then people would hold doors for me, too, and I’d suddenly find the love and fulfillment my life is lacking.

Except that I already have an amazing life full of love and a career that I like, the respect of my peers, and yeah, people hold doors for me. Why? Because it is the right thing to do.

All over my time at Dragon Con this year, I noticed it. People showed me basic decency and kindness because I was one of them, regardless of my fat and disabled body. More than that, I was shown respect for my knowledge and experience and volunteer status.

Brittany Runs a Marathon never contemplates that Brittany’s life could be complete exactly as she is. That finding focus and discipline as she learns to enjoy healthy movement through running is the larger factor in her life than her weight loss (which is also unbelievable and as we have learned through studies, likely unsustainable).

As much as I wanted to feel like this movie would be something I could enjoy, it is clearly not for me. I so wish it was, but in the end, I choose not to subject myself to this kind of message.

*Side note: Hello to all my new followers! If you’ve found yourself here based on my surprise plug during the David Tennant panel at Dragon Con, I hope you enjoy yourself. I publish on Mondays and Wednesdays more or less regularly and hope to have my podcast up and running by the winter. It will drop monthly to start, unless I find I can realistically do more.