Last week, Abby Pell, a British nutritionist and trainer, received severely delayed backlash and ridicule from a photo she posted last February. The photo illustrates the trainer’s personal success as she sports a toned midsection. Pell’s daughter’s mouth is agape as she points at her mother’s abs.
This comes a little more than a month after a similar backlash directed toward a mother of three. Maria Kang, also known as “Fit Mom,” posted a picture of herself wearing a sports bra and yoga shorts with her three children, her headline reading, “What’s your excuse?”
Unfortunately, both these women received more ridicule for fat shaming than praise for their personal fitness achievements. Comments numbered in the tens of thousands, in which women accused her of being self-righteous and a bully, calling Kang the backbone of the “fat-shaming problem.”
When Kang was interviewed by “Good Morning America,” she did not retract her picture or its meaning, but said she wanted to serve as a role model and an inspiration for mothers across the country.
The same occurred when People magazine interviewed Pell. Pell did not want the picture to put pressure on women, but to give them the inspiration to go out and get in shape themselves.
This criticism is outrageous to think about in context. People criticize these two mothers for keeping themselves happy and healthy. While people accuse these women of “fat shaming,” similar things can be said regarding anyone who posts belittling comments. They are shaming the mothers for being healthy and implicitly encouraging women to be unhealthy, which usually correlates to being overweight.
I’m sure most of you are familiar with the movie “WALL-E,” which depicts a futuristic world where technology shuttles us around and rids humans of reason to move. Looking at the type of criticism surrounding Kang and Pell’s pictures, this sounds like a possible conclusion. Some have the willpower to keep themselves healthy, but others peer pressure the healthy until they let themselves go.
Justifiably, these women are the outliers, and not everyone can look like them. They are both trainers and it’s their job to help people exercise and eat right. But they shouldn’t be shamed for being healthy. It just troubles me to see two successful mothers who can balance their family life and their health being criticized by society. They’re simply trying to serve as role models.
Growing up, I packed my lunch every day throughout high school while my friends ate out at establishments such as Arby’s, Wendy’s, Taco Bell and McDonald’s. I didn’t care about my friends’ nutritional choices, but a couple months down the road, I was not eating my packed lunch in the fast-food restaurants anymore. Eventually, we were all eating our packed lunches at one of our houses nearby the school. I silently served as a role model and helped change my friends’ eating habits. I was a role model, and that’s what these women are serving as.
If you want to gain inspiration and motivation from these women, then more power to you, but don’t ridicule them for their achievements. It’s just another type of success. Unless we’re going to start shaming gold medalists and Super Bowl winners for their success, then lay off the criticism.
