Tuesday 4 March 2014

Misogyny at the Pool

I was at the pool today, and I'd stopped swimming to have a breather, when I overheard a guy and a girl near me. This guy was telling the girl that she had 'put on a bunch of weight' this year, and how she needed to stop treating herself and exercise more. Bear in mind, this was in the pool where she'd been swimming for longer than I'd been in there. There was literally nothing wrong with this girl's figure - she looked perfectly healthy! Further to this, the guy berating her was legitimately very overweight, and a lot of what he told her about protein and carbs was completely wrong (I may not know tonnes, but I actually read up on things before I started trying to be healthy).

It's just pure misogyny. He had absolutely no right to make her feel like shit for putting on a couple of pounds when he clearly wasn't athletic himself. It came across like it was totally ok for him to be overweight, but if a woman dares to put on weight, it's the end of the world. It just really riled me because it was completely unfair, and I imagine it was pretty humiliating for the girl. Even if she was overweight, it doesn't matter! She's obviously trying to stay fit and healthy by going swimming, which is the most important thing.

Aside from actual, medical opinions on people whose weight (overweight or underweight) is significantly affecting their health, or a personal trainer who knows what they're talking about and has been employed by somebody to tell them what they need to work on, nobody has the right to dictate to other people what they 'should' be doing with their bodies.

Why do people still think it's ok to act like this? I bet if she'd said something about his weight, he would have been pissed off. It's completely ridiculous. And for the record, I'm not a """Feminazi""" (I hate that expression - fighting for equal rights is actually the complete opposite of the Nazi system, please go to a history lesson) - even if it was two girls, or two guys, or whatever, I would have still been pretty disgusted just because of the sheer hypocrisy of it.

Sorry about this rant, just needed to get this out because seeing people treat their so-called friends like shit makes me cross.

1 comment:

  1. "I'm not a """Feminazi""" (fucking hate that expression - fighting tooth and nail for equal rights is actually the complete opposite of the Nazi belief system, please go to a history lesson)"

    Going to have to quote that. Extreme hyperbole and unnecessary comparisons are ludicrous. Great article btw.

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