Response to Aridelle's Post 10/21/10

Valdes's piece about her time as a fitness instructor really struck me. Maybe it's just me, but I don't see why she couldn't be a fitness instructor and a feminist - two things that she vehemently felt she could not reconcile and what ultimately drove her to leave that industry despite all the money she was making. I don't think her claim that fitness and gyms are "our newest patriarchal religion, based in principle as much on ritualized pain and suffering as any of the Judeo-Christians ones that came before it (31)" is always valid; I think that fitness and gyms become this "patriarchal religion" based on the attitude women have towards these things, so if women have the right attitude and approach to gyms and fitness, then they do not feed into the patriarchal model at least in this aspect of society. But what is the right attitude? They go to the gym because they want to, not because they feel fat or are trying to attract men. They go work out because they like it, not because they are trying to lose those five extra pounds to fit into that cute dress or to wear that bikini they got at the mall to impress the handsome lifeguard at their beach or pool. I believe that women who go to the gym for the right reasons are actually defying patriarchy - they are doing what they want to do. They are not doing it for men or for other women, not trying to impress others, fuel anorexia or alleviate low self-esteem, or fit in because they feel like "that's what they should do." For example, look at professional women runners and marathoners and Ironman competitors - do they train all the time just so they can be skinny to get a boyfriend? No, they work and sweat and do it all again because they love their sport, they want to be the best, they want to break records, and they want to show that women can compete on the same level as men. And what about me? I was a cross-country runner and track runner all throughout high school. I didn't run to get a boyfriend. I didn't run became I felt I needed to lose weight. I ran because I loved it; I continued running despite my plague of injuries throughout my career, which were quite numerous and chronic (strained hip flexor and degenerative foot tendon - both of which sent me to physical therapy for half-a-year in my freshman and sophomore years, respectively - along with chronic arch pain associated with flat arches and extreme pronation, shin splints, and ankle pain). Was I playing to patriarchy because I loved running and wouldn't stop even if I was crying in pain by the end (which was the case a lot of the time)? I don't think so. I didn't run for men. I didn't run for society. I didn't run because I felt I should or I had to. I didn't run to lose weight because I felt ugly, fat, or gross. I didn't even run for my teammates, even though I loved them dearly. I ran for me and me alone. And I'm still a feminist.