That sound you hear? It's me clapping for this tell-it-like-it-is piece from Gawker, which deftly skewers the mainstream media's not-so-hidden obsession with thinness.
My favorite quote:
The purpose of working out is get in shape. Not to get "thin." To be in shape, for the average person, connotes being healthy, and improving on the basic elements of one's own fitness: muscular strength, endurance, cardiovascular, flexibility, etc. . . . designing a workout and nutrition program with the goal of being thin will almost certainly ensure that you cannot achieve a high level of fitness; you would eat a low-calorie diet, thereby robbing yourself of muscular gains.
Note that I deleted a sentence or two in here. Even Gawker falls prey to the knee-jerk obesity-is-bad syndrome. (We really have to have a chat about that, Nick Denton.) But it's not so easy calling out the Gray Lady herself on the assumptions and obsession with thinness. So kudos to Gawker, and Hamilton Nolan, who wrote this post. Let 'em know what you think.
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