2013. Different year, same resolution: get healthy. Eat well, exercise more, feel better. With a renewed enthusiasm for green nutrition and sweaty workouts, every January I make a mental note to put in more effort to trek to the gym in a fresh, perfectly coordinated Lululemon ensemble and become that annoying extra body crowding the gym when other people have been strictly adhering to their fitness routines all year, every year. Of course it’s not long before I rediscover my enmity with the treadmill, and every other cardio machine for that matter, and my motivation expires. Yet, even though my resolution may fade, the pressure to stay fit never does. Especially at Georgetown.
In my Women’s Health in the 21st Century class last semester we discussed the phenomenon known as healthism. In all honesty, I had never heard of it before. But all of us are subject to it every day. Jan Henderson’s blog, The Health Culture, cites Robert Crawford’s 1980 definition of healthism as “the preoccupation with personal health as a primary – often the primary – focus for the definition and achievement of well-being; a goal which is to be attained primarily through the modification of life styles.” There are two types of healthism: moral and anxiety. The first is the idea that healthiness is a state of superiority. Fitness reflects discipline and calls for respect. Anxiety on the other hand surrounds our actions to be responsible for our health in reaction to a fear of being unhealthy. Our culture fosters an understanding that we should strive to be healthy. In turn, this will lead to a fulfilled, happier life.
It doesn’t take long to observe this in effect at Georgetown. It is widely accepted that Georgetown is home to a particularly fit student body with hardly any “fat people.” It’s a bit intimidating. It’s also not hard to imagine that most Hoyas believe in these notions of healthism, even if they aren’t entirely aware of it. It has been ingrained in us to hold the pursuit of health in great esteem, and indirectly then tend to look down upon those who stray from it. With our increasing knowledge of the human body, why shouldn’t we take advantage of new technologies and techniques to maintain our physique and avoid illness? This is true to a certain extent, but this principle has grown into rigid, societally accepted standards and stigmas about how we handle our health and the actions we take to promote it.
We erroneously believe that it is better for us to be obsessed with our health. However, in reality, the way in which we consume ourselves with health and fitness as virtues simply exacerbates greater issues about body image, fat-shaming, and narrow-minded understandings of happiness. In an already pressure-filled environment of a college life, linking aspects of health, like weight, to happiness can lead to converse behaviors like “drunkorexia.”
No, this is not an excuse for you to suddenly binge on your favorite junk foods and disregard your health. There are clear benefits and positive elements to being conscious of your health that would, for lack of better words, simply be stupid for you to ignore. This is a reminder to keep things in perspective. To be aware of the forces shaping your understandings and fueling behaviors in regards to health.
Ultimately my health is a priority, but I don’t want it to become the only priority.