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Sparkle (1)
I read a few fitness blogs as I've gotten back to running this year. I also follow their writers on twitter. As such, I saw talk of the Marie Claire fitness controversy today and wondered what the hub-bub was about. I was shocked to read a mean-spirited attack on six health bloggers.
The article itself paints six fitness bloggers as food-obsessed, eating-disordered, overexerercisers who are endangering the lives of their readers simply by existing. Before you think that these women were writing blogs of thinspiration, you should probably read their rebuttals and their blogs. Thankfully, four of these (brave) women have already chosen to write their rebuttals. They all tackled the topic in their own ways, sharing their personal lives with readers again.
Tina of Carrots 'N' Cake chose to share what her blog has been about since its conception six months prior to her wedding. She showed us pictures of her wedding, her food and her life. And then she said the following:
In the 2,681 blog posts that I’ve written to date, I’ve never once claimed to be a perfect eater or healthy role model. I write about what works for me, which I’ve noted time and time again on my blog. I’m not an expert on anything, except my own life.
This is the kind of response you generally see on a blog after the author has been trolled. And, really, that's what I kind of see Marie Claire's post as: a grand-scale trolling.
Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point shared a heart-breaking story of bullying and how the actions of the magazine brought all of the emotions back to the surface. She then went on to provide a rebuttal for some of the "facts" presented in the "article."
I love how the reporter/magazine talks about me running 22.0 miles but fails to put it in context – that I was training for a marathon. You know, a hobby that hundreds of thousands of healthy people across the nation engage in. Did they mention that through this marathon, I raised $3,000 for cancer research with YOUR help? No. Also, I did not engage in “a light day of eating” after running 22.0 miles. As evidenced in this post, I ate nearly a loaf of French bread on the hood of my car after the run! And then I had an entire box of pasta…. and that was just for lunch!
As someone who just started running again after years off due to an injury, I am just as mad for Caitlin as she is for herself. I know hundreds of runners, online and off. Most of us are healthy individuals who enjoy the feeling of feet hitting the pavement.
Heather of Hangry Pants wrote a numbered rebuttal calling out the misinformation in the magazine's article. She acknowledges that healthy living blogs do have potential pitfalls and talked about how she shared that information with the journalist, but it was ignored.
There are very valid criticisms about healthy living blogging that were ignored or omitted in an effort to frame bloggers as mindless hordes of industry outsiders with no business writing about our personal experiences. Drummond was provided with my critical opinions on healthy living blog extremes, eating disorders, blogging responsibility and exercise obsession, yet no mention of my acknowledgement of these potential problems was brought to light. Instead, I was cast as clueless about my influence and responsibilities as a blogger, ignorant to any negatives of healthy living blogging.
She goes on to talk about her own foot-and-fitness issues with links as to how she has been open and honest about them in the past. There was no need for, as Heather called it, truth stretching. The information was there for the journalist, both in blog format and by what Heather offered up via email. Yet, it wasn't used.
Meghann of Meals and Miles shared her email exchanges with the journalist. She then hits at the meat and potatoes, pun intended, of what I think is wrong with this article.
I had to sit back and let it sink in. This wasn’t a friendly look into how to turn blogging into a ‘profitable venture’ this was an outright attack on all six of the bloggers who started the Healthy Living Summit! The big six? Please! We’re all normal girls who decided to come together to plan an event,
