A woman friend said my web site is now sending out a bad and superficial message: that it is important to look good, and that your body’s appearance is ultra important. This is reinforcing our culture’s terrible emphasis on youth, looking young, and acting like anything but your age, if you are over 30 or 40. I have been seduced, she said, and am simply a pawn in the plan, especially when I am showing so many toned and fit bodies, women naked or in bikinis, and working to make my own body look younger and fitter with defined abs and hair coloring. Most people are not so muscular or thin, and the pictures on my site are insensitive, making some viewers feel resentful, insecure and unattractive.
I actually thought the photos might inspire people to work at diet and exercise to improve not only how they looked, but how they felt physically as well as psychologically. An additional benefit, I thought, was that readers would become healthier and have fewer colds and illnesses.
What do you think?
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#1 by Robert on February 9, 2010 - 11:29 PM
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Robert Doornick emailed me his reaction to the post above:
The web site looks great, and continues to expand with time. You’ve started a trend! Unlike that person who speaks negatively about the wrongfulness of obligating people to look better than they can or should at any given age, I firmly adhere to the principles that aiming for a fit body has little to do with the resulting aesthetics of a more “sculpted look” – unless of course vanity comes into play, in which case that becomes a personal issue – but instead, it has everything to do with maintaining a healthier body, embracing a more active and productive life, along with equally important side effects such as a more fit mind as well. If one ends up having a more pleasing architecture as a byproduct of exercising and eating right, then so be it; lest we not forget that it takes such a well tuned body to perform in sports, lead a much more productive life and – for those of us who don’t adhere to physical exercise – enjoy a healthier and longer life.
Indeed, Advertising agencies manipulate consumers in the wrong way by using physical perfection, love and sex as appealing incentives for using or wanting products and services. In that context, the comments made by this person in your web site are indeed correct. Perhaps this same person should also be reminded that http://www.irasabs.com does not sell cars, toothpaste, clothing, or any other product or services. Replete with its countless and ever increasing accounts from willing participants, this implies that the clearly popular Site is about staying fit and healthy, rather than associating with a centerfold in order to drive the latest Automobile!
I for one have been working out for decades, and my body has at times looked fit enough, and at other times a bit on the bulky side. I have never lost sleep over its appearance however, and my satisfaction has always come from the knowledge that I was taking care of this bipedal vehicle so that it would transport me safely through life’s challenging roads; and even when desired, allow me to willingly take the bumps, just for the fun of it!
I applaud you for irasabs.com Ira, and for facilitating this fun enclave of like-minds. May the Force Be With You, and I mean this strictly in the gymnastic, resistive kind of way!!!
Robert
#2 by ira on December 30, 2009 - 6:45 PM
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Thanks for your positive words. I also heard by email from my brother:
I think your site is great. The abs thing is a goal, a measure of something most 40 year olds can’t imagine achieving, let alone those approaching 70. I wouldn’t put any pictures of overweight people on your site (unless it is a before picture, with a better after picture). They are not your goal. The nun who runs ironman triathlons wasn’t showing her abs, not showing off, not denigrating those who can’t do what she does. She (like you) was showing that she can do something that most people feel they cannot. (ed: you can read her story posted November 2, 2009 at http://www.irasabs.com/?p=2303)
We can achieve what we dream at any age. We just have to be willing and able to make the sacrifices to attain it. As our father quoted “What do you want? How bad do you want it?…and What are you willing to do/give up to get it?” Your website is not for everyone. It is for the people in those standard deviations that fall outside the masses, or hopefully for some of the average people who want to be something else, and need some inspiration to do it.
#3 by Anonymous on December 30, 2009 - 3:49 PM
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I think your woman friend is mistaken… it’s very clear that you’re simply encouraging good health (both physical and mental) and an active lifestyle.