The Paradigm Shift
Bad Dog Rebel is a part of a growing number of health and fitness offerings encouraging a shift toward a weight-inclusive, body liberation-oriented health paradigm.
A weight-inclusive health paradigm stands in opposition to the weight-centrism of the mainstream health fitness industrial complex. The concept of the Health Fitness Industrial Complex arises from the work of Ilya Parker from Decolonizing Fitness around the Medical Industrial Complex and Fitness 4 All Bodies'Justice Roe Williams'Fitness Industrial Complex Model. Weight-centrism is the inaccurate and unhealthy belief that the most important health markers are the size, shape, and weight of an individual's body. Weight-inclusivity encourages engagement in health behaviors regardless of the size, shape and weight of an individual's body while working to: dismantle anti-fat bias, mitigate harm done by the mainstream health fitness industrial complex, and increase health equity and justice for people living in fat, larger, or plus-sized bodies. Some people living in larger bodies embrace the word "Fat" as a neutral descriptor of their bodies. Some do not. Thus, I provide the three descriptors "fat," "larger," and "plus-sized bodies" to provide options that more people may relate to.
A weight-inclusive health paradigm stands in opposition to the weight-centrism of the mainstream health fitness industrial complex. The concept of the Health Fitness Industrial Complex arises from the work of Ilya Parker from Decolonizing Fitness around the Medical Industrial Complex and Fitness 4 All Bodies'Justice Roe Williams'Fitness Industrial Complex Model. Weight-centrism is the inaccurate and unhealthy belief that the most important health markers are the size, shape, and weight of an individual's body. Weight-inclusivity encourages engagement in health behaviors regardless of the size, shape and weight of an individual's body while working to: dismantle anti-fat bias, mitigate harm done by the mainstream health fitness industrial complex, and increase health equity and justice for people living in fat, larger, or plus-sized bodies. Some people living in larger bodies embrace the word "Fat" as a neutral descriptor of their bodies. Some do not. Thus, I provide the three descriptors "fat," "larger," and "plus-sized bodies" to provide options that more people may relate to.
Going beyond weight-inclusivity, body liberation seeks to root out the internalization of oppressive systems while finding and establishing models and community who think, feel, and act as much outside of oppressive systems as possible. Body liberation is a process of unlearning and decolonizing one's beliefs and behaviors. In orienting ourselves toward body liberation, we embrace the realities that: all oppression is connected; anti-fat bias is rooted in white supremacy; and, we cannot dismantle anti-fat bias without also confronting and dismantling racism, misogyny, ableism, homophobia, and transphobia.
Health & Fitness practiced within a weight-inclusive, body liberation-oriented framework encourages us to:
* embrace the reality of body diversity and an anti-dieting mindset
* radically embrace how our bodies change over time, with age, and under certain conditions
* move for pleasure, joy, and embodiment in spaces that honor our unique bodies
* prioritize rest, honor hunger, and pay attention to our body's signals for what it wants and needs
* nourish ourselves intuitively, without shame
* learn and engage in self-compassion, and body trust
* find and work with practitioners and professionals who offer weight-inclusive care
* find and connect with weight-inclusive, body liberation-oriented community
* embrace the reality of body diversity and an anti-dieting mindset
* radically embrace how our bodies change over time, with age, and under certain conditions
* move for pleasure, joy, and embodiment in spaces that honor our unique bodies
* prioritize rest, honor hunger, and pay attention to our body's signals for what it wants and needs
* nourish ourselves intuitively, without shame
* learn and engage in self-compassion, and body trust
* find and work with practitioners and professionals who offer weight-inclusive care
* find and connect with weight-inclusive, body liberation-oriented community