Why gyms should be free….
In America there are SYSTEMIC reasons why we have an obesity epidemic. It has to do with out food system, our healthcare system, long hours working at a desk, etc. it is not anyone’s fault if they have a weight problem.
However, I think something that would be helpful is if it was free to go to a gym instead of having to pay a fee!
Obviously the food industry and the healthcare industry are the current primary targets, but I think a movement to abolish expensive gym membership fees would also improve public health.
We need a movement to fight for free public gyms if we actually cared about people’s health instead of just fat shaming individual poor people.
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Can't believe I hate Liz more than Boris
Now I've heard about her policies. This one in particular is making me furious:
Is it terrible that Boris only introduced anti obesity legislation (sugar tax, calorie counts on menus, no sweets at the tills, no multi buy deals on junk food)(possibly some of those predate his covid actually but whatever) because he was fat and he personally had a worse time with covid because of it? Tories only realising something is bad when it finally impacts them personally is classic and bad, but ultimately the reason the legislation was brought in isn't important.
She wants to scrap it all because it "cuts red tape for business". She's sending us towards hyper capitalist American style legislation that makes life easy for prescious businesses at the expense of actual real life people, because fuck them, they don't generate wealth on the same scale... Except they do, because wealth generated by businesses is contingent on a healthy workforce, as opponents of this move have pointed out.
Therese Coffree (sp?) is a cigar smoking, fat, boozing, sodding awful excuse for a health secretary, and she's only got the position (and deputy PM to boot) because she's Liz' fucking mate. I swear to god I can hardly believe it.
This proposal in particular is making me angry because I'm staunchly anti obesity and I think any legislation to tackle the obesity crisis is obviously very badly needed. But moreover I'm scared of the way this country is going to head under Truss given her priorities. Hopefully she crashes and burns and labour will get in next election, though that last part seems vanishingly unlikely.
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Amerikkka, the beautiful, the land of the free & the home of the...
👁Highest obesity rates
👁Highest gun mortality
👁Highest opioid use, addiction & fatalities
👁Most overprescribed nation on earth
👁One of the highest prescription rates for antidepressants & benzodiazepines
👁One of the highest rates of domestic violence
👁One of the richest countries yet highest incidence of poverty among "advanced democracies" - millions are houseless, food insecure, without medical insurance & lack of a living wage
👁Work hundreds of more hours vs employees in other "developed" countries
👁Excessive environmental abuse (biggest carbon emitter - 3 times worse than China, 2nd in air pollution only to China, water pollution, landfills, food waste, deforestation, natural resource depletion, industrial destruction, destruction of ecosystems, species conservation, deforestation, nuclear accidents, overpopulation, etc.)
👁National obsession with status, consumerism, materialism, overconsumption, fast fashion & addiction to shopping
👁One of the top economies but has a record high of $17.1 trillion in individual debt (student loans, mortgage, auto & credit card)
👁One of the highest costs of living in the world (housing, healthcare, and education)
👁60% of food consumed in US contains additives, preservatives & artificial sweeteners, considerably higher than the rest of the world
👁Tens of thousands of toxic chemicals & synthetics in household, cleaning, body care, makeup products with very little testing, regulations or studies on health and environmental effects
👁Hypersexualized, "pornified" culture that glamorizes sexual objectification, sexual violence & dehumanization while also being sexually repressed, uneducated, unable to establish, determine or decide on boundaries or verbalize when they have been violated, toxic masculinity, rape culture, inability to verbalize desires, inability to discuss sexuality openly and honestly, unhealthy, forced & contrived repression that leads to fetishization, dehumanization, objectification, sex addiction, etc
👁70% of teens & young adults are addicted to social media
👁Over 90% of time in America is spent indoors -- complete & total disconnect with nature
👁Only 7% of Americans practice mindful meditation -- total mind/body disconnect
👁Americans are obessed with "exercise", "the gym", "being fit", "bikini bodies" & "fad diets" yet only 20% work out regularly and the US has the highest obesity rates in the world
👁Dystopian obsession with beauty with the worlds highest plastic surgery rates
👁One of the 10 worst countries for racial equity
👁One of the most paternalistic & patriarchal countries on earth
👁Religious fundamentalism & paternalism is embedded in all aspects of society & culture & wielded as a tool of control
👁Concepts and societal ideals of femininity, motherhood, paternalism, fundamentalism, conservatism, religious dogma, chastity, modesty, purity, the cult of woman as a sacrificial lamb and the mother as a dehumanized symbol of selflessness and sublimation are all used to control and deny women's bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom while poverty is feminized and more women than men in the US live in poverty, work minimum and low wage jobs, are overrepresented in service jobs, make less per dollar than men for the same work and have no access to paid maternity leave or universal childcare yet they are the ones in many states forced to have children they dont want, many as single mothers, with little or no social safety net with no exception depending on the state for rape, abusive partner, coercive partner, mental & physical health of the woman, the woman's childfree or antinatalist beliefs, the woman's employment status, whether she has health care, whether she has a phobia of pregnancy and/or childbirth, whether she would be traumatized being forced to give birth if she doesn't want to be a mother, when it is her livelihood, career, finances, living situation, body, mental and physical health, physical appearance, sexual health affected moving forward if she does give birth yet the choice in many states is taken away from her yet only the woman has to live with the consequences, never the lawmakers taking her choice away
👁Prison industrial, military industrial, psychiatric industrial, pharamaceutical industrial, medical industrial & educational industrial complexes
👁Obsession with graphically violent media (movies, TV shows, videogames) & combat sports (NFL, UFC, etc.) yet boobs, penises & vulvas cant be shown on TV and dropping the F word can get you fined by the FTC
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the funny thing is that i don't think younger people - and i mean those under the age of 40 - really have a grasp on how many of today's issues can be tied back to a disastrous reagan policy:
war on drugs: reagan's aggressive escalation of the war on drugs was a catastrophic policy, primarily targeting minority communities and fueling mass incarceration. the crusade against drugs was more about controlling the Black, Latino and Native communities than addressing the actual problems of drug abuse, leading to a legacy of broken families and systemic racism within the criminal justice system.
deregulation and economic policies: reaganomics was an absolute disaster for the working class. reagan's policies of aggressive tax cuts for the rich, deregulation, and slashing social programs were nothing less than class warfare, deepening income inequality and entrenching corporate greed. these types of policies were a clear message that reagan's america was only for the wealthy elite and a loud "fuck you" to working americans.
environmental policies: despite his reputation being whitewashed thanks to the recovery of the ozone layer, reagan's environmental record was an unmitigated disaster. his administration gutted critical environmental protections and institutions like the EPA, turning a blind eye to pollution and corporate exploitation of natural resources. this blatant disregard for the planet was a clear sign of prioritizing short-term corporate profits over the future of the environment.
AIDS crisis: reagan's gross neglect of the aids crisis was nothing short of criminal and this doesn't even begin to touch on his wife's involvement. his administration's indifference to the plight of the lgbtq+ community during this devastating epidemic revealed a deep-seated bigotry and a complete failure of moral leadership.
mental health: reagan's dismantling of mental health institutions under the guise of 'reform' led directly to a surge in homelessness and a lack of support for those with mental health issues. his policies were cruel and inhumane and showed a personality-defining callous disregard for the most vulnerable in society.
labor and unions: reagan's attack on labor unions, exemplified by his handling of the patco strike, was a blatant assault on workers' rights. his actions emboldened corporations to suppress union activities, leading to a significant erosion of workers' power and rights in the workplace. he was colloquially known as "Ronnie the Union Buster Reagan"
foreign policy and military interventions: reagan's foreign policy, particularly in latin america, was imperialist and ruthless. his administration's support for dictatorships and right-wing death squads under the guise of fighting "communism" showed a complete disregard for human rights and self-determination of other nations.
public health: yes, reagan's agricultural policies actually facilitated the rise of high fructose corn syrup, once again prioritizing corporate profits over public health. this shift in the food industry has had lasting negative impacts on health, contributing to the obesity epidemic and other health issues.
privatization: reagan's push for privatization was a systematic dismantling of public services, transferring wealth and power to private corporations and further eroding the public's access to essential services.
education policies: his approach to education was more of an attack on public education than anything else, gutting funding and promoting policies that undermined equal access to quality education. this was, again, part of a broader agenda to maintain a status quo where the privileged remain in power.
this is just what i could come up with in a relatively short time and i did not even live under this man's presidency. the level at which ronald reagan has broken the united states truly can't be overstated.
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@all the angry people who reblogged my previous post about Liz Truss revoking anti obesity legislation: does this sign in Tesco describing lower calorie crisps as "better" piss you off?
Because I'd agree lower calories isn't always better, especially for people with the tendency to under eat due to EDs (yes I am also staunchly anti anorexia as well as anti obesity, that just wasn't the topic in my previous post).
But I would say it is better to get fewer calories from nutritionally low value and highly processed foods (obviously?), and given that there are far more people affected by over consumption than under, this seems a net positive message to me.
Not to mention that this is just Tesco and not government policy, so not really in the same category as the measures in my previous post.
Anyway please reblog/comment with your thoughts of you'd like to because I'd like to hear them
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