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The White Supremacist Origins of Exercise, and 6 Other Surprising Facts About the History of U.S. Physical Fitness
Time ^ | December 28th, 2022 | Olivia B. Waxman

Posted on 12/29/2022 9:59:54 AM PST by shadowlands1960

How did U.S. exercise trends go from reinforcing white supremacy to celebrating Richard Simmons? That evolution is explored in a new book by a historian of exercise, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, author of the book Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America’s Exercise Obsession, out Jan. 2023.

Nowadays, at the beginning of every New Year, many Americans hit the gym to work off their holiday feasts. This momentum usually starts to fade in mid-January, according to a 2019 analysis of data on fitness tracking apps by Bloomberg. But such new year’s resolutions are pretty new—as is the concept of exercise as a way to improve bodily health.

*** ***

It was super interesting reading the reflections of fitness enthusiasts in the early 20th century. They said we should get rid of corsets, corsets are an assault on women’s form, and that women should be lifting weights and gaining strength. At first, you feel like this is so progressive.

Then you keep reading, and they’re saying white women should start building up their strength because we need more white babies. They’re writing during an incredible amount of immigration, soon after enslaved people have been emancipated. This is totally part of a white supremacy project. So that was a real “holy crap” moment as a historian, where deep archival research really reveals the contradictions of this moment.

(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; History; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: exercise; fitness; pc; racism; time; whitesupremacy; woke
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Racists...

1 posted on 12/29/2022 9:59:54 AM PST by shadowlands1960
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To: shadowlands1960

I am a white supremicist!


2 posted on 12/29/2022 10:10:07 AM PST by Altura Ct.
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To: shadowlands1960

More evidence these pukes want us fat, unhealthy, and dead.


3 posted on 12/29/2022 10:13:46 AM PST by Rural_Michigan
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To: shadowlands1960
Nuts. Whatever White people do, no matter how innocuous, is really racist. Don't deny it!   /s

4 posted on 12/29/2022 10:14:39 AM PST by Governor Dinwiddie (LORD, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil.)
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

If she really wanted to go into the attitudes of white females about “race” she could have written about how the suffragettes were especially po’d that the 15th Amendment gave the right to vote to black males ahead of white females.


5 posted on 12/29/2022 10:17:49 AM PST by shadowlands1960 (We live in a world of intolerance masked as tolerance. RUSH LIMBAUGH)
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

...and contributes to climate change which impacts communities of color disproportionately.


6 posted on 12/29/2022 10:18:56 AM PST by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes)
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To: shadowlands1960

The Greeks are White Supremacists?


7 posted on 12/29/2022 10:24:44 AM PST by Dead Corpse (A Psalm in napalm...)
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To: Dead Corpse

The Greeks were Greek supremacists... if you have ever read any of them you’ll know what I mean...


8 posted on 12/29/2022 10:26:03 AM PST by shadowlands1960 (We live in a world of intolerance masked as tolerance. RUSH LIMBAUGH)
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To: shadowlands1960

Oh good God.


9 posted on 12/29/2022 10:28:43 AM PST by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMV)
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To: shadowlands1960

This is what happens when you legalize marijuana. Every random whimsical thought becomes an epiphany.


10 posted on 12/29/2022 10:49:27 AM PST by webheart
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To: shadowlands1960; All

Liberals are never short of inventions...

What is the connection between exercise and “supremacy”

None.

Look up for instance Rafael Halperin...


11 posted on 12/29/2022 11:02:09 AM PST by Conservat1
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To: shadowlands1960

If you’re not fat and lazy then you’re a racist.


12 posted on 12/29/2022 11:05:16 AM PST by Sirius Lee (They intend to murder us. Prep if you want to live and live like you are prepping for eternal life)
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To: Rural_Michigan

Working their fields would keep us in shape.


13 posted on 12/29/2022 11:10:11 AM PST by gundog (It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. )
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To: shadowlands1960

I read only the headline.

Bunk.


14 posted on 12/29/2022 11:10:36 AM PST by Southside_Chicago_Republican (The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog. )
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To: shadowlands1960

/massive eyeroll


15 posted on 12/29/2022 11:11:27 AM PST by sauropod (“If they don’t believe our lies, well, that’s just conspiracy theorist stuff, there.”)
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To: Conservat1

C’mon, you’re being ‘ahistorical.’ Exercise was so white women could have healthy white babies... didn’t you read this great historian’s take on it all?


16 posted on 12/29/2022 11:12:30 AM PST by shadowlands1960 (We live in a world of intolerance masked as tolerance. RUSH LIMBAUGH)
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To: Rural_Michigan

Yep!


17 posted on 12/29/2022 11:17:13 AM PST by RushIsMyTeddyBear
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To: shadowlands1960

Gosh I missed that


18 posted on 12/29/2022 11:21:24 AM PST by Conservat1
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Great screed, Wacks-man.


19 posted on 12/29/2022 11:26:11 AM PST by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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Also, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela looks like she likes to exercise. Is she a white supremacist?


20 posted on 12/29/2022 11:28:34 AM PST by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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