Posted on 01/18/2017 8:08:53 AM PST by grundle
If you’ve ever found riding the subway at rush hour to be something less than graceful, you’re not alone.
The TTC’s new promotional partnership with the National Ballet – dubbed We Move You – is drawing criticism from one organization that says it perpetuates “unrealistic and highly regimented bodies as some sort of an ideal of ‘beauty.’”
The campaign, which officially launched Thursday, shows dancers from the National Ballet of Canada in photos and online videos dancing and posing in subway stations, on streetcars and in buses.
But Jill Andrew, co-founder of the Body Confidence Canada Awards, worries the images send the wrong messages about what healthy, confident humans should look like.
“We can’t deny that there is a lot of body-based discrimination that happens … within our moves around the city,” Andrew said.
“My experience as a racialized woman, as a fat woman, I’ve been called an f-ing fat black b---- on the TTC,” she said. “Is this video really moving me? Is this video at all depicting me on the move?”
Andrew’s organization is campaigning to have discrimination based on size and appearance made illegal in Ontario.
She said she doesn’t disagree with promoting Toronto’s vibrant arts and culture scene; she just wants to see more of a focus on imagery that represents who Torontonians really are.
“The body types of most ballet dancers do not adequately represent those of most Canadians and, I dare say, most TTC users,” she said.
“This is simply an opportunity to reflect on who is being left out by an ad campaign such as this.”
Stuart Green, a spokesman for the TTC, said the commission is proud of the images, and the partnership.
“People tend to look at these campaigns as being to cross-promote the various elements that go into making Toronto a vibrant and thriving city,” he said.
Green said the TTC does similar partnerships with a wide variety of organizations, including major sports teams like the Raptors and the Toronto FC. With those promotions, which also feature talented, athletic bodies, body-image hasn’t been an issue.
He also pointed to the TTC’s involvement with the annual Pride celebrations and the 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games.
“That’s an area where there would have been a whole host of nationalities and athletic abilities highlighted,” he said.
“There’s a great simpatico between the TTC and a whole host of organizations. The National Ballet is just one of the organizations that we partner with to promote what we do, which is public transit,” Green said.
Fat people offended by those with normal BMI. Should be in breaking news as this is hugh!
Isn’t that what makes ballet work in the first place...the awesome physical power and grace the dancers have? Dancers also seem to be in a class all by themselves, so how can anyone think they have to compete with them? Why not just enjoy their vigor and beauty (and be inspired to get off your fat aah, lol!)?
They usually leave out any description of the behavior that led to the insult. :)
This reminds me of the masterful short story, “Harrison Bergeron”, by Kurt Vonnegut:
http://wordfight.org/bnw/bnw-unit_packet.pdf
“My experience as a racialized woman”
Wth is a “racialized woman”? Did someone come along and cover her with spray-on tan?
Actually, most female ballet dancers are not healthy at all. A lot of them develop eating disorders due to the extreme pressure to be ultra thin.
They really abuse their bodies and push beyond reasonable limits. Many of the dancers you see are in a lot of pain or worse.
It’s a very tough life.
Please be advised that Bergeron is a genius and an athlete, is underhandicapped, and is considered extremely dangerous.
- Office of the Handicapper-General
Regards,
I would expect ballet dancers and other athletes to have BMI that are not considered the norm. Which by the way fails as a measure of body health for many people. People have different body types. Some are more athletic than others. Saying it is discrimination to show these is nonsense. It would be just as silly to claim having fat people in movies encourages obesity.
Decided that she would no longer blame personal habits or shortcomings for being fat. Not even deciding to accept those shortcomings and learn to live with being fat. No it means making your weight a political issue and a matter of social justice and seeing any portrayal of slender or thin women as an attempt to dehumanize fat people. I am overweight and I don’t get it.
Some people are enraged when they see people who are prettier, smarter, healthier, etc, than themselves.
It’s called “envy”.
Maybe the ad campaign should have used different dancers.
The toe shoes aren’t so bad, I studied ballet when I was a kid. Unless you’re pounding on them hours and hours a day. A lot of the girls are practicing and performing with painful injuries.
Very competitive. And the ballet companies are generally under the direction of slave drivers.
Skinny chick hate. Typical. Don’t worry ladies, I’ll protect you from the jealous Hippos!
Idealism isn’t PC.
Striving for success promotes inequality.
Let’s instead reward failure, worship ugliness, romanticize poverty and ignorance, and build monuments celebrating victimhood.
Thanks for your insight into something with which I’m almost completely ignorant.
Maybe those shoes are subconsciously bringing to mind that bizarre oriental thing of binding girls’ feet to keep ‘em tiny.
I suppose that, to the uninitiated, ballet prep is no more sadistic than the football practices I endured ;-)
Yep. Professional ballet dancers were forced to wear weights so they wouldn’t be any better at ballet than anyone else. Fortunately, that was fiction.
OK. That is an excellent point.
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