Did you know that in America’s fitness-crazed, obsessive society that it was once strange not just for women to go to the gym, but also men? In today’s episode, Molly is interviewing Natalia Petrzela– a historian, writer, teacher, and activist– about our history of fitness culture and walks us through its interesting (and polarizing) spectrum.

This episode starts out with something that comes up often in the show– how destructive the diet and fitness culture can be. Natalia even brings about an interesting point saying that we have “moralized” our food decisions. Ever heard of a “sinful” chocolate cake? Or when you eat kale you’re “being good?” Even words like “detoxifying” and “eating clean” have raised the stakes and increased the pressure on something that is supposed to be nourishing and pleasant, making it destructive and damaging. So how did we get here?

Well, as Natalia admits, any historian will tell you that it wasn’t just one moment, it was a process. As the episode progresses, Molly and Natalia’s discussion spans decades (over 100+ years)! There was a moment where, for men, it was considered deviant to focus on your body. For women, you were considered masculine– some even going as far to say that your uterus would fall out… yikes. In the 1920’s this evolved into advice of restricting your diets to retain a womanly figure and keep the attention of your husband. In the 1950’s we get a first glimpse on the TV screen of women exercising and in the 1960’s, your thirties have become your new twenties, ladies. So where do we go from here?

A purpose that Natalia found necessary to write her book, FIT NATION: The Gains and Pains of America’s Exercise Obsession, was to find a productive way of talking about weight loss. So a solution to create this productive way to talk about weight loss, or “releasing weight” as Molly says, is loving exercise. Natalia captures this idea by saying exercise on your own terms.

Tune in!

Connect with Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

Instagram: @nataliapetrzela

Facebook: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, PhD

Twitter: @nataliapetrzela Website: https://nataliapetrzela.com/

Preorder FIT NATION here: Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America's Exercise Obsession

Connect with Molly

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