This post follows on from two posts I have read recently about body image. Both of the posts were on My good friend Nancy’s blog My Year[s] of Sweat one was about her own perception of body image and the other was a reblogged amazing post written by Beth Teliho they are both worth reading…so go and read them now!! Go on…read them! Then come back here!!

(OK Nancy you don’t have to go read them…you know what they say)

It also follows on from my post last week which I wrote last year about media / fashion led perceptions of female beauty

This post is about the new media wave of adverts etc calling for people to love themselves the way they are and be active if they want to be, calling for women in particular to get up and do what they want to do without worry about people saying they are too fat/thin/wobbly/tall/short/female etc for that activity!

More specifically this post is about a big step I have taken on the way to this! You my have gathered over the last two years that I am not one to let size/prejudice/other peoples perception of my ability stop me from doing something. This, however doesn’t mean I am immune to the “I am too big for this” mentality, I am as guilty as the next person of believing my self to be a failure because I am still not one of those super buff looking people on the interweb!

I spend as much time convincing myself that I am not kidding myself about this whole personal trainer malarkey as I do working out! I so often think that what people really want in a fitness professional is a stereotype and that I am not strong enough to change the system! However, I am also a pretty good actress and I really believe in what I am doing! There is such a difference between an emotional response and logical one!

well yes…that pretty much says it all!!

So in  the midst of all of the media fat shaming there has risen the “This Girl Can” Campaign which is a sport england campaign to get women into sport/exercise no matter what shape or size they are and no matter what their interest is whether it is running or boxing! (click on the words and go look at their website, it is pretty cool!)

It first came to my attention as a TV advert which I had an unusual reaction to, I initially thought it was patronising and annoying…

Then I thought about it…

and I WAS WRONG! IT IS AWESOME!!

That was my paranoia doing the thinking for me!

When I really thought about it this campaign is exactly what I stand for in my Real Fitness campaign. It is exactly what I have been trying to do on my own!!

Then something interesting and pretty awesome happened!

I saw a tweet from the This Girl Can to an app which allowed you to make your own poster like the one up  there! SO I thought, why not, I do stuff that is not typical and I am not a typical shape…I’ll do that! So this is what I made…

There was a bit in the info about the ads possibly being selected to be displayed in your local area, but I thought, yeah right and forgot about it completely!

So imagine my surprise when this email arrived:

well, who’d have thought it!!

Me, on electronic advertising in places where actual people may see me!! I got another email this weekend just gone saying it would be displayed again on the 11th! and apparently around the country on screens in amongst other ones just like it!

I have really done it now…not only this girl can…but this girl has to!!

It is not the end of my self doubt and automatic “i am too big” reactions, but it really has gone a long way to helping me change my perception of myself!

Published by Sam Catchpole

She/They | Aspiring Strongperson, Photographer, Artist, Writer, View all posts by Sam Catchpole