14 STARTING LINESRANTILLUSTRATION: MICHELLE SCHRANTZDuring my commute the other
day, I saw a woman running up a
steep incline near the local uni-
versity campus. She was pushing
a jogging stroller containing a
kid that was more toddler than
infant. The sun was scorching,
the sidewalk pavement was
uneven, and this lady was eff ort-
lessly moving what was easily
an extra 50 pounds up the hill.
What a boss.
The guy next to me on the train
was less impressed: “Ugh,” he
groaned, with a look of disgust.
“She needs to put a shirt on.”
Were we looking at the same
woman? I saw toughness per-
sonifi ed, and all he could see was
unappealing post-baby fl esh in
a sports bra. Granted, I live in
conservative Utah, where a bare
shoulder, much less an exposed
midriff , is considered obscene.
But make no mistake—these
comments happen everywhere.
In Texas, a friend of mine was
heckled about his weight while
waiting at a crosswalk mid-run.
On Facebook, an acquaintance’s
race photo was turned into a
scathing meme without her
consent—apparently, when skin
ripples and jiggles while running,
it’s hilarious! (Note: It was not
hilarious.) A sneering clerk at a
running store in California once
suggested I might want to wear
tights, not shorts, to cover my
cellulite. Until that moment, I
didn’t even know I had cellulite.SKIN DEEP
Don’t let body shamers stop
you from feeling comfortable
in your own skin.
BY SUSAN LACKEKKKIt’s really no one’s place to
judge someone’s body, and yet
it happens again and again.
We’ve become a culture where
any so-called body imperfection
brings on the scorn of society: If
you have love handles or bingo
wings or even a smidgen of body
fat, you best cover that up. If
you’re too skinny, you need to
eat a sandwich. You don’t have
the body type to wear split
shorts (or leggings, or tank tops,
or anything but this very large
potato sack.) Never mind that
it’s a hot summer day, or that
you have the audacity to love the
skin you’re in. Put a shirt on! Noone needs to see that.
Those words echo in my brain
sometimes while I’m wishing
away my newly discovered
cellulite.
But then I think, why do I care
so much? I can’t change the way
people view my body—or any-
one else’s, for that matter—but I
can choose not to let it get under
my skin. My dimply, bouncing,
awesome, amazing skin. You see,
if there’s anything running has
taught me, it’s that I’m strong
and healthy. Toughness per-
sonifi ed, like the lady with the
stroller. Like a boss.
So this summer, I’m donningmy split shorts on my run, cel-
lulite be damned. While I’m at
it, I’m going to try to counter-
act the bodyshaming of others
by being more vocal about the
awesome things the body can
do, like pushing giant babies
up hills at an eight-minute mile
pace. Because if there’s one thing
I’ve learned from that moment
on the train, it’s this: Every body
is pretty amazing.Susan Lacke’s fi rst book, Life’s
Too Short to Go So F*cking
Slow (2017, VeloPress), will be
released in November.CM0617_FOB_SL.indd 14 5/11/17 3:35 PM