I used to post a lot more fit reviews on this blog with pictures of myself but for the past several months I’ve posted very few of these because of a few negative comments left in the past that really hurt my feelings and just left me feeling like ‘why bother sharing’. Over time I’ve come around and on occasion have posted a few more fit reviews but I did lose the desire to share because honestly, it only takes a few brutal anon comments to send a person into a tail spin of self doubt. I don’t have tough skin and I know I’m a work in progress, I work hard to be fit (and I am pretty fit) but lets face it, I have a long way to go and I’m ok with where I’m at (when I’m not reminded of my shortcomings)
Some of you may know that I try and moderate with a heavy hand any comments that are left that are derogatory, mean spirited or overtly judgemental towards the pictures of educators. I rely on the pictures posted by the stores educators for image content and when comments are left that are disrespectful towards them it really gets under my skin. My blog would be extremely boring without the participation of store educators agreeing to have their images shared on the web. I think sometimes these types of comments are left because the sender feels they are just harmless snark, and also because when you see the model you don’t think of them as a real person that will read and react to what is said about themselves and internalize it. A few months ago I was told by an educator I’m friendly with that a comment was left on my blog about one of her co workers and it had her in tears. The store held a group meeting to discuss this and several of the educators cried that day and felt really discouraged. It really breaks my heart that I in a way contributed to those hurt feelings by publishing their photos and providing a place where comments can be left anonymously. I try hard to moderate quickly but I’m not always fast enough.
Last week, I posted about Lululemons latest ad featuring the Lululemon model and ambassador Jenn Thiel posing just like Ryan Kesler. She looked amazing and athletic and truly something to aspire to. Comments where left (around the interwebs, not necessarily here and not something I saw specifically) that were offensive to Jenn. In response to that she wrote a post on her blog about it over here. I wanted to bring her post to your attention so that we can all see that the people we are commenting on are actually reading what is written and they are affected by what we say and how we say it. It’s too easy to blurt out something that feels snarky and witty at the time (I guess to put out to the world the negativity we sometimes feel inside) and move about our day from there like we didn’t just use our words as bullets. These barbed comments happen in all of the Lulu forums and I saw one recently that was along the lines of “this is the first photo I’ve seen of this top where it actually looks good on someone“. Seems harmless enough except that it was posted to an audience full of people that posted images of themselves in the very same top. It’s too easy to chalk comments like that up to ignorance. I think were all capable and guilty at one time or another making offhand statements like this. I think we can do better and be more mindful of what it is we are actually saying.
Anyways, have a look at her lovely blog and see the person behind our product alert images. She seems like a really nice and very interesting person with more to her than just product shots.
Also, thank you to the commenter that left me a link to her blog post.
