Pages

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Power Girl Hit-or-Miss


Ugh this video is a lot for me to handle. What...how...do I feel about "Power Girl Fitness," the first kids' workout I've seen that ardently mimics adult workout videos and is hosted by a 10-year-old "gymnast and national competitive dancer"? Rather than try to form a full opinion, I'm just gonna imagine the comment stream below a Jezebel post of the video.

SpinalFantasy44: OMG, Jessy Lipke's mom, put some more clothes on your daughter! I feel like Marilla Cuthbert over here. You have to consider context: a sports bra and bun-huggers might be standard fare at gymnastics camp, but in a hi-def video on the internet, it's different.
Wyf_of_Bath: Y'all, she's only 10 years old, and she's a really good presenter! No snarking allowed. But agreed re: the skin-baring. 
WaltzingMatilda: @Wyf_of_Bath is right. She's just a little girl making workouts "by girls, for girls." She raises salient points about the growing rates of childhood obesity (in 2010, one-third of US adolescents were overweight or obese) and adolescent type 2 diabetes
ChairHorowitz: @Waltzing Matilda yeah, totally the kind of stuff you used to talk about with your friends at recess! "We are part of the first generation in history that will not outlive our parents -- unless we make major lifestyle changes." This reminds me of that Mr. Show sketch where parents dress up like kids and make a public access TV show about calling home regularly and getting summer jobs.
SpinalFantasy44: You guys, I just looked at her website and her dad, the "doctor and personal trainer," is a chiropractor. But a real personal trainer.
Planterscheezballs: Jessy Lipke and her parents are fat-shamers. Also she clearly has an eating disorder.
WaltzingMatilda: @Planterscheezballs She's a prepubescent girl who's done gymnastics her whole life and has a nutritionist for a mom! Of course she looks super skinny. Doesn't mean she has an eating disorder. Some girls are just tiny.
Fernsofafeather: The website says she's Canadian, but this girl is clearly the lost member of Troop Beverly Hills.
GinghamStyle: Have you seen the comments on YouTube? She has a lot of fans. I didn't expect their to be so many devotees, but girls seem to like it. Is riding bikes and just running around outside just not feasible anymore?
Planterscheezballs: @GinghamStyle Not if you aspire to look like a Bratz doll.
Wedgesalad001: @Planterscheezballs Bratz dolls are pretty curvy, actually. Cartoonishly so, but...they're cartoons.
Habiascoitus: She's talented and pretty, but srsly WTF were this girl's parents thinking?? "Wow dear, our darling Jessy sure does love being in tip-top shape, seeing as we've been working her on the competitive dance circuit since she was 5. And if we're ever gonna be able to afford a private gymnastics coach to take her national, we may as well get her half-dressed in front of a camera shilling workout videos." smh...
Alwaysmoneyinthebananastand: What I don't get is why the video and the website seem exactly like any other adult-oriented weight loss shtick. Why do young girls need to worry about "looking GORGEOUS and feeling BEAUTIFUL"? Why do they post "success stories" that mention pounds and inches lost? Either this is about healthy girlhood or it's about adult weight loss anxiety.
GinghamStyle: @Alwaysmoneyinthebananastand 'Zactly. More focus on the former and less on the latter would greatly reduce the ick factor here -- that and less visible 10-year-old midriff. 

Aaaaaaaand, scene.



No comments:

Post a Comment