When you are young, you compare notes on fashion trends, concert venues and coffee shops. When you are retirement age, you compare notes on surgeons, hospitals and recovery times.

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Paul is my new physical therist. He’s a British guy on YouTube. The great thing about YouTube medical care is that there’s no perwork to fill out and your insurance is never questioned. Plus, your health care professional doesn’t know if you leave the workout to answer text messages.
PT Paul has been helping me with my trick knee. It can’t pull a rabbit out of a hat, but it can do other tricks. That knee had surgery twice as a kid and likes to remind me.
Because I am sometimes exuberant, I’ve been watching PT Paul twice a day doing the full regimen of knee-strengthening exercises. Now, not only my left knee hurts, but I sometimes limp, and my right hip hurts.
It’s not Paul’s fault; it’s mine. I should have taken more text message breaks.
All of which is how I found myself sitting in an orthopedic surgeon’s office. This doctor replaced both knees for a friend. When you are young, you compare notes on fashion trends, concert venues and coffee shops. When you are retirement age, you compare notes on surgeons, hospitals and recovery times.
The walls were plastered with photogrhs.
Look at this one, I chirped. A woman standing by a helicopter wrote, ‘Thanks for putting me back in the air.’
Next to that was an equestrian rider jumping a horse over a fence. Below that was a picture of a woman whacking the stuffing out of a tennis ball.
She wrote, Thanks for giving me my life back. My TKR has made all the difference. You’re the best!TKR is code for total knee replacement. I know that thanks to my translator.
This is incredible! I said. I could be flying helicopters, playing tennis and jumping horses.
My translator rolled her eyes.
The last picture showed two fellas on a wrestling mat and the inscription said, Thanks for getting me back on the mat in six weeks!
After discussion with the doctor, I opted to see how a cortisone shot would work.
I thanked him and said, You must be really good to have that fella back on a wrestling mat only six weeks after surgery.
He said the one he did surgery on was the 60-something referee standing next to the mat at the edge of the photo.
Oh, I see, I said. But tell me this, how long after surgery before I could get my pilot’s license or be jumping horses?

Source: Reading Eagle

Published: June 6, 2026 9:00 AM

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I think (or hope) most of us can agree that the concept of a body trend is damaging and, for lack of a better word, downright weird.

I think (or hope) most of us can agree that the concept of a body trend is damaging and, for lack of a better word, downright weird.
Yet, here we are, watching the media push the narrative that you must look a certain way to be considered beautiful or worthy of love and acceptance. Sometimes, the messaging is subtle, like in those moments when we’re praising a singer for representing a healthy body type, while she’s just existing in an athletic frame. Other times, it’s obnoxiously obvious, like when we witness bullying from a herd of social media users slamming an actress for having a stomach that folds when sitting.
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What a concept!
Body Types Should Not Be Trending
Now, most of us blame the harmful push of body trends on the systems that profit off our insecurities, and we’re right to do so. But unfortunately, the criticism doesn’t stop there. I see men spewing judgments as if they’re the son of Christ himself. I see women projecting their own shame onto other women. I see the media glorifying specific body types like they’re a fashion statement. I see influencers and celebrities morphing themselves into whatever beauty standard is hot that year. And it all perpetuates the harmful messaging of these toxic industries.
For many, it’s a survival instinct. We want to fit in, to belong, to be loved and accepted. In Hollywood, it might affect whether you land an acting gig or remain relevant as you age. On social media, it might mean the difference between staying small and going viral. In modeling, it can absolutely make or break your career.
I think it’s easy to blame ‘society’ as this vague, faceless thing, but industries drive our habit of treating our bodies as trends, not society, says Kelly Wakeland, LCSW, therist at Equip. It’s an intentional business model constructed by the diet and wellness industries to she how we think. If society can convince us that our natural body types are ‘out of style,’ it creates this permanent, multi-billion-dollar market. When the cultural ideal constantly shifts from extreme thinness to hyper-muscularity to curves and back again, it forces us to buy into new ‘solutions’ to an artificially created problem.
How We Fuel Exploitative Industries
In my own experience, it seems like a woman’s pearance—a woman’s body—has become the most important part of themselves to most people. For example, I’ve noticed that when someone disagrees with a female reality TV star’s behavior, they don’t just critique her personality or actions. They start attacking her looks, including her body. Now, for one, no one should ever comment on another person’s body in that way; and two, think about all the other women who share a similar body type to the one being attacked.
When we make harmful comments like this, we aren’t just criticizing one woman—we are tearing down all women by fueling a system that already preys on our insecurities.
Today, it is—unfortunately—an act of rebellion to love your body as it is, without feeling the need to skip meals, get surgery, take certain medications, or treat exercise like a full-time job. Not only is it rebellious, but it’s also nearly impossible when you’re conditioned to pick yourself art.
Because of this, more women are dropping the idea of body positivity and are instead embracing body neutrality. This looks like less I love my body and all its imperfections! and more like My body keeps me alive and allows me to experience life fully, and mt pearance is irrelevant. Both attitudes are great, but the latter might be more attainable and helpful.
In a culture that profits from self-doubt, telling someone to simply ‘love their body’ can actually bring on a lot of shame and cognitive dissonance, says Wakeland. If they don’t believe it, forcing body positivity feels like another standard they’re failing to meet. Instead, I guide people toward body neutrality: we shift the focus away from how the body looks and toward what it does—its utility, resilience, and cacity to help them experience the world. Focusing on this can help build confidence because it’s tied to something tangible.

Source: VICE

Published: June 6, 2026 10:00 AM

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