Every now and then I come across something that strikes me as so utterly ridiculous I cannot get it out of my head.
Such is the case with a recent opinion piece in the New York Times by columnist Jessica Grose, who, according to her intro, writes about religion, education and culture and is “interested in finding fresh angles on major social changes.” Finding fresh angles in our overcrowded opinion world sometimes leads down pathways best left unexplored.
Jessica’s piece, titled, “The Unrepentant Return of Christian Diet Culture” is a case in point. Her theme is that “our ever-present diet culture once again has a conservative, Christian bent to it”; she claims that “since President Trump’s return to office, there have been magazine articles tying thinness to conservative values and the idea that women should take up less physical space.” But, she says, it was the “explicit pushing of diet and exercise at the Young Women’s Leadership Summit that tied it all together for me: religiosity, conservatism, the Make America Healthy Again movement and diet culture.” Here’s her piece.
Jessica is reacting to the Young Women’s Leadership Summit, a convention of some 3,000 conservative women organized by Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk’s nonprofit that reaches out to young people. She is in particular keen to ridicule an influencer (gads I hate that term!) named Alex Clark whose comments at the Turning Point event were also mocked by Kara Voght in the Washington Post. Here’s Voght’s piece.
Clark’s theme is that young, conservative, attractive and fit women are “cool”. The right, according to Clark, has “the girls who lift weights, eat clean, have their hormones balanced, have their lives together”, and that “The left, meanwhile, has “TikTok activists with five shades of autism, panic attacks and a ring light.”
I think that’s pretty funny, but Jessica and Kara, needless to say, are offended.
I wrote a piece a couple of months ago about a sincere inquiry addressed to Vanessa Friedman, fashion guru and notorious Trump hater at the NY Times, asking, “Can I Wear a Sheath Dress Without Looking Like a MAGA Woman?” Friedman lampooned MAGA style as a “cross between a Fox newscaster and Miss Universe” that “underscores an almost cartoonish femininity that speaks to a relatively old-fashioned gender stereotype.” And yes, a sheath dress is part of the “look.”
Notice a theme here? Attractive, healthy young women on the right are ridiculed for those very attributes by women on the Left who are what…maybe jealous? Are they beginning to think that going without makeup, eating junk food and packing on the pounds isn’t hip anymore? Friedman advises women who don’t want to appear “MAGA” types to keep “your hair natural or messy…your makeup minimal and your heels low. Maybe wear boots or even flats or sneakers instead of pumps.” OK, but if you’re spending Saturday night at home alone watching Friends reruns and scarfing down the Ben & Jerry’s, no complaining.
Alex Clark urges young Turning Point women: “Less Prozac, more protein,” which seems like good advice. But Jessica responds, “Enough about protein (that macronutrient needs a rest), and grass-fed beef from Whole Foods is neither Republican nor Democratic.” Except now it is, apparently.
Basically, Grose and Voght want us to think there’s something cult-like about supporting President Trump, going to church and working out – that wanting to be healthy spiritually and physically is a toxic obsession. It’s a weird take, given that just a nanosecond ago suburban Kamala Harris voters were rushing from Soul Cyle to Whole Foods in their Lululemons, packing up their EVs with organic kale and Greek yogurt. They seem put out that the self-improvement urge has migrated to conservatives, and that it’s working for them.
But what is really absurd is denigrating eating right and exercising, wherever the inspiration originates. Our country has an obesity crisis which is driving healthcare costs through the roof. I have relatives who have taken up walking modest distances two or three times a week, and have consequently been able to stop taking medications for heart disease and blood pressure. That is a wonderful outcome; RFK Jr. is right that Americans are far too reliant on prescription drugs. Doctors are now so fearful of hurting their patients’ feelings they won’t address their weight, so central to their health.
That is just plain stupid.
