Barbara Ehrenreich The Naked Truth About Fitness Summary

The Injuries of Healthism
Healthism cannot replace ethics. If one substitutes healthism for ethics, then one’s worldview centers around health instead of morality and virtue. Barbara Ehrenreich observes in her essay “The Naked Truth about Fitness,” that fitness becomes an idol to some. She poses that healthism can lead to a change in one’s thoughts; one may veer from striving for morality to desiring improvement of the body. Therefore, healthism distorts one’s perception of morality.
Initially, many confuse healthism with morality. Maintaining sound health is beneficial for the body, however, many exercise excessively to replace the morality in their lives. Ehrenreich explains that “… there’s a difference between health and healthism, between health as a reasonable goal and health as a

transcendent value” (2003, p. 349). Health as a transcendent value exceeds the rational realm of thinking, therefore becoming unhealthy. One can obsess over healthism to a point where morality becomes absent from his/her worldview. Healthism can be a substitute for virtue as well. Ehrenreich states that “By relocating the seat of virtue from the soul to the pecs, the abs, and the corollary arteries, we may not have become the most virtuous people on earth, but we surely became the most desperate for grace” (2003, p. 347). Healthism places value in one’s body parts instead of in virtue. He/she would rather test his/her body’s endurance and not the strength of his/her character. By exchanging morality for healthism, one becomes unable to distinguish between them.
Consequently, healthism diverts one’s focus from morality. Healthism becomes a crutch that some people lean on. Ehrenreich proposes that “… it seemed more important, or more feasible, to reform our bodies than to change the world” (2003, p. 348). Healthism becomes an excuse that allows one to sidestep difficult moral issues. Focusing on one’s own body becomes inherently easier than making the world a better place. Ehrenreich elaborates that “Bit by bit and with the best of intentions, we began to set aside the public morality of participation and protest for the personal morality of health. (2003, p. 348). Healthism infects one’s worldview, by introverting one’s sense of morality. This misdirection of focus pulls one’s devotion into the body instead of a greater sense of morality. Healthism erodes one’s sense of individual morality.
Finally, healthism controls one’s reasoning and decision-making process.

Healthism distorts a person’s worldview to a point where rational thought diminishes. Ehrenreich discloses a story of a friend’s sister’s struggle with cancer. Her “…friend confided ‘I’m sure she’s been working out.’ Not quite enough was the implication, however, despite even the frailest connection between fibroids and muscle tone” (Ehrenreich, 2003, p.349). This example shows how healthism flaws one’s reasoning. Healthism alters Ehrenreich’s friend’s worldview to where she makes connections that do not exist. Lastly, healthism is impossible to live out in full. Ehrenreich concludes that “If we believe that health is a sign of moral purity and anything less is a species of sin, then death condemns us all as failures” (2003, p.350) Mistaking moral purity for health produces healthism. If healthism becomes prominent in one’s worldview, it develops into a lens that one understands the world through. Since death is inevitable, striving for health instead of morality will leave one with a distorted view of his/her accomplishments at the end. Healthism will overcome one’s rational thoughts and warp one’s

worldview.
Although fixating on health will alter one’s moral awareness, health in moderation is beneficial. If healthism misleads a person, it takes the place of his/her morality. He/she strives to improve his/her own body rather than live morally. Likewise, healthism pulls one’s attention away from focusing on morality. It becomes an excuse to avoid difficult ethical issues. When healthism takes root in one’s thoughts, it distorts the manner in which he/she draws conclusions. Healthism controls how one perceives the world around him/her. If one allows it to, healthism creates an illusion of morality that will distort one’s worldview.