Name: Madison Mize

Social Justice Group: 2022-2023, Women’s Role and Representation in the Media (print/ads/tv)

Date of Fieldwork: December 12, 2023

Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Natalia Petrzela,

Type of Fieldwork: Interview

What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork?[:: :

We spoke with Natalia Petrzela, a professor, writer, and specialist on America’s obsession with fitness. She’s important to our topic because she has experience with the way women are represented in the media. We interviewed her over Zoom and asked her questions about her career.
Natalia wanted to educate us about a number of different ways that women’s representation in the media leads to unhealthy exercising. She explained to us how the fitness business in the 90’s was especially harmful for women and focused entirely on obtaining the beauty standard, not being healthy. Since then, fitness culture has been progressing slowly, although there are still many issues. Although most people consider exercise as a good thing, they are unaware of the significant physical and mental harm it may cause. One of the numerous ways social media may be harmful is when people watch other people exercising in the media and feel bad about how much exercise they do.
Despite the fact that exercise is very beneficial and important, some people exercise for the wrong reasons, such as trying to achieve an unrealistic body type. In order to stay healthy, people need exercise, but the way that women’s bodies are portrayed in the media isn’t always realistic, and it can make women feel as though they need to change how they look. I never thought about exercise being something that can be negative, i’m so grateful that we had the opportunity to interview Natalia.