Food Psych #244: Fighting Racism, Misogyny, and Transphobia in Fitness Culture and the World at Large with Ilya Parker

Photographer: Khali MacIntyre

Coach and educator Ilya Parker of Decolonizing Fitness joins us to discuss moving away from toxic fitness culture toward an intuitive relationship with movement, how diet culture has shape-shifted to hide its racist roots, the experience of being a Black trans person trying to get gender-affirming medical care, toxic masculinity in white trans-masculine culture, and so much more. Plus, Christy answers a listener question about how health and mental-health providers with various forms of privilege can work to help create a weight-inclusive world without perpetuating systems of oppression. 

Ilya (pronouns he/they) is a grassroots organizer and educator whose work centers gender, racial and healing justice. He is also a Physical Therapist Assistant and Medical Exercise Coach. Ilya decided to merge their love for restorative based movement practices and community advocacy to create Decolonizing Fitness, LLC which is a social justice platform that provides affirming fitness services, community education and apparel in support of body diversity. Find him online at DecolonizingFitness.com.

We Discuss:

  • The restrict-binge cycle that Ilya and his family went through with food growing up

  • The gender policing that Ilya experienced of his food and body as a person who was assigned female at birth

  • How their relationship with food growing up is/was reflected in their relationship with food as an adult

  • How his transition helped him to become a more mindful and intuitive eater

  • The medical gatekeeping he experienced during his transition

  • The power imbalance between doctors and Black trans patients

  • Ilya’s family lineage of activists

  • How diet culture has shape-shifted to hide its racist roots

  • Christy’s reflections on how she perpetuated white supremacy and diet culture earlier in her career

  • How diet culture often blames poor health on a person’s food choices, ignoring other factors like stress and social determinants of health

  • Internalized ableism, and how it often leads to self-blame when living with a chronic condition

  • Social media as a resource for body liberation

  • White trans-masculine culture and how it perpetuates toxic masculinity

  • How the “violation of patriarchy” often exposes trans folks to violence

  • Ilya and Christy’s experiences shifting their work from diet culture to an anti-diet perspective

  • The importance of representation of different types of bodies

  • How Ilya’s relationship with movement has changed from toxic fitness culture to intuitive movement

  • How the “no pain, no gain” mindset pushed Ilya to his breaking point

  • Ways of engaging in movement when you have chronic pain

  • How he is making his services accessible to more people

  • Fitness trainers’ scope of practice

  • Trauma-informed practice

Resources Mentioned

Some of the links below are affiliate links. Affiliates or not, we only recommend products and services that align with our values.

Listener Question of the Week

How can folks with privileged identities advocate for fat positivity and anti-diet culture without perpetuating systems of oppression? How can a person speak about marginalized groups without speaking for them? Why is it important to take imperfect action rather than no action at all? What are concrete examples of actions that allies can take?

Resources Mentioned: 

  • Ericka Hines’s work

 
Christy HarrisonBlack, BIPOC, POC, LGBTQ, trans, transgender, queer, restrict-binge cycle, mindful eating, intuitive eating, healthcare, medicine, activism, diet culture, racism, fitness culture, fitness, white supremacy, social determinants of health, ableism, chronic disease, social media, toxic masculinity, patriarchy, oppression, representation, movement, trauma, privilege, allyship, advocacy, anti-diet, S720