Feminist reflections on fitness, sport, and health
Author: Diane Harper
Diane Harper is a retired former public servant who lives and swims (and bikes) in Ottawa. In her hobby life, she is Siglinde Harfnerstochter, a 6th C Merovingian housewife from the city of Metz. Her primary interests are cooking, textile arts and bonecarving. Siglinde lives in the canton of Caldrithig, Barony of Skraeling Althing, Kingdom of Ealdormere.
Nobody is looking at you. Everyone is too busy figuring out their own stroke. And the water genuinely does not care. The people who have said something about your body are not in the pool doing the work. You are.
That automatically makes you the athlete in the room. Not them. Get in the water. You belong there.
These words of wisdom come from Aishwarya Jagdish, an Indian triathlete on Threads.
I came across her post shortly after a particularly busy shift at work. All three pools were packed because it’s March Break in Ontario.
I was scanning for safety but couldn’t help but notice how relaxed people were about wearing what made them happy, instead of what media tells you is “right”. I admired the huge variety of people wearing everything from tiny bikinis to swim dresses, T-shirts and leggings on all different bodies.
I love this image of four women in a variety of swimsuits, which I found in Catherine’s post from five years ago about what women over 50 should wear for swimming.
Most were there to play with their kids rather than swimming in the lap pool, but the principle holds whether you are training for a race or building sandcastles at the beach.
Forget those images of lifeguards and swimmers with teeth sparkling white in their tanned faces. Apparently, swimmer’s teeth is a thing.
What is it and how does it happen? Apparently the chlorine and other pool chemicals can change the ph in your mouth, leading the discolouration, tartar, and even softened, cracked teeth. A swimmer friend brought it to my attention, and the consensus in our little group is that it can be a real issue.
All three of us have more than normal tartar at every dental check-up, and one has issues with discolouration and cracking. I’m curious about how many members of our respective swim clubs also suffer from it.
The advice to manage it all seems to boil down to: brush your teeth, especially before exercising; drink plenty of water; avoid sugary drinks and snacks; get to the dentist regularly.
This is good advice for everyone, so I’ll tuck this information away, keep up with my dental hygiene, and swim as often as possible in lakes or rivers.
A woman in a grey bathing cap and goggles shows off her smile from a pool with dark blue water.
International Women’s Day fell on the same day as many places switched to daylight saving time this year. It was coincidence, but felt particularly cruel at a time when women’s rights are being rolled back in many places, and violent conflict is putting increasing numbers of women and girls at risk.
Anne Cherkowski, Natalie Spooner, and Vanessa Upson traded their 24s for 23s in recognition of the 23-hour International Women’s Day. And the PEHL ran a $23 fundraiser to support helping girls get into and stay in hockey.
L to R: Vanessa Upson of the Minnesota Frost, Anne Cherkowsky of the New York Sirens, and Natalie Spooner of the Toronto Sceptres, in their special International Women’s Day jerseys. Photo courtesy of @thepwhlofficial.
Others had a slightly different take. One friend, who had been at the Beijing International Women’s Conference in 1995, reflected on how hopeful things had been then, and now here we are.
Another friend, who had also been at Beijing, didn’t even mention it. She was too busy being worried about friends who might be caught up in the war in the Middle East, where at least 165 Iranian school girls were killed in an attack on their school. That story has barely caused a ripple in Canada. Compare that with the massive international outcry over the Chibok school girls in 2014.
On top of the open conflicts, we have smaller attacks on women’s rights: whether it’s making proof of identity more difficult, thus locking women out of the right to vote, women being bullied for supposedly using the “wrong” washroom, the impact of return to office policies because women who carry a large burden of child care and other invisible labour must suddenly scramble to find daycare and elder care options that allow them to manage commutes on top of their paid workday.
In the aquafit class I lifeguarded earlier today, there was a younger middle-aged woman with an older man. Sometimes they would hold hands while doing exercises. I assumed he was her father (or someone similar) and she was providing support. Turns out she is blind and he is her guide. Aquafit really is for everyone.
Image says “Aquafit for All”, with a background of people standing in a swimming pool doing Aquafit. from the instagram account of aquafitforall.org, which has the mandate of making aquatics accessible for everyone.
This is an anecdote, not a study result so take it for what it’s worth to you.
I needed some prescriptions refilled so I went to my doctor to get the annual testing done to confirm I still had the correct dose. He sent me a message saying that he recommended doubling my cholesterol medication because I am pre-diabetic (I am not) and have a history of heart disease.
I pushed back, pointing out that similar testing had been done at the heart institute three months prior, and the results were well within normal ranges for fasting blood tests. While my non-fasting results at the clinic were a little higher, they were still normal. This led to some back-and-forth about risk factors as a heart patient.
I wasn’t happy with what I was hearing so booked another appointment to discuss in person. I am “lucky” enough to have results of a recent CT scan on my femoral arteries, an angiogram, and a carotid ultrasound. All showed that my arteries are very clear. My heart disease is a mechanical thing that will be fixed with surgery. He admitted he doesn’t normally have access to that level of information so started to shift his approach.
He moved on to lifestyle and how I was possibly still high risk. Eating patterns: near-vegetarian who pays close attention to fibre intake. Exercise: at least 5 hours of moderate to intense movement each week. Weight: yup, it’s heavier than BMI recommendations, but it’s also mostly solid muscle (see previous note on exercise) and it has remained unchanged for over 30 years.
Diane in one of her favourite fat athlete photos. She is wearing a colourful bikini and blue cap. She is holding her orange float for open water swims and posing in the Ottawa River on a grey and cloudy day.
In short, I am a case study on why medical professionals should not rely on weight to judge overall health.
In the end, he agreed that my risk assessment should drop from high to low. My medication will not be changing.
Thanks fellow bloggers, especially Sam and Catherine, for writing so often about this issue and giving me the courage to speak up.
Today I turn 65. I already belong to a Facebook group called Senior Lifeguards.
I just finished my skills of the month which are basically the same as the fitness tests for my National Lifeguard certification. I redid that qualification a month ago.
It sometimes seems like a crazy thing to do this job, but I love it. Happy birthday though me!
The back of my red pinny folded to show the words lifeguard/sauveteur in whire, with my green whistle attached by a cord so it’s handy in case of emergencies.
My surgery story is much shorter than Sam’s saga of two knee surgeries that were supposed to happen through the COVID years. In fact, not much more than a year after I was diagnosed with a heart murmur, I’m expecting heart valve replacement surgery March 13.
In the past few weeks I have had an angiogram and a CT scan. I have been working on my pre-hab, which mostly means making sure I can get up and down without using my hands. I can do chairs, stairs, and – on a good day – even get down and back up off the floor.
I’m not entirely certain what will happen next. Much will depend on the kind of surgery I get. From what I have read, I could be home in a day or two with a fairly easy recovery. Or I could be looking at 5 days in hospital with at least 4-6 weeks of doing nothing strenuous.
Either way, it’s pretty clear I won’t be lifeguarding again until I get retested and demonstrate I meet the physical requirements. Even though it means I’ll have to give up work for a while, I’m excited!
Now that the Olympics have ended, I’m looking back and reflecting on the women in their 40s and 50s who competed. There may be more. Every one of them did amazing things over their careers, not just at the Olympics.
Clockwise from top left: Claudia Riegler (Olympics.com), Deanna Stelatto-Dudek (Skate Canada); Lindsey Vonn (Getty Images); Elana Meyers Taylor (Aijaz Rahi – AP); Kailee Humphries (https://www.self.com/story/kaillie-humphries); Sarah Schleper (The Aspen Times)
Claudia Riegler, 52, Austrian snowboarder in her 5th Olympics. She has never won an Olympic medal, but has captured three medals at world championships. She is the oldest woman to compete at any Winter Olympics.
Deanna Stellato-Dudek 42, Canadian pairs figure skater in her 1st Olympics. She originally competed as an individual skater but retired in 2001. She returned to competition in 2016 as a pairs skater for the USA. In 2019, she began skating with her Canadian partner and began the process of seeking Canadian citizenship so that she could compete at Milano-Cortina. Just days before the Olympics began, she was injured in training and was only cleared to compete a few days before their event. Despite that, the pair placed 11th overall.
Lindsey Vonn, 41, American alpine skier in her 5th Olympics. The three-time Olympic medalist crashed and broke her leg in Milano-Cortina.
Elana Meyers Taylor 41, American bobsledder in her 5th Olympics. She has previously won 5 Olympic medals and just won her first gold. She has now taken over the title as the oldest individual gold medalist in Winter Olympic history. She also extended her streak as the most-decorated Black athlete in the winter games.
Kaillie Humphries 40, Canadian-American bobsledder in her 6th Olympics. Humphries competed for Canada 2010-2014 before switching to the US team. She has won 6 Olympic medals, including two Bronze in Milano-Cortina.
Sarah Schleper 46, Mexican-American alpine skier in her 7th Olympics and part of the first mother-son Olympic duo with her 18 year old son. Schleper competed for the USA team 1998-2010, and for Mexico since 2018.
Just for fun, I’m adding Midori Ito, 56, Japanese singles figure skater. Ito won silver at the 1992 Olympics, landing the first triple Axel in competition, and was the first woman to land seven triples (at the Calgary Olympics in 1988). Although her Wikipedia page says she retired in 1992, she is still skating and won at the Master’s Elite level in 2024 – and clearly is still enjoying herself.
Race Against Time takes on a whole new meaning as you age. I’m no longer trying to get faster. I’m just trying to stave off what feels like the inevitable crumbling.
The orange silhouette of a woman is superimposed on a white clock face and black background, with the words Race against Time in blue, white and orange letters on the right side of the image. The image was found at: https://ability360.org/uncategorized/august-18-race-against-time/
That ankle injury I wrote about back in December is still bothering me. The muscle tightness is easing, but it looks increasingly like I have a partially torn hamstring.
While I wait for an ultrasound (next week, yay!) I am continuing with my other health care providers, who are giving me more exercises to do. It’s all good advice, but it’s a lot!
My massage therapist has had me doing at least 10 minutes of yin yoga each day. I have chosen to do YouTube videos to relax before bed. Sometimes they are done IN bed, which is rather nice, as well as being easy on my knees.
My physiotherapist has assigned balance exercises. My Pilates class focuses on bone health, fall prevention, and building up our cores so we can get up off the floor easily. This has proven surprisingly difficult, so every day I am trying to add in extra strength exercises and as many of the class exercises as I can remember.
Of course I am continuing with my regular activities. I made the mistake of doing absolutely nothing except a bit of yoga one weekend, and I felt like I could barely walk by Sunday night. Never again will I doubt the importance of active rest. Motion is clearly lotion for my body.
These cartoon bottles of lotion wearing blue caps and doing various exercises on a green background made me happy. The image is from the Queensland Health Facebook page, posted June 23, 2025.
Someone, somewhere, recommended I read the book If You Can’t Take the Heat, by Geraldine DeRuiter. I put it on my TBR list and forgot about it until I was looking for something from the library and picked it up. I’m glad I did.
Geraldine DeRuiter (everywhereist.com) is known as a food writer, but this isn’t exactly a food book. It’s mostly a biography, but filled with both biting feminist commentary and hilarious turns of phrase. I don’t mark up books, or use bookmarks to remember particularly interesting bits in books I’m reading, but this one is full of sticky notes. Here are a few of my favourite lines:
From page 11 of the first chapter, entitled “the First Taste of Defiance”: I wouldn’t touch hot dogs, but consumed pig’s feet and boiled cow’s tongue with all the restraint of an underfed hyena, delighting in my cousins’ and brother’s horror. (This was when I knew I would love the book).
It’s a hard thing to learn: that we can ask things of other people, that we can order food how we want it. That our bodies deserve to be nourishing and loved and fed the way we want them to be.
On being trapped in the kitchen preparing Thanksgiving dinner with the other women of her family: Growing up, I had plenty of examples of men cooking…In my ruthless assessment, when someone could not cook, they’d failed at adulthood. But I found myself judging women slightly more harshly than I judged me when I discovered they were inept in the kitchen. I simply expected lore of them, at least culinarily, which was unfair to everyone…I’ve accepted the feminist notion that women can do everything, but the idea that we don’t have to do certain things is taking a bit longer to sink in.
On paying at restaurants: By not endeavouring to imagine that [women] might be the ones picking up the bill, the staff is not regarding them as legitimate patrons of the restaurant. They are there as accessories for the male guests. Given the transactional role that biting a woman dinner has historically carried in Western society, the entire situation becomes even more fraught.
On coping with anxiety by amassing food in case of disaster: My favourite part of any survival story is the acquisition of food and water…I love when the befriend a dog, which people in disaster stories almost always do, because it adds dimension to the story, but also because dogs are edible!
The contents of my pantry would not stop my father from getting cancer, would not prevent my mother from forgetting a portion the stove and burning down the house she had lived in for twenty-five years. I was ignoring the first precious word in the phrase “comfort food” – that in order to comfort, the grief and pain have already arrived. The casserole delivered in the wake of a tragedy does not reach back and undo the devastation. But…it reminds us, at a time when we so desperately need it, that we are loved.
According to the psychologist Sandra Thomas, a leading researcher in the field of gender and anger, anger is often perceived as a distinctly masculine trait….In that same vein, women are taught that anger is undermined, and to suppress, it, until one day we drop dead from a lifetime of biting our own tongues.
On body image: I had very distinct dietary goals. I wanted to outlive all of these assholes and be healthy enough to dance on their graves.
It’s not all snappy one-liners and fury. Her struggles as a child in a chaotic and sometimes abusive household, her complicated feelings about her mostly-absent father, the misogyny and hate she has faced for daring to have opinions in the public sphere are all laid bare. But she has great tenderness for her parents, her friends, and most of all, her husband.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up this book. But I’m very glad I did.
My library copy of If you Can’t Take the Heat. It has a pink cover with a woman’s hand crushing a frosted pastry. A whole bunch of blue sticky notes are hanging out the side.
