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theguardian.com: Why I was sweat-shamed as I waited for my coffee at Starbucks


Destino

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I was ordering coffee when I noticed a well-dressed woman staring at me.

 

“You look like you just did a class,” she said, giving me the once-over. I had no idea what she meant so I said nothing.

 

“Or swimming?” she offered, with a tight smile.

 

Oh, that. I’d just run 12 miles and the hair sticking out from under my hat was wet. It took me a moment to formulate an answer.

 

“Um, running,” I mumbled finally. “I just … sweat a lot.”

 

I took the paper cup of drip coffee and hustled past the condiment bar. Screw the half-and-half; I’d drink it black.

Once safely inside my car, I threw off my damp running cap and flipped up the hood of my sweatshirt in embarrassment. I wanted to dive deep into that Lululemon Scuba and never come back up for air.

 

Eventually the caffeine kicked in and it hit me: I’d been sweat-shamed. Sweat-shaming is when someone points out your sweatiness as a way to signal disapproval. Like its counterparts, slut-shaming and fat-shaming, sweat-shaming is aimed mainly at women, who are actually not supposed to sweat at all.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/30/sweat-shamed-waited-for-my-coffee-at-starbucks

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Ummm... really? Sounds like the lady this happened to was already self conscious about sweating and that woman struck a nerve with simple conversation banter.

 

Also, "women, who are actually not supposed to sweat at all"...the hell? Every woman I know that runs sweats. Every woman getting it at the gym sweats. I didn't realize this was even an issue.

 

Hell, I find it sexy when a woman is killin' it at the gym and sweating.

 

Edit: This commenter hit the nail on the head.

 

In this case she's obviously consumed with guilt that she looks like she's been on a twelve mile run after she's been on a twelve mile run - instead of than being the model of femininity that she (and probably no one else) thinks she ought to be in those circumstances. So rather than accept what was probably meant as a compliment on her athleticism, she decides she's being 'sweat-shamed'.

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WashingtonPost did a follow up.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/10/01/sweat-shaming-a-womans-workout-humiliation/

 

Unfortunately, Roe said, there was also the possibility she would be perceived as a maniac for bringing up this issue in the first place.

 

“I hope I don’t don’t end up sounding like a crazy victim type person,” Roe said. “First-world problems, the height of liberal PC or whatever. I don’t want to come across that way, but that’s the chance you take.”

hahaha

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Though I'd never call it shaming, because I'm not ridiculously over sensitive nor of the habit of assigning the worst motives to the words of others, people do react to someone sweating in areas where you'd normally not encounter it.  Sweat like an animal on a basketball court and no one cares.  Sweat like an animal at the office and someone may call an ambulance.  If you walk into a starbucks and you're the only one leaving puddles behind as you the line shuffles forward and someone may make a joke.  Largely depends on where the starbucks is, the one I go to is near a gym and always full of people ready to guzzle down all the calories they burned off moments ago. 

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New and creative humblebrag

 

Yeah. It's not someone who is sweaty after walking around the block because they are a fatass. She didn't say she'd been for a run. She didn't say she'd been jogging for a couple of hours. She said 12 miles. Anyone who runs 12 miles regularly really doesn't give a **** how they look or what other people think.

 

And if they did, they would go home and take a shower before going to get their precious latte.

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Mistook title for sweet shamed, immediately thought of people who sweeten their coffees with a sugar-silo's worth of sugar, and a ****in year's worth of a farm's milk production. These people, they have a half and half/sugar drink for breakfast. Mike Bibby is a darker shade than their drinks. You might as well eat Crisco for breakfast and dab a few instant coffee crystals on your tongue.

How's that for shaming?

I be sweatin' up in stores all the time, since I like to run/walk places when I can. Summertime, forget about it. My bank tellers have always been especially rude. I like to sprint uphill before I go there now, especially from June to September, and even after September if it stays above 80. Oh man, when I went there this past summer, I couldn't get something right with my account, and I was already ****in' brutalized from a run there. It was like Monsoon season on ole d0uble here. Drops of sweat all over the place. Cleanup on aisle 1. Go run and shame that, homeboy.

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I will regularly walk into Einstein Bagels after morning hockey games, just reeking of some of the worst sweat you could imagine...

IDGAF

My opinion of Einstein Bagels has been tainted by the on-campus Einstein. You'd be lucky to get your food in 20 minutes if nobody was in line ahead of you; I wish that was an exaggeration. My friend ordered his food one time and then the entire staff went on break before serving him. They may have been the only place to serve food in the Engineering Building or immediate vicinity, but it was still faster to walk half-way across campus to get food somewhere else.

/rant

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