College Removes Weight Scale From Campus Gym After Students Call it ‘Triggering’

[mjr]

A scale is now "triggering" people!?

Really? Really?

https://heatst.com/culture-wars/carl...it-triggering/

As someone in the article asks, "what's next? Mirrors?"

Although it seems like, based on the article, that the college is coming to it's senses and is "reconsidering" the decision.

Solution: put Play-Doh, crayons, coloring books, and boxes of tissue on a table next to the scale.

[Bloodsoul]

…and immediately my first thought is Bart Simpson waving the Play-Doh can before his father as the latter was trying to gain weight.

"Dad, it's non-toxic!"

[Tanasi]

I don't remember where I saw it but I viewed a Millennial Fallout Shelter sign that featured puppies, playdoh and a blankie (I think) and a snow flake at the bottom. I showed it to my wife, she thought it was amusing my 19yo daughter wasn't so amused.

[Greenday]

Why are you so offended by people not wanting to have a scale in there?

Does anyone else find it ironic that the biggest trigger there is involves using the word trigger which then offends all these other people.

Weight scales are known for causing an unhealthy obsession with weight. It becomes all about losing pounds instead of losing bad weight/gaining good. It results in a lot of people developing eating disorders.

Does it really benefit the gym in any way to have it in there?

[mjr]

Why are you so offended by people not wanting to have a scale in there?

Never said I found it offensive. Just think it's stupid that people get so upset that there's a scale there. A scale that they don't even have to use if they don't want to. Just the mere fact that they're getting "triggered" by the mere presence of a scale. An inanimate object that sits on the floor, that is optional to use if one so chooses.

These folks are gonna have it tough in the real world, if a scale sets them off.

Weight scales are known for causing an unhealthy obsession with weight.

Among many other things. Sometimes you can use it in conjunction with your measurements to get a rough approximation of body fat, if you're tracking that thing. Because if you're 210 pounds, and your body fat is 27%, that's vastly different than being 210 pounds and having a body fat of 19%.

Also, why do hospitals and doctor's offices have scales? Are these same people gonna get "triggered" by that?

And as far as the usage of the word "triggered". It's dumb to begin with. What exactly is being "triggered"? Butthurt feelings? Negative emotions? What?

And there's a difference, at least to me, in saying someone is "triggered", and someone objects (note my choice of word) to the gym having a scale.

Does it really benefit the gym in any way to have it in there?

Does it benefit them to not have it? I would wager that a LARGE majority of the people that go to that gym have no issues with the scale, and many of them probably use it.

[TheHuckster]

Why are you so offended by people not wanting to have a scale in there?

Because other people want a scale in there, and contrary to your insinuation, not everyone who weighs themselves has an eating disorder. If the presence of an object near them causes an adverse emotional reaction, they need therapy.

Weight scales are known for causing an unhealthy obsession with weight. It becomes all about losing pounds instead of losing bad weight/gaining good. It results in a lot of people developing eating disorders.

So can mirrors, fast food restaurants, and beauty magazines. Perhaps a better solution is to train people on how to use the metrics effectively rather than remove the tools completely.

Does it really benefit the gym in any way to have it in there?

It even says right in the article some athletes need to know their weight in order to know their weight class.

[mjr]

my 19yo daughter wasn't so amused.

I mean no offense to you, but She probably found a modicum of truth in it, and didn't like it. Because you, as the non-millennial, "don't understand" how things are.

[Daskinor]

Well, I have to say I am with MJR on this one.

I use a scale every day at the gym. I weigh myself before I work out, and after I work out.

Its not a total weight or body fat thing. Its I ran 10 miles on the treadmill and burned 2000 kCals of energy. During the workout I lost 6 pounds. So using math I burned .5 lbs of energy and the rest is water. So I need to drink over a half gallon of water during the next hour.

That is why I use a scale at the gym.

[MadMike]

Does it really benefit the gym in any way to have it in there?

I like to check my weight before I start working out, even though I don't like what I'm seeing on the scale these days.

As far as the people who don't like having the scale there, couldn't they just... you know, not use it?

[Tanasi]

I mean no offense to you, but She probably found a modicum of truth in it, and didn't like it. Because you, as the non-millennial, "don't understand" how things are.

I'm not offended at all, she didn't like being lumped in with the "snow-flakes" not that I blame her. After this past election several of her class-mates and professors threw a cry/whine in out where everyone and the press could see them. As she was leaving a nearby building while this was going on, she was invited to participate. She declined and told the invitor that she didn't have time or inclination to participate. Word spread amongst her peers and she caught some crap from them and the professors. Thankfully she graduated this past December, she's 19 and ready for grad school at another university.

[Blue Ginger]

As far as the people who don't like having the scale there, couldn't they just... you know, not use it?

But but but that would be logical. And don't you know that every one needs to be wrapped in bubble wrap and protected from having to see or do anything that might hurt their precious feelings?

Dear Dog, a scale is not scary. It won't bite if you ignore it. No one is making you stand on it at gunpoint.

[mjr]

Dear Dog, a scale is not scary.

The snowflakes in the story think so.

[D_Yeti_Esquire]

*Odd Tangent Incoming*

I like to live in the real world so I tend to read a lot of scientific articles or links to them. So on the one hand I sort of find this funny, in that "it's a scale - deal". But I also find the science of body weight fascinating.

For instance, recently it's been genetically mapped that European descended tend to have been naturally selected to process grains and carbs better, which makes sense considering how agrarian they were. Inuits or African descendants appear to digest meat more easily (which makes sense considering no one in my family seems to be able to be a voracious meat eater past 50 without paying a considerable health penalty.) Why that happened was sexual fitness in those regions (we're talking spans of 10,000 years here). Not relavant, but a fun data point and one that suggests some people not living in the real world tend to view fitness along racial lines in a warped way.

But to loop this back around, so when we talk about fat-shaming I think it's relevant to point out that it's also been debunked as a "positive" for weight change results in the afflicted. In other words, fat people do worse when they are shamed. But again, if you think about it in terms of "sexual fitness", it makes complete evolutionary sense others shame them. By doing so, it increases their status and helps ensure less competition. There's the humanistic "why would you" and the instinctual, subconcious "this helps me."

So in a way I also don't find it silly, the use of "triggering" as it is a term that seeks to sociologically short circuit a natural advantage of average or thin (on a Western diet). As a sociological response, it makes total scientific sense in terms of attempting to derive and change societal perception of sexual fitness which makes complete sense.

And that's my entirely too many scientific articles perception of the whole affair. It's just one group that receives the societal end of the short stick attempting to change things from the much larger group that takes advantage of the situation.

[Greenday]

As far as the people who don't like having the scale there, couldn't they just... you know, not use it?

Can an alcoholic go to a club and just not drink?

It's the whole point of addiction. The short answer is no, they cannot.

[TheHuckster]

Can an alcoholic go to a club and just not drink?

It's the whole point of addiction. The short answer is no, they cannot.

...and yet you find alcoholic beverages all over public places, since just because some people have problems with certain objects doesn't mean it's everyone else's responsibility to remove said objects from their view. Using the very argument you're proposing here, we shouldn't have alcoholic beverages present in public places.

I know of people who are strict vegetarians and can feel physically sick if they even smell meat. That doesn't mean the college cafeterias should remove all meat products.

Perhaps they can move the scales to a less prominent area. If the article was about doing that, I'd smile and move on, but the fact that all someone has to do is complain about it and it's removed entirely, inconveniencing everyone else, that's what I have a problem about.