the new body capital

Our body is part of our future capital and looking healthy and attractive plays a vital part in most people’s life strategy. Not surprising, since the right appearance equates to success in securing the right job, the right partner - and even in people’s estimation of our worth. For beautiful people will probably also earn more money than their plainer peer group.

In a survey by V.E.N.U.S. – Studie 2002 and the magazine freundin.com, 42 per cent of the 20-29 years old questioned said it’s important to look good when you are sexually intimate with another person. Perhaps not good news for fulfilling sex lives, since an estimated 56 per cent of all women in Germany are unhappy with their looks.

In practise this quest for outer beauty means more time on the treadmill. German health club memberships have risen from 1.7 million in 1990 to 5.08 million in 2002. Over the same period, the number of German health clubs has increased from 4,100 to 6,500. A steep rise, but not enough to match the march for fitness -so the queue for the treadmill is getting longer than ever.

Life has become a personal ‘sports’ game says Sonja Ehmer from Nike Women. ‘To survive in today’s performance society women have to be both mentally and bodily fit. A strong and stress-resistant body is an asset.’ She adds: ‘many women look upon life as a competition: It is not about winning or losing but about scoring “good” points.’ So in other words, how you play the game really counts.

The business of well-being
We are working more than ever and that means we are constantly under pressure or exposed to stress. Statistics shows that 29 per cent of women (in comparison to 22 per cent of men) always make a big effort to look their best when they’re working. A competitive peer group and a ‘life in the fast lane’ mentality rule the day in our working lives and the women who display the right attitude will get to the top of the pile. Never mind that the projects and assignments employers give their workers are getting more complex and with less time to complete them satisfactorily.

In Germany a third of employees are suffering from some kind of physical pain – be it back pain or allergies - and on a yearly bases more than 25 million Euro are paid to the NFS. However women are more open to treatment, since 60 per cent of them, in comparison to only 16 per cent of men, visit the doctor frequently or are taking measures to protect themselves against illness. Generally, women are also leading healthier lives – drinking and smoking less than men and taking fewer risks.

Even though women are better at recognising their body’s vital signs than men, both sexes are ill equipped to cope with long-term stress. So maybe going to work should carry a government health warning? What is certain is that employers have a vital role to play in easing their employees’ into the fast lane. In accountancy terms: workers’ bodies are a profitable long-term investment – providing resources to maintain their well-being protects the company’s ‘body capital’.

Easier said than done. But what is certain is that this cannot be achieved through passivity. Employers need to acknowledge the importance of creating work/life balance. But they also have to recognise that life has moved up a gear and they must equip their staff to cope with the realities of the ‘speed economy’. This is about maximising workers’ energy but also allowing them space for ‘refuelling’. In business results count, so its’ worth investing to increase workers’ staying power.

Healthy messages in an unhealthy world
But perhaps low self-image is another message employers need to take on board. Women are critical both of themselves and of other women. Many think that a good body matters more than a good education. Tight t-shirts and jeans (essential to current fashion) reveal every lump and bump. So diets proliferate, with Atkins, F-Plan, macrobiotic and more becoming multi-million dollar businesses.

We talk all the time about healthy diets, but in general we are eating badly. Surveys in America show that many people are not getting enough nourishment, yet despite this there’s an alarming rise in obesity. The science is simple: starve your body and it sends signals to your brain to shore up fat against the bad times. This means yo-yo weight, a metabolism that never finds the right balance – and perpetual dieting. But this problem is not restricted to America. In Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser describes how England is eating more fast food than any other country in Europe. It looks good, tastes good and it is cheap. But the ‘real’ cost is not mentioned on the menu.

UK statistics reveal that the average woman today weighs 2.2 kilos more than she did 20 years ago – even though she’s eating 200 calories less a day. Women may exercise less or diet the wrong way, but they also eat more of the bad stuff to overcome stress. It is no coincidence that ‘quick fix’ products containing less fat are a huge success all over Europe. The German Lätta Margarine campaign showed a naked man and woman lying on a bed with the caption: „Halbfettmargarine macht geiler als Butter.“ Half-fat margarine is more erotic than butter.

Dressing the part
The sports phenomenon is definitely not new, it has existed in one vein or another since the 1920s. In the 1970s and ‘80s we lived through film and cultural crazes based around aerobics and ‘disco dancing’ - and in the ‘90s more of the same – with power yoga or latin dance as a variation on this hyperactive theme. Each new era brings another ‘fast-track’ way of achieving perfect body confidence, despite all evidence (sometimes in joint pains and stress fractures) to the contrary.

Sports has achieved the status of a Macro Trend. We see allusions to track and field everywhere: Miss Dynamite and Jennifer Lopez, as wannabe girls dressed in tight baby pink or baby blue jogging suits with slim white stripes down the side. Sports retailers such as Puma and Nike offer the top-to-toe gym look - even the underwear is a brand name affair. Many of the current crop of leading designer brands got their breakthrough on the sports look – never mind that the Prada ski outfit costs more than a package holiday for a family of four.

It’s hard to remember that a short while ago fashion pundits were predicting the death of this sportswear craze. Now it seem to have taken on the air of a ‘classic look’. Consciously or unconsciously, we are all a part of the tracksuit and trainers movement. Yet the reasons for its longevity are more obscure. What is it we are trying to compensate for? Is it a bad conscience over too few hours in the gym or an attempt to look the part even when we haven’t the energy to walk round the block? Perhaps we should see sportswear as a subtle call-to-arms in an unfit society. It represents the superfit image we aspire to – even though even semi-fitness remains a distant goal for far too many of us.

Anne Lise Kjaer
October 5, 2003