Sweating with the Enemy

[pegkerr]

Here is an interesting article from the Boston Globe on the question some have struggled with over the question of whether Curves should be boycotted because the founder donates money to anti-abortion causes.

If getting fit also means enriching a millionaire who donates to antiabortion groups, why is Curves sweeping across New England with the force of a blizzard? Thousands of Massachusetts women are facing the question of health versus choice. How will they reconcile the personal with the political?

I'm not interested in starting a flame war about abortion in this journal, heaven knows (really, please don't post your rants pro or against about the subject here; I'm still recovering from the last kerfluffle over gay marriage. Don't make me resort to the delete key). But I'm thinking instead about the larger issue, in general, of how we choose to spend our consumer dollars can have an unlooked-for political impact. The article points out that NOW considered whether to start a boycott against Curves but decided that in the end, it would hurt franchise owners (many women who were just getting into business for themselves) rather than Heavin. I remember the Domino's controversy; I read a story about one hapless Domino's franchise owner who went broke because of the boycott; he was pro-choice himself, and he wondered, I'm just trying to sell pizza. How is driving me out of business helping choice causes?

I note from the article that some Curvers are solving the dilemma by increasing their prochoice contributions; see reference to the website curversforchoice.com. This seems to be at least a partial solution. The article also points out that unlike in the case of Dominos, where you could simply choose another pizza brand, there really isn't any business providing an alternative to the type of niche Curves fills.

My mom uses Curves. I've always exercised on my own, using videos and DVDs.

In a related story, I see the Southern Baptists announced they are ending the Disney boycott.

Comments

[callunav.livejournal.com]

I remember the Dominos boycott, too - and I wasn't sure anyone else did, so it was interesting to see your reference. I think the parallel is a good one.

I remember it particularly because it started around the time I was a senior in high school, not long after I had reinvented the wheel by coming up, on my own, with the idea that I was making political choices when I spent my money. I didn't hear the phrase "voting with your dollar" until later, when I made the welcome if somewhat embarassing discovery that lots of people had been very actively doing what I'd 'discovered' for myself, for a long time.

That was around the same time when I discovered that the success of the famous Netle boycott of my youth had been a scam - Nestle had agreed to stop engaging in the objectionable practices, the boycott had ended, and Nestle had continued on its merry way, and still does to this day. So I was vociferously re-joining the Nestle boycott (I still am - I don't buy Nestle candy, Poland Springs water, Contadina pastas, Carnation products, etc. - Nestle has its fingers in a /lot/), and a lot of my peers were boycotting Coke for Apartheid-related reasons (which seemed reasonable to me - I just didn't buy Coke often enough to make boycotting an issue), and then along came the Dominos issue. And a lot of my friends tangled the Dominos boycott right in with the Coke boycott and advocated both, but somewhere along the way, someone set out the franchise problem to me, and after a lot of thought - I was a very intense 17-year-old - I decided /not/ to boycott Dominos, for exactly the reasons you describe.

I don't use Curves, and I'm a little cynical about their approach, but I see a lot of good in the way it's operating. (I could go on at length about the virtues of Curves, but that's not really the point.) Going back to how I thought about the Dominos boycott and other things since then, I think I'd probably come down on the side of--if I used and liked Curves in the first place--staying with them and taking other approaches. I'd make the donations, if I could afford to. If I had the mental energy and no one else was doing it, I'd be getting out the "I use Curves and I'm Pro-Choice" bumper stickers and the "I support Curves *and* Choice" t-shirts. And if I got run off that particular road for use of a trademarked name, I'd find other methods to let people know where I (and hopefully lots of other people) stood--one could, for instance, probably get up a nice logo writing the word "Choice" in the same, recognizable font/script that's used for "Curves," possibly with sneakers on the feet of the 'h' or something to emphasize the exercise connection, and all the same colors.

Things like that. I'm a /big/ ol' fan of voting with my dollar, and I do it as rigorously as I can afford to and I strongly support the general premise. However, boycotts are rarely very successful in the US, and in this case seem (to me) to be doubly the wrong way to approach the issue. There are, after all, other ways.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

I have issues with them too. I wonder if it would be more effective just to convince their clientele that sweating is good, as is the regular use of large pieces of iron, and that most of those people in the bigger gyms are too absorbed in their own workouts to be looking down on anyone else.

[nmsunbear.livejournal.com]

I participated in the Domino's boycott. But then, I hate their pizza, so that was pretty easy. ;)