Letters – Melbourne Issue 127

Letters – Melbourne Issue 127

NOT FOR POSING
Normally I agree with, and even get a good laugh from, Doug Pollard’s ‘Grumpy Old’ column, but this time he has really irked me by insinuating that all us guys in our 40s, 50s and 60s who look after ourselves are basically ‘body fascists’ (implied, not stated).

It isn’t always about six- (or eight-) packs, waxing, botox and posing. Some of us do it to be fit and healthy.

At 56, I decided I didn’t like the way my body was going, with a spare-tyre waistline, sagging tits and bad posture. I made a decision that I wanted to go into my 60s looking fit and healthy, and with a minimum of medical problems.

In the last 12 months, I have lost all the fat around my waist, tightened my pecs and abs, added muscle to my previously scrawny arms, feel fit and fabulous and have gone off my cholesterol meds — all from doing three hours a week in the gym.

I have only had to do some minor tweaking to make my diet more healthy. Not all of us do this to impress other people, or to go to dance parties and pose around, and it’s unfair of you to insinuate that we do.

At my gym there are a lot of guys as old or older then me (and not all gay) who are working out to improve their quality and quantity of life. They should be encouraged and applauded, not be told to sit back and let bad diet and obesity lead them into a rickety old age.
— Tim

BIPHOBIA EXISTS
I identify as bisexual and have now for 20 years. I’ve never thought I was straight or gay — always bisexual.

Yet at the Pride Marches I have been in, when marching with the bisexual community (since 2007), I have been booed, told to decide, told to get off the fence, and had my sexual identity derided.

I’m made of relatively strong stuff, and so laugh at bigots who tell me I’m being dishonest when identifying as a bisexual, but there are bisexuals who aren’t made of teflon-coated kevlar like me.

Do you think it’s fair to tell them they’re wrong with their own identifiers?

Do you think it’s OK for you to identify someone else on their behalf without any consultation?
— Rebecca

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