Friday, February 20, 2015

I've got some VERY interesting info about Bodyrock.TV today!

So those recent instagrams of Kristin? The ones where we thought Freddy was behind the camera again? Well I am here to tell you those shots were done by a WOMAN!
Taylor Oakes, (BR's head Blogger, their Community Manager, Photographer, Videographer and runs dailyhiit.com) is responsible for those shots. They do seem a little less creepy taken by a woman than a man to me and I know that is completely sexist.

Here is what Taylor has to say about the sexy images:

Oh 100% meant to grab attention - but they're also shot that way to show definition femininely. There's two huge extremes with women in fitness right now...both in perception and reality....that women are either these huge "manly" beasts with veins popping everywhere or that they're doing step aerobics in a 25-year-old bodysuit.

In the last few years has been this insurgence of what I'd describe as functional fitness - moms looking to stay healthier, women doing bikini competitions, lifting heavy weights. And along with that shift has not only come this acceptance, but DESIRE for a more muscular physique. That being said, it's a very fine balance between what people find feminine and fit versus harsh and aggressive (or thin and boney). So instead of looking for trainers that fit this horribly specific middle ground, I'd rather show multiple types of physiques from various perspectives. 

With the constant judgement that muscular women are too this and too that, my goal is to balance the imagery (with every trainer) between this: 









and this: 






Inline image 6






Taylor continues with: 

And I wish I had more guys to shoot! As much as people BEGGG to see male trainers, whenever we deliver the response is "meh". It's MAYBE 25% as strong as when we have female trainers....even though our audience is predominantly women! 

Which kinda comes back to why I want to keep some of the imagery sexy. Before I worked for BodyRock, I shot for a boudoir company. And we had all sorts of women walking through the door; women in their early 20's without a wrinkle on them, women in their late 40's with 4 kids at home, women in their 60's spicing up their marriages. I've shot women so thin they paid to have weight photoshopped onto them, and then shot women so heavy we didn't have a single corset that would fit them (we had up to a 4X).

A lot of women came in to the experience wanting to embrace their bodies and feel good about themselves, but a lot of others had to be brought to that level by the experience or by the final product its self. 

Almost EVERY woman walked through the door saying they were doing the shoot for a boyfriend/husband/lover...but in reality it was about them and feeling more confident in their skin and in their bodies to allow themselves to be more available mentally within their personal lives and relationships. A lot of these reservations came from a place of shame - shame of their bodies for what they were, or shame of their bodies for wanting to be proud of them. 

I personally feel like embracing yourself as an attractive and sexual person is incredibly important to ones mental health. And seeing images that do have that element of sexiness shouldn't be about objectification, but embracing that side of health. 

And I think that's where the intrigue of sexy or provocative images come in. Sure there are TONS of pictures of attractive, half-naked women out there for everyone to oggle and talk about and won't even pretend to say that those fall in this same category.  Someone bending over a sofa holding their butt open does nothing for ones mental health...at least in my mind. I still won't judge, but I won't shoot it and claim it's about body positivity either. 

But when I legitimately look at the numbers that we get and correlate it to the images we use, sexy always wins. BUT...it always wins in a group of 90% women. I'm pretty certain that BodyRock isn't a breeding ground for lesbians...so though it's only an assumption, we have a huge group of heterosexual women who feel compelled to click on these images. And that's where it becomes sexy versus sex. It's people wanting to BE them versus be WITH them.

Here are some of her male pics:






Super interesting! What do you guys think?!
I love the images above better than the Instagrams. Those were a little much for me (body parts moving in my face is less sexy to me than the still photographs. I do wonder if I would think the same thing of a male butt working out in my face?) 
I love the muscles popping out on the women. I like the sexy black n white photo better than the beach one. Love the male photos and I personally want to see more men. But it is true that the female photos are more motivating for me to workout myself. The men are for eye candy. I do however LOVE pics of fit men. LOVE. I love pics of them sweating and working out. But - that's me.

Thanks to Taylor for letting me share this stuff. :) 


12 comments:

  1. Very interesting :-) total getting it now omg so thought provoking I loved reading that from Taylor :-) amazing Gina!

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  2. I prefer the images above, as well, because there is a bit of balance, not too much of one or the other. It's like a work of art rather that "oooh lookit that rack!"

    I won't fault you for having a sexist viewpoint (using that word because you did), but I do have to say having such a double standard is a bit problematic overall. Not here to debate you whatsoever, but it is a bit interesting to feel one way when a man does something, and somewhat different (if not a complete 180) when a woman does it. I guess I'm asking or provoking you to question that viewpoint, especially since it did strike a chord when you thought it was a man behind the camera. This comes from a healthy and friendly place.

    Thanks so much for sharing what Taylor said. I had no idea she was involved with the videography and it is refreshing to hear overall. I had a feeling it wasn't Freddy, or that it might not have been, since (as CEO) he may be hands on with some things over others, but not always.

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    1. You Can fault me all you want! It is sexist and falls into the double standard category. I'm not saying that it is right, it's just what came to mind. Taylor has been great, and I'm glad she shared!

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  3. I agree, thought provoking. I've never been bothered by the pics...unless there is a butt or boob right in my face. :-)

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  4. I understand why they put such sexy pics - it drives visitors=money. These pics never bothered me :) I personaly experiment with butt in the pic for video thumbnail ant it works much better driving traffic. On the other hand there areFitnessbleder and Blogilates who do much better than BR and they dont have sexy pics, but their workouts are easier which makes sense to more people.

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    1. Good points Rumi! Interesting that you get more traffic with butt thumbnails. :)

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  5. Great post! I think BR puts a lot of energy to offer very artistic pictures. They get inspired by magazines and other stuff and I think they do great. They are big, they make a lot of money so they have the staff to work for them and make this possible. I did not like the video, to much emphasis on butt and boobs

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  6. And another thing, I think Lisa doen't get the same treatment as the other host. She is not that often on the pictures or the poses are not as innovative than with the new host. Maybe it's just a perception? She post so much on IG or FB that she IMO, may have more attention and more photo shoots

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  7. and to support that, all of the picture in this post are not from Lisa's!! lolll :-)

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    1. Lisa has plenty of photos that they used during all the Hiit Max. I think that they are using other pics now and I like the diversity!

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