Call-Out Culture: Is It Serving Us?
You might be wondering, what is call-out culture?
Call-out culture is a social phenomenon of publicly pointing out and judging or condemning remarks, action or behaviors by individuals or organizations. This is especially prevalent on social media, in which the person doing the call-out will use another person’s content to make their own opposing point, usually not in a supportive way that would foster open dialogue or discussion.
Call-out culture developed as a response to cancel culture, and can be useful to help marginalized groups gain support or express a different political viewpoint. However, it started to show up in fitness spaces in ways that are unnecessarily negative and could be harmful to the person being called-out.
The first time I saw one of these types of posts on InstraGram, I naively thought it was opening up an interesting discussion. Someone “stitched” a video posted by another practitioner and asked what we- the audience- thought about the potential risks of the exercise variations demonstrated.
If you know me, exercise programming risk-assessment is one of my favorite kinds of brain-candy. My article, Pony Tricks versus Party Tricks, published in The Pilates Journal, describes how I think about risk assessment in exercise environments.
I added my comment to the post, being careful not to cast judgment, but to approach the question analytically by discussing the potential risks and benefits of the exercises, and how the resistance used and the position of the practitioner could contribute to or detract from the safety of the exercise variations they were demonstrating.
It did not occur to me, then, that the reel creator, the person being “stitched”, was not the person asking for feedback. And that my analysis, as careful as I tried to be, was a contribution into a negative environment.
Reflecting
Looking back on my behavior, I see that I naively fell for a hook – the person who posted the “stitch” was using other peoples’ content to promote their own views while positioning the original content in a negative light.
As I continued to observe call-out culture in social media, it became clear to me that most of the people participating in these call-outs in the fitness spaces are not moving from a place of kindness, or even concern about the well-being of others, or the quality of our industry, but from a different place. A place that does not include empathy or caring or even a real desire to educate, contribute to, or change the industry for the better.
I made a decision not to participate in these fitness space call-outs, even if I agree in principle or practice, with the person doing the call-out. I feel that, unless the person being called-out is asking for feedback, who am I to give it to them? If we were in-person instead of separated by a flat screen of quasi-anonymity, would I say the same thing to that person? How would I communicate my opinion, and do I even need to offer it? What gives anyone the right to call-out another person who is offering a unique perspective, a new way to sequence exercises, or a new variation of an exercise?
New “Rules Of Engagement”
I think we need a new social construct, some “rules of engagement” to help us treat each other with more kindness, in fitness spaces on social media. We are missing some of the rules of Kindergarten here: unless someone specifically asks for feedback, it’s not ours to give it to them – unless it’s positive. Have you ever heard the expression, “if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say it at all?” I don’t completely agree with this statement in all areas because it can be used to silence voices that need to be heard.
However, there are a few questions to ask oneself before replying, reacting or responding that I have gleaned from various sources:
Does it need to be said?
Does it need to be said by me?
Does it need to be said now?
Is it true?
Is it kind?
Is it necessary?
Is it helpful?
These questions herald back as far as Socrates and have been popularized in modern culture by multiple people, so I did not find it possible to credit one person for these ideas. However, I can credit Brene’ Brown, from her book Love Is with this:
“Is it true? Can you absolutely know that it is true? Who would you be without that thought?”
The Issue With Call-Out Culture
I think the main issue with call-out culture is the effect on the people – yes, the real people, that it affects. Posting content on social media is a brave and vulnerable action. It takes courage to show up and not be perfect. Brene Brown says “vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change…courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.”
What happens when someone shows up in this way, and then they are publicly humiliated, criticized and shamed with an unasked-for call-out? Are we, then, encouraging or discouraging their growth? Are we squashing ideas that may lead to innovation? Is this helping improve our industry in any way?
What if we responded to new ideas with curiosity instead of judgment? What if we responded from a place of love instead of fear?
What if we can agree to disagree? What if disagreement could be a place to meet for discussion, devoid of binary good-bad thinking, name calling, and “gathering armies?”
What if, instead of attempts to bolster our own views by tearing down others, we offered our own views as a positive contribution to the fitness spaces? Is it possible that we could see these differing viewpoints as a rich resource from which to create win-win thinking and solutions?
A simple and non-judgmental way to let your disagreement be known is simply to not “like” or comment on content. “Likes” comments and shares are what generate more views because the algorithm bumps up the number of people that the content is shown to. Unfortunately, the algorithms also recognize that negative content usually gains more traction in engagement, so negative content is rewarded.
3 Reasons To Post
My Instagram mentor taught me three reasons to post:
1. Education
2. Entertainment
3. Inspiration
We can be open to the possibility that there are many ways to move, and that – just maybe – the most important thing we can do in our internet spaces is lift each other up and build community instead of tearing each other down.
Let’s make our internet a love-based place of exploration, education, inspiration and joy.
Peace and love,
-Gwen
Want to dive deeper?
Join Gwen in Foundations or the Safe Movement For All Spines Mentorship.