What is a drum corps body?
Content warning: bodyshaming, fatphobia, eating disorders.
Before we get started on this topic, if you think you or a loved one may need help regarding an eating disorder please see these links:
National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) helpline (offers online chat, call, and text support)
NEDA Screening Tool (to help you decide if you should consider seeking help)
In pre-COVID times the weeks leading up to this time of year are usually rife with “body by drum corps” comparison photos and now that it’s September the “goodbye body by drum corps” posts. That calls to question what exactly a body by drum corps, and by extension a drum corps body, is. Photos usually showcase how people have lost weight, gained muscle, and gotten an intense tan. We all know drum corps is physically demanding and when you’re running around a field in the sun all day these changes make sense. What needs to be discussed is the attitude attached to these changes in a society that prizes and privileges being thin.
Fatphobia is the fear, hatred, and prejudice against fat bodies. You may be thinking hold up fat people are oppressed now? The answer is yes! Think of how many times in your life a fat person has been the butt of a joke for their body or how often you see fat jokes in media. These jokes are reflective of the very real prejudices fat people face in society; ideas such as fat people are gluttonous, fat people are lazy, fat people need to work harder, fat people are undisciplined, and if you’re fat you can’t be conventionally attractive. These ideals have repercussions for people who are fat such as medical negligence because all complaints are blamed on weight instead of being properly investigated, damage to self-esteem which can have drastic impacts on mental health, financial repercussions from having to shop at special plus-size stores which are often more expensive, or even losing out on job opportunities because of bias from the interviewer. These repercussions are felt even more by people who are fat AND members of other marginalized groups. Fatphobia has even been used to justify police violence against Black people such as Eric Garner’s death being blamed on his weight instead of police brutality.
Fatphobia is deeply ingrained in North American society with a whole industry just centered around losing weight and reinforcement that thinner is always better in every way. When you take a step back and think about it you realize despite everything you have been told by this industry there is natural body size diversity and there is nothing wrong with that. This is the basis of the fat acceptance movement. There is nothing wrong with you if you aren’t thin and you do not exist on this earth just to try losing or maintaining a particular weight. Natural body size diversity means even if we all followed the same diet and same exercise regime people would still be different sizes and proportioned differently.
If you think about drum corps for a hot second, particularly DCI, you know that to be true. Every member is working their ass off daily and everyone eats the same meals from the food truck. Of course there are differences depending on your particular section, drill, and whether you go for seconds but I’d argue it’s closer to a standard than you ever really see in society yet there is still body size diversity. Unfortunately that does not stop fatphobic ideals from permeating into the activity. The attitudes and ideals attached to a drum corps body from a fatphobic society even if you do not realize it are that thinness is equal to how hard you work and by extension how good of a performer you are.
Drum corps is like 90% hard work so when hard work is equated to thinness you get body shaming of members to stay within a thin ideal for no real reason. We asked our social media followers to submit instances of body shaming they have been subject or witness to and got some worrying answers.
Unnecessary comments on food intake from staff
Some staff even going so far as to remove food from people’s plates
Unnecessary comments on someone’s body
Example: “Do you NEED that serving? Have you seen how you look in uniform?”
Asking larger members to keep a shirt on for rehearsal but not asking thinner members the same
One shared a story of how the corps director asked another member to tell them they needed to order a size up in shorts despite their shorts being the same length as others in the section all because the corps director thought their body shape made the shorts look inappropriate
Directly encouraging weight loss
Having a scale at rehearsals
Having uniforms tailored to smaller than necessary so members are pressured to lose weight
Unnecessary comments on weight somehow being equated to performance skills or ruining the aesthetic of a group despite skills
One member shared how she was asked “Isn’t this drill easier now that you’ve lost weight?” as if that had anything do with it and not the hours of rehearsal spent on that drill
Some people have been told despite being able to perform they need to lose weight to be contracted or stay contracted even though they could keep up with everyone else so it was not about fitness
The effects of this can be really harmful to members. It is extremely discouraging to be putting your all into the season but think that all people see is your weight on the field instead of your skills. At best that makes someone feel bad, at worst people have developed eating disorders because of the way they have been treated by others and the corps wanting to prioritize a certain look.
So what can we do to help?
Staff should critically think about how their internalized fatphobia could impact their teaching
If you find yourself about to make a size or weight related comment, stop and ask where that is really coming from and if you would say the same thing to a thin person.
Drum corps is educational so if someone’s performance is off, figure out a better way to teach them instead of blaming their weight.
Compliment members on their skills, not their appearance or weight
Members should recognize their skill as a performer and weight are unrelated
Affirm other members of their skills when they are feeling down about their body
Report hurtful size and weight based comments or actions from others, particularly staff
Don’t be hard on yourself for losing your “tour body”
Maintaining a “tour body” often takes more time than what most people have access to especially if you are working, in school, or have caregiver duties
Gaining weight after the season ends does not mean you failed or lose your experiences from the season in any way, it just means you aren’t spending 12 hours a day running around a field anymore.
For everyone, try to de-center weight from your notion of what health is. Living an active lifestyle to stay ready for the season is about so much more than weight and does not have to be joyless suffering. Everything in moderation and don’t be afraid to treat yourself. If you’re down on yourself right now also remember that we are living through a pandemic and witnessing systemic failure on a level never before experienced in our lifetimes so it’s okay if you haven’t been super on the ball for the past 6 months. Personally, my fav account for useful and positive healthy lifestyle advice is The Marching Nutritionist, which is @march_nutrition on Twitter and @themarchingnutritionist on Instagram. Go check out her content!
So, what is a drum corps body? Any body that does drum corps. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.
If you would like to read more about fatphobia try these articles:
If you’re looking for more scholarly/academic articles please read out and we can connect you to some PDFs from academic journals.
If you have opinions or experiences you’d like to share please feel free to contact us about writing a blog post for our website. You can publish them anonymously or be credited with a cute little bio under your work. As always, you can find us online at maasin.net, on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook as @maasinetwork, or email at info@maasin.net. We look forward to hearing from you and remember to be kind to yourself today.
Author: Rand Clayton.
Rand holds a Master’s of Social Work and is currently an Interdisciplinary Research in Music PhD student researching class, gender, and sexuality in marching arts. Rand chose to address this issue because it is often not talked about despite being very prevalent. They have supported friends in their eating disorder recovery and want you to know if you’re struggling there is support. Talk to friends and family you trust. Recovery is hard but worth it and you are worth it. To talk to Rand about anything you read here feel to reach out on their personal Twitter @marchingrand or by contacting MAASIN at info@maasin.net.