{"id":1037,"date":"2010-04-27T16:38:02","date_gmt":"2010-04-27T16:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/freshliving\/2010\/04\/yoga-pants-and-camel-toe-offensive-funny-health-issue.html"},"modified":"2010-04-27T16:38:02","modified_gmt":"2010-04-27T16:38:02","slug":"yoga-pants-and-camel-toe-offensive-funny-health-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2010\/04\/yoga-pants-and-camel-toe-offensive-funny-health-issue.html","title":{"rendered":"Yoga Pants and &#8216;Camel Toe&#8217;&#8211;Offensive, Funny, or Health Issue?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Those marketing&nbsp;rascals at Lululemon (cited in&nbsp;last weekend&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/04\/25\/fashion\/25yoga.html\" target=\"_blank\">New York Times<\/a> as being part of the rampant commercialization of yoga with their $100 yoga pants) have done it again. This time the athletic apparel company&nbsp;is not&nbsp;claiming their clothes are made of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2007\/11\/14\/business\/14seaweed.html\" target=\"_blank\">healing seaweed<\/a> or making weird cracks about <a href=\"http:\/\/thetyee.ca\/News\/2005\/02\/17\/LuluCritics\/\" target=\"_blank\">child labor<\/a>, but their&nbsp;latest ad, launched in June&#8217;s Yoga Journal, is this:<\/p>\n<p>\n<span class=\"mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mt-image-center\" height=\"450\" alt=\"lululemon ad camel toe\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/84\/import\/luluadcamel.jpg\" width=\"214\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I saw this on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yogadork.com\/2010\/04\/27\/lululemon-gets-crass-with-camel-toe-ad-are-they-ready-for-backlash-and-boycott\/\" target=\"_blank\">Yoga Dork blog<\/a> and was actually a bit surprised at the uproar&#8211;some people are&nbsp;finding it&nbsp;extremely offensive. In my humble opinion as&nbsp;someone who&#8217;s been practicing yoga for 17 years, I think it&#8217;s cheeky (heh),&nbsp;controversial, and funny-because-it&#8217;s-true (It&#8217;s also funny because the model is in Ustrasana, Camel Pose.&nbsp;Hee. Gotta love insider yoga humor.) <\/p>\n<p>But&nbsp;more importantly, from the&nbsp;Fresh Living perspective, &#8220;camel toe,&#8221; as the female frontal wedgie is called, is a genuine issue with yoga clothes. Though some prefer to practice in baggy old sweats (as I do plenty of days in the month), lots of women like to wear something a bit more form-fitting. I like&nbsp;looking cute,&nbsp;sure, but&nbsp;snug clothes&nbsp;also allow&nbsp;teachers to check out my anatomy&#8211;hyper-extended knees, misaligned lunges&#8211;and adjust me more specifically and accurately. It&#8217;s also a bummer to be tripping over your clothing in a fast-paced vinyasa class. Hence the tight pants, hence the &#8220;danger&#8221; of the camel toe. <\/p>\n<p>Truly, I don&#8217;t care all that much about showing off the tulips, but when pants are that tight you&#8217;re more prone to yeast and urinary tract infections. It&#8217;s essential to have some air circulation and to stay as dry as possible&#8211;made tricker when your pants are super tight. So, go with your cheeky inadvertently health-conscious self, Lululemon. This doesn&#8217;t mean you can or should drop $100 on yoga pants, but rather:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;&nbsp;Look for the kind with a &#8220;gusset&#8221; (not a straight seam)&nbsp;that&nbsp;doesn&#8217;t wedge up in there causing discomfort and irritation&nbsp;that could lead to pain&nbsp;and trouble. <\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Make sure you&#8217;ve got a breathable fabric that &#8220;wicks,&#8221; especially&nbsp;if you&#8217;re going to be sweating. <\/p>\n<p>&#8211; For&nbsp;non-sweaty yoga, a breathable cotton pair is fine.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;&nbsp;Wear your size &#8212; going too small is not hot, helpful, or healthy.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Do all that, and the only toes you&#8217;ll have to worry about are the ones to reach&nbsp;for on the floor.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s some more info on <a href=\"http:\/\/womenshealth.about.com\/od\/vaginaldischarg1\/a\/preventvaginald.htm\" target=\"_blank\">preventing vaginal infections<\/a>, which includes the breathable, loose-fitting clothing guidelines. Plus, an About.com&nbsp;roundup of <a href=\"http:\/\/yoga.about.com\/od\/yogagear\/tp\/yogapants.htm\" target=\"_blank\">favorite yoga pants<\/a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>So, dear reader, what do you think? Offensive? And what do you practice in?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Like what you see? <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/feedburner.google.com\/fb\/a\/mailverify?uri=FreshLiving&amp;amp;loc=en_US\"><font color=\"#023d89\"><strong>Click here to subscribe<\/strong><\/font><\/a><strong> and get Fresh Living in your in-box every day.<br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Those marketing&nbsp;rascals at Lululemon (cited in&nbsp;last weekend&#8217;s New York Times as being part of the rampant commercialization of yoga with their $100 yoga pants) have done it again. This time the athletic apparel company&nbsp;is not&nbsp;claiming their clothes are made of healing seaweed or making weird cracks about child labor, but their&nbsp;latest ad, launched in June&#8217;s&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,350],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-valerie-reiss","category-holistic-living","category-yoga-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Yoga Pants and &#039;Camel Toe&#039;-Offensive, Funny, or Health Issue? - Fresh Living<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2010\/04\/yoga-pants-and-camel-toe-offensive-funny-health-issue.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Yoga Pants and &#039;Camel Toe&#039;-Offensive, Funny, or Health Issue? - Fresh Living\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Those marketing&nbsp;rascals at Lululemon (cited in&nbsp;last weekend&#8217;s New York Times as being part of the rampant commercialization of yoga with their $100 yoga pants) have done it again. This time the athletic apparel company&nbsp;is not&nbsp;claiming their clothes are made of healing seaweed or making weird cracks about child labor, but their&nbsp;latest ad, launched in June&#8217;s&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2010\/04\/yoga-pants-and-camel-toe-offensive-funny-health-issue.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fresh Living\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-04-27T16:38:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/freshliving\/files\/import\/luluadcamel.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"vreiss\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Yoga Pants and 'Camel Toe'-Offensive, Funny, or Health Issue? - Fresh Living","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2010\/04\/yoga-pants-and-camel-toe-offensive-funny-health-issue.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Yoga Pants and 'Camel Toe'-Offensive, Funny, or Health Issue? - Fresh Living","og_description":"Those marketing&nbsp;rascals at Lululemon (cited in&nbsp;last weekend&#8217;s New York Times as being part of the rampant commercialization of yoga with their $100 yoga pants) have done it again. This time the athletic apparel company&nbsp;is not&nbsp;claiming their clothes are made of healing seaweed or making weird cracks about child labor, but their&nbsp;latest ad, launched in June&#8217;s&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2010\/04\/yoga-pants-and-camel-toe-offensive-funny-health-issue.html","og_site_name":"Fresh Living","article_published_time":"2010-04-27T16:38:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/freshliving\/files\/import\/luluadcamel.jpg"}],"author":"vreiss","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2010\/04\/yoga-pants-and-camel-toe-offensive-funny-health-issue.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2010\/04\/yoga-pants-and-camel-toe-offensive-funny-health-issue.html","name":"Yoga Pants and 'Camel Toe'-Offensive, Funny, or Health Issue? - Fresh Living","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2010\/04\/yoga-pants-and-camel-toe-offensive-funny-health-issue.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2010\/04\/yoga-pants-and-camel-toe-offensive-funny-health-issue.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/freshliving\/files\/import\/luluadcamel.jpg","datePublished":"2010-04-27T16:38:02+00:00","dateModified":"2010-04-27T16:38:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/#\/schema\/person\/df896dd70b2001a7a331d7c0264dbd4d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2010\/04\/yoga-pants-and-camel-toe-offensive-funny-health-issue.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2010\/04\/yoga-pants-and-camel-toe-offensive-funny-health-issue.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2010\/04\/yoga-pants-and-camel-toe-offensive-funny-health-issue.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/freshliving\/files\/import\/luluadcamel.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/freshliving\/files\/import\/luluadcamel.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2010\/04\/yoga-pants-and-camel-toe-offensive-funny-health-issue.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Yoga Pants and &#8216;Camel Toe&#8217;&#8211;Offensive, Funny, or Health Issue?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/","name":"Fresh Living","description":"Holistic, Health and Wellness","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/#\/schema\/person\/df896dd70b2001a7a331d7c0264dbd4d","name":"vreiss","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/7e2\/7e2e836248d6127446bfae5802ee2a83x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/7e2\/7e2e836248d6127446bfae5802ee2a83x96.jpg","caption":"vreiss"},"description":"Valerie Reiss is Holistic Living Editor at Beliefnet. She was a founding editor at Breathe magazine, and her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Women's Health, Natural Health, Yoga Journal, Lime.com, Vegetarian Times, and ABCNEWS.com. A native New Yorker, Valerie holds an M.S. from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a B.A. from Beloit College in Creative Writing with a minor in Women's Studies. She also lived in Maui for a while where she drank green papaya juice and taught some creative writing. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/author\/vreiss"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}