#societal rules that were ingrained into them due to an aspect of their identities - for Fanny it was her gender and for Cap it was his

[herestoburiedsecrets]

I love the idea of it being maybe a couple of days after the Captain has died, and he has gotten over the intense initial shock of being dead and the subsequent freak out that follows it, and he has reverted back to just being ‘the Captain’ and trying to make some order of his existence and keep himself busy, and presenting himself to the other ghosts as a ranking officer and their leader, and he has a little speech, and one of the ghosts makes a remark about some weird or wacky thing that they did or do, or suggests something unusual, and Cap is immediately horrified and just exclaims ‘but that’s not proper behaviour!’, and all the other ghosts just scoff a bit or kind of ignore him, but Fanny gives an approving noise and says ‘quite right, Captain!’, and basically them just becoming quite close quite quickly due to their love of rules and order and ‘proper’ behaviour.

Just Fanny finally finding another ghost who understands her and agrees with her and her constant adherence to the strict rules she was forced to follow when she was alive, and the Captain finding in Fanny a person who understands and appreciates his need to maintain his status as Captain and find a sense of order within the madness.

[carliwgst303-blog]

Gender and Sexuality Portfolio Post Two: Connection to Foundational Course Concepts

Fitness, particularly as it is presented through online presence, is a heavily gendered ordeal. Health and fitness is an integral part of what it means to be human. These meat sacks that we live in require certain care and attention that is catered to the individual. While many websites and fitness gurus will claim that it has everything to do with gender, it very much does not. Bodies are different simply because bodies are different. While I acknowledge that people may be seeking specifically gendered physical results, this does not mean that fitness itself is inherently gendered, nor does it need to be. The gendering of health and fitness has consequences far beyond the visual divide between weights and cardio in the gym. Health is personal and intimate, and significantly beyond gender.

Social construction of gender

Gender, as a social construct, simply means that it is subject to change based on any number of societal factors, including location, historical context, and culture. Socialized gender roles are the expected and appropriate behaviors for a person of that specific corresponding sex. As applied to fitness, we can see that gender is heavily taken into consideration in Western society and contributes to gendered health disparities.

Upon initial searches of “most popular websites for men’s fitness” and for “women’s fitness”, the differences were already clear. Most notably, the top five men’s sites are generally more scientific and content centered (Linwoods), while the top women’s sites are mostly personal blogs or fitness model accounts (Isabella). The construction of gender and gender roles are very present in these preliminary searches. Without even digging too deeply, the messages of what men are supposed to look like and care about, and what women are supposed to look and care about, are very clear. Men are supposed to be dense, muscular, hairy, and sweaty. Women are supposed to be thin, tight, hairless, and pretty (even when exercising).

Agency

Agency is the ability for an individual to freely make choices for themselves and their lives, essentially. Agency is heavily dependent on privilege and uncontrollable life situations. Your agency is dependent on what choices are available to you and what decisions you are able to make.

In the study of fitness and health, men generally have more agency than women. They have the ability to search through genuine and authentic, scientific data on how to best treat their bodies. Women seem to have less factual material readily available about their health. Women are able to make choices about their fitness based on what kind of material is out there “for women”, not just for people. Granted, women can still utilize any of the men’s fitness tips, tricks, exercises, etc. but many women are fearful that they will become ‘too muscular’ or ‘look like a man’ if they use fitness advice geared towards men. While this isn’t the case, it is true for many women interested in improving their fitness and health. In their minds and realities, their choices are limited to lifting and becoming bulky and man-ish looking, or hours on the treadmill, crunches, and donkey kicks in hopes to attain the “ideal” female body (Chee). Without proper information and education, a woman’s agency, in regards to health, fitness, and body image is limited and stifled.

Privilege

Privilege is an unearned advantage or freedom available only to a specific person or group of people, that benefits them without their conscious choice. Privilege is very present in fitness. The most obvious aspect of gym privilege that I observe and witness is safety. Being a woman at the gym isn’t always a safe place, and for many, rarely is. We can be subject to any extent of harassment, violence, objectification, etc. It can be a scary place for women, WOC, queer individuals, anyone but the mythical norm really.

Another piece of privilege is in the available online resources. A quick google search pulls up the top five men’s fitness websites which include “Men’s Fitness”, “Muscle and Fitness”, “Men’s Health”, “Burn the Fat”, and “Runners World” (Linwoods). The top five women’s sites are “Fit Bottomed Girls”, “Lift Like a Girl”, “Girls Gone Strong”, “Fit + Feminist”, and “Run to the Finish” (Isabella). The thing that first caught my attention was the use of the word ‘girl’ in the majority of the women’s fitness website titles. This speaks to the infantilization of women, the objectification and sexualization of their bodies, and the discrediting of their lives, work, and goals. All in one! This is a great example of privilege. Men do not have to be concerned about the way health information is presented to them. It is straight, to the point, and effective. They are not nearly as sexualized, and the things they choose to do with their body are validated. Whereas women have to do a significant amount of research to get specifically what they are looking for, so long as it’s something other than a “bikini-approved butt” or “sexy abs”.

Oppression

Oppression is when one group is systemically in power over another and is cruel and unjust towards them.

Within fitness, oppression isn’t extremely overt, as it usually isn’t. It’s subconscious and ingrained in social expectations and behaviors, and takes a trained eye to recognize. One of the more obvious forms of oppression in fitness is women’s appearance. They are supposed to look a certain way at the gym, with specific types of clothing, doing a few particular different exercises. If they aren’t following those unspoken rules, they are subject to criticism, ridicule, assumptions of sexuality, and even violence. We all know the myth that women who lift (or play softball) are gay. Not only is this simply not true, it places a value judgement on those individuals and has consequences. Oppression also manifests itself in the photos on fitness websites where the women are portrayed posing their bodies, or running around the beach in a bikini, while the male photos featured them working hard in the gym.

Intersectionality

Intersectionality is the understanding and recognition that our human identities are not single-issued, they are multifaceted with many different overlapping and intersecting pieces.

Intersectionality, as applied to fitness, creates an empowering dialogue. It’s clear that fitness isn’t just a white M/F issue, fitness is important for everyone no matter race, sexuality, gender identity, etc. Fitness in the media is largely dominated by thin, white people. Which, I speculate, is largely due to the likelihood that white people have more free time, money, and resources to commodify exercise and fitness in the ways they do. It can be hard to become inspired by people who don’t look like you, or who have different body goals than you. Personal fitness training is a $9 billion dollar industry, with online fitness training taking up a large part of the market. There is a niche online presence for POC fitness and queer fitness, which is wonderful. However, you have to intentionally go looking for it and dig a little to find it. In regards to trans individuals, “Diamond has a specialized knowledge most other trainers just, well, don't. He's able to tailor specific exercises for trans people who are "fighting genetics harder than the average person” (Dockray). This also speaks a little towards agency, as your options are limited by your identity. Fitness sits at an interesting and complicated crossroads of gender, sex, sexuality, ability, age, appearance, and class.

Fitness means different things to different people. The social construction of gender, agency, privilege, oppression, and intersectionality can be applied to any concept, and should be. It provides a new lense to look at issues with, one that gets to the root issues of things. When applied to health and fitness, it begins to paint a picture of how we got to where we are currently, why there appears to be such a gendered divide, and what we can do about it.

Resources

Chee, Rosie. “Breaking The Female Myth: ‘If I Lift Heavy I'll Look Like A Man.’” Muscle & Strength, Muscle and Strength LLC, 10 July 2012, www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/female-myth-lifitng-makes-you-look-like-a-man

Dockray, Heather. “Trans and Non-Binary Fitness Trainers Are Building Tiny Empires -- on Instagram.” Mashable, Mashable, 27 Dec. 2017, mashable.com/2017/12/27/trans-non-binary-fitness-celebrities-instagram/#YffW8MM7aiqE.

“Hers Workouts.” Muscle & Fitness, www.muscleandfitness.com/muscle-fitness-hers/hers-workouts. Isabella. “The 12 Best Fitness Websites for Women in 2017.” My Fit Station, 15 Apr. 2017, www.myfitstation.com/2016/08/21/best-fitness-websites-women/.

Linwoods. “5 Great Fitness Websites for Men.” Linwoods Health Foods, 20 Jan. 2014, linwoodshealthfoods.com/ie/2014/01/20/5-great-fitness-websites-for-men/.

“Men's Fitness Magazine Home Page.” Men's Fitness Magazine, www.mensfitnessmagazine.com.au/.

“Men's Health Home Page.” Men's Health Magazine, www.menshealth.co.uk/.

Venuto, Tom. “About Tom.” Burn The Fat Blog - Tom Venuto., www.burnthefatblog.com/about-tom/.

“Women's Health Magazine Home Page.” Women's Health, www.womenshealthmag.com/.