Gym Dwellers Essay

Under society’s customs for decades, young women have found themselves immersed in the pressure and anticipation to have exemplary bodies. Nearly every young woman prefers to be slim, have a perfectly shaped body, that is beautified by applying pounds of makeup to their face but does not appear ridiculously overdone. Who’s responsible for these measures imposed on young women? When a young girl picks up the model on the cover of Vogue being called flawless, naturally it’s easy for her to then aspire to be a real-life imitation of the that model. These companies produce magazine covers shown with girls’ images daily. As if keeping the perfect body wasn’t hard enough, our culture also forces girls into the forever expanding world of composition, however, body image is a surging subject for young girls. Advertisements and pictures of lean female models are all over. Young women are measured and perplexed by their physical appearances with attire intended to raise their physical structures; social media, magazines, the society, marketing campaigns, advertisements, and the fashion gurus add to a strand of excellence.

Upon arrival, I estimated about 15-20 personal scattered throughout the room on various body equipment. I noticed that I was the youngest person there; everyone else (by the looks) was ranging from late 20’s to early 50’s. The first significant aspect that I always realize is that there are more males than females, typically a 4:1 ratio. The diversity of race/ethnicity was noticeable but not really a concern towards the atmosphere of the gym. Before I started the observations I did run on the treadmill so that the gym visit wasn’t a total waste. Afterwards, my observation was done in the corner with the mats, while I stretched for twenty-five minutes.

In society, women relate to friends, models and actresses which are actually people who are in the industry portraying the ‘ideal body.’ Women think too much about what others think of them instead of just caring about themselves. They also choose to take the unhealthy approach and gain all these bad habits to obtain the ‘ultimate’ body image of this ‘ideal woman’ society has created.

Finally, Dyer talks about muscularity and what this means for male and female activity. Muscularity is the sign of power and achievement. He states, “The muscle man is the end product of his own activity of muscle-building” (62). The male body shows that he worked hard, or in some cases not at all, to achieve the appearance that he has. However, pertaining to the female body, even though she may have worked hard to get the shape she’s in its seen as “something that has been done to the woman” (Dyer 62). The male goes and actively seeks to achieve muscles,

Over the course of my observations of McComas Gym’s weight room, it was easy to figure out what type of audience would be interested in my essay. Based off this audience, I developed a persona who represents the weight room community by combining many of the characteristics I observed in individuals in the weight room. My developed persona is an ideal representative of an “insider” to the weight room community, as well as a representative of my essay’s audience.

People can be recommended to wear work out attire in order to teach simple yet effective workouts that everyone could enjoy in their own homes, finding a way to make exercise fun and easy for busy families can influence the community to do it. It can be a large scale effort to get private companies to donate their time or money for the cause of healthier communities.

The rhetorical imagery that is used to portray a man's body is spread throughout the fitness industry and health advertisements. These images are on the cover of well-known magazines such as “FITNESSRX”, distribute worldwide targeting men, ages 18-30. These magazines give a visual rhetoric as a method of persuading beauty, body image, and the pursuit of “perfection”. These companies target young adults because they believe they have the money to buy their products to obtain the body they want or the body portrayed on the cover of the magazine.

The dominant identity of the group would be males who are interested in becoming bigger and stronger, past the point of normal human standards. Although there are women who are bodybuilders, and they have their own Miss Universe and Ms. Olympia for bodybuilding, it is still a male dominated sport (EDinformatics).

Women are empowered, encouraged and even pressured into being involved in a sport or some type of fitness activities today; however, it hasn’t always been that way (Cahn 278). In the 1920s, also known as the “golden age” of sports, women and young girls faced obstacles such as rejection, gender discrimination, and stereotypes when showing interest in sports or fitness activities. One famous author named Susan Cahn, wrote a book called Coming on Strong: Gender and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Women’s Sports, and focuses on the decades between the 1920s and the 1960s. For most of the 19th century, females were accused of causing a great deal of danger to the moral and physical areas of masculinity. Through the research of multiple different aspects, such as media, appearance, and gender roles, Cahn puts together an idea and theme that athleticism is seen as a masculine trait because it was once constructed by society itself; which fortunately for the women, that idea can be changed. In the later centuries, Cahn writes about the progress of woman 's appearance in sports, however then describes the difference in respect, attention throughout media, opportunities and wages between men and women. Through both primary sources such as newspapers, interviews, and journals, as well as secondary sources like relevant literature, Cahn writes her book in a historical non-fiction genre. After reading Coming on Strong: Gender and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Women’s Sports by Susan

I believe that we need to understand women’s experiences in the gym as they are affected the most by gender stereotypes and that is what led me to research this

He has defined fitness in a meaningful, measurable way; increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains. CrossFit itself is defined as that which optimizes fitness through constantly varied functional movements performed at relatively high intensity. CrossFit is also the community that arises when people do these workouts together. In fact, the communal aspect of CrossFit is a key component of why it’s so effective.

The generic conventions that society condones concerning the male and the female figure is emphasized on the Men’s Health magazine headlining Cristiano Ronaldo, a world class soccer athlete, GQ magazine (The Body Issue) calling attention to Cristiano Ronaldo and Alessandra Ambrosie, and Muscle and Fitness featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Study done by researchers shows that “men’s most powerful space of resistance against pressures to possess the perfect body was a traditional masculine identity,” and “females’ powerful space of resistance was less traditional feminine identities incorporating masculine characteristics” (Jackson et al 30). This study holds true for the GQ magazine. On the front cover of GQ magazine, Cristiano Ronaldo is portrayed

Spectatorship is act of watching something without taking a part in it (Smith 39). By analyzing the cover of this magazine, the editors present an objective viewpoint in which the composition does not make any spaces for the viewer. This presentation of the cover allows the reader or viewer to observe the signs on the page regarding the words and the model, without specifically being a part or taking a part of the situation itself. By this scenario, the signs of “The Fitness (Addictive) Trend That Will Reshape Your Body (It Works!)” and the model being presented objectively for the viewer, each viewer is in the direct subject position of spectatorship, signifying that Brooke represents something that appeals to each person, the desire to be fit, hot or sexy, allowing for the identification process in each viewer. Identification is a psychological process where the subject assimilates an aspect, property, or attribute of the other and is transformed, wholly or partially, by the model the other provides (Smith 39). Through Shape magazine’s use of objectively presenting the message, each reader is positioned to identify with the model because of the appeal she makes to the dominant cultural norms and ideologies. The process of

In today’s busy world, it can be hard to find the time to even think about one’s fitness, let alone actually do anything to maintain it. The average person has school, work, family, pets, and many more distractions in their life to ensure their fitness is left on the backburner. However, when the thought of exercise does eventually enter their mind, the thought that often comes forefront is that of the gym. The concept of a gym is simple, populate a building with the necessary equipment for a variety of physical activities, attracting people who want to get that perfect body or even just get back in shape. However, many people who have never frequented a gym often come up with a plethora of reasons not to go.

For being a male dominated culture, there is also a cliquey girl side as well. Nine times out of ten, girls come to the gym with friends. They all flock to one machine to copy one another in order to all look the same. If a girl comes alone, she is left looking for a single open machine to go for a run on and maybe fit in a few reps on the weight machines. Girls are in the mindset that if they look a certain way, they will be respected in the gym. Thus they copy those who appear to know what they are doing, even though it might not be the best for each girls’ specific body type. They no longer think about the purpose of the gym, which is to improve health and fitness for all shapes and sizes. Instead, too many women are turned away from