Post Two: Fitness

      Okay, this post backs up to my last one in a way-- I'm aiming to work through perceptions of gender first, then move on to more gender neutral territory as the blog progresses. Todays post concerns a niche, but rapidly growing sector of content; the fitness media.

      Millions upon millions of dollars are spent every year trying to shed 'unsighly' extra pounds off of the US population. The company behind Golds' Gym released a 2010 'Fitness Census' of health related data collected from the U.S. population. (http://www.goldsgym.com/healthy/newsletter/2010-04/2010-fitness-census) According to their data, there are 32 states with over a quarter of the population suffering from obesity, and two out of every three Americans are overweight. According to a CBS Money Watch article from 2002 (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0675/is_3_20/ai_86230655/) the number of health clubs increased by nearly 40% from 92'-2002.

      Keeping fit is big business, it seems. Magazines, websites and whole television channels are devoted to health and fitness, but I have noticed something in the accompanying visual media that gets little comment; the way women and men are depicted in the midst of a work out seems to vary wildly depending on who is being portrayed.

      I'll come out and say it now. For a lot of people out there, working out is pretty terrible. Get up at the crack of dawn to beat the rush at the Huff, fight tooth and nail to get a free squat rack or bench, get sweaty, tired and stumble home feeling physically defeated.

     Why, then, do photos of women working out always look like this?

(All of these photos were collected at random cruising google for about ten minutes. I used combinations of "women, men, workout, weight, lifting" to gather these results.)

Women working out range from utterly elated (yeah, right) to occasionally slightly pensive. Men (save a couple of weird examples) seemed to fare much better. Expressions were usually neutral, with some verging on uncomfortable. I left out power lifting/body building websites, for obvious reasons; they make it a point to have their photos look like this:

Ronnie Coleman looks as if he's about to explode.

but while we're here compare that to these photos (also on bodybuilding.com) under 'workouts for women'

Our friend the five pound dumbbell is back!

Interesting differences, I'd say. I can't help but wonder what they are promoting with the images. Must women have a great time while pumping iron?

More importantly, why are all those models holding weights in the 2.5-10 pound range? I would bet you any amount of money they used weights orders of magnitude larger to get the results they have.

For as much as those weigh she may as well be curling a 1980's era cell-phone.

      The men may be lifting slightly heavier weights, but they're still in the pretty ridiculous 20-30 pound range. Why do we, as media and consumers, insist on 'dumbing-down' fitness?

     I believe much of the industrialized, western world has gown an aversion to sweat. Namely, I think that we are being peddled the images of people getting huge results with no input the same way Gillian Michaels tells you can get fit on your Wii Board, or the way Ephedra products claimed you could eat whatever you wanted and still lose weight*

*until your heart exploded.

     I only wonder how many people don't perform to their full potential, or quit because going to the gym isn't as 'fun' as all those smiling models seemed to suggest.

     What do you guys think? Am I way off base? Are there other industries doing the same thing?

Post One: The Male Gaze

     For my first post I decided it would be best to talk about 'The Gaze' in visual media (its homophone caused such an uproar, after all.) This is a popular topic when discussing gender or its role in media and dates back to 1975, and was first recorded by Laura Mulvey.

      The Gaze, also called The Male Gaze, has everything to do not only with what is being looked at in media but who is doing the looking. Members of the media consuming public are very diverse, and one could easily assume they have different wants in what they're presented with. What I want to see in an advertisement or a film is probably nothing similar to what you'd prefer to see. Yet every day we are presented time and again with someone's viewpoint meant to stand in for our own.

      If your wondering who, the answer is a (highly stereotyped) heterosexual white man. Interesting to think about. You go around most of the day looking at things with your own preconceptions, societal values and beliefs coloring what you see-- but when you look at that sneaker ad, you're probably using the eyes of a 18-40 year old male WASP.

That seems like a totally believable position to paint a motorcycle in, right?

      Is that how you look at things? I noticed a startling difference when I first started paying close attention to what I was seeing in media (especially hollywood films and advertisments.) I don't waste several seconds lingering on a models curves (or lack thereof) yet when viewing an ad or a film you don't have a choice.

      What's the big deal? Why should I care that these women, who are being well paid mind you, are being objectified? Good question-- especially if you are of the members of the audience that enjoy viewing that kind of material.

      The problem lies in that when the woman's body is made into an object, often shown headless, without any dialoge, it renders a person into little more than a piece of meat. It may be much more subtle than it was twenty years ago, but just because it has been diminished does not make it right.

      I would also point out that this mythical '18-40 year old white, heterosexual, middle income male' is not even real to begin with. The definitions that the media places on you for selling purposes are far too vague to be of any real use.

      I used to argue; "Fine. --but I want to see a sweaty male body for every female one I have to look at!" It seems, however, that over the last five to ten years that very trend has been increasing. Did anyone see the Amityville Horror remake?

http://youtu.be/8d6vwgWOCl4 (Embed was disabled for this clip)

      This happens several times throughout the movie, very reminiscent of how female leads are often treated in horror movies. "Whelp. I gotta go investigate that noise-- in my underwear." (Interestingly, if you watch the whole film you notice the camera seems much more interested in Reynolds than George, the female lead.)
                                     

Let's not forget the inescapable 'Bodman' commercials from the late 90's!

      Is this objectification of the male body a good thing? Are we now basking in equality at last? I honestly don't have an answer for that.

      Anecdotal evidence points to a rise in everything from eating disorders to cosmetic surgery and even 'manscaping' in the male population. To be sure there are complex reasons for the growing trends, both economic and social, but in some small part this new 'improved' man may be the product of the self consciousness that goes along with knowing you're being looked at, and judged.