There are many stereotypes about the gym and what occurs while people workout. I chose to observe some norms of our gym here at South Dakota School of Mines. I thought it would be interesting to see how gym behavior here stacked up to what might be considered “normal” in other gyms. I thought it might be considerably different due to the gym belonging to a STEM school and many students here being somewhat socially awkward. In an attempt to be inconspicuous, I made sure to wear average gym attire (black shorts and a grey t-shirt) and was using a stationary bike the entire time. I hid my note sheet by having my differential equations homework on the first page of my notepad and my observations on the second. Whenever anyone was close I would …show more content…
It tends to be a social norm for males to wear dull colored clothing with the most exciting color being a cobalt blue. This was exactly what I found, but to an even greater extent than expected. 80% of those in the gym were wearing clothing consisting of mostly black, grey, white, and blue. Those who didn’t fall into the guidelines of wearing only those colors were either not working out, female, or wearing a green shirt. This statistic could be because of a social norm for males to wear generic clothing that doesn’t stick out. This can even be seen outside of an environment like this, but it is interesting to see how strongly exhibited this norm is in an environment where people might be more sensitive about the way they look. It seemed to be a social norm for females to wear clothing that had at minimum strong accents and, more often than not, pungent coloration. Strong colors could be a social norm for females as well, although there was one wearing all black workout clothing. Due to the number of females in the gym later in the night, I do not have enough data to where I would make a solid conclusion out of this. In order to take data on the female gym population, I would have had to go earlier in the day when more of them tend to work
My teammates would cry and complain and quit. They could never see the appeal, and it was not until I took a weightlifting class during my freshman year that I found people who did; but they were all boys. For the first few weeks in the class, I continued to hid behind cardio machines and two pound weights, afraid to venture across an invisible barrier to the free weight section, bustling with sweaty boys in an assortment of Nike and Adidas. While other girls in my class sat texting on the recumbent bicycles, spouting gossip, I hovered closer and closer to the boy’s club, as I had dubbed them, rotating between weight stations. Then, on unexpected Friday afternoon, after an hour of listening to mindless drivel about fad diets and fake eyelashes, I breached the invisible line separating me from who I wanted to be. In doing so, I began a harsh journey of calloused hands, sweat stains, aching knees, and soreness in muscles I did not know existed. I has been two years since my evolution to heavy lifting
Its 7 o clock PM, prime time at the gym. I walk through the packed gym doors. Scrambling around, grabbing stations as fast as possible, I get in the zone, nothing around me matters. Getting out of my zone is a difficult task, but certain guys manage to do just that. I have given these men special titles: the screamer, the instructor, the confused, and Mr. Bi-bench.
RaStereotyping is a way of thinking about groups of people. It ignores the differences of the group, while emphasizing its similarity. One belief, that is a stereotype, is that red-haired people are hot tempered. Another belief is that Scottish people are stingy. Such thinking ignores many even-tempered redheads and generous Scottish people. Stereotyping emphasizes many differences between groups while ignoring their similarities to other people. It ignores that many blond and brown-haired people also lose their tempers. Stereotyping overlooks the fact that many American, Brazilians and French people are stingy.
I saw a large variety of outfits and shoe choices while observing the weight room. I saw several females in tank tops and tight pants while I also saw several females wearing sweatpants and a loose t-shirt or sweatshirts. I saw some males wearing looser shirts and I saw some males wearing extremely tight or cut-off shirts, these men typically had bigger muscles which I would assume gave them the confidence to wear shirts like that. It was easy to set apart the people who have been in the gym for a while from the people who are new to the gym or just learning how to work with certain items in the weight room. While watching the people in the gym I noticed one of the features of reality for the majority, which was the fragility of realities,
When it comes to choice of where to workout it is a complete personal preference. Some people do not like the thought of people staring at them or watching them workout because they are not at the place they wish to be at yet. This is only one other thing that sets people in this discourse community apart from themselves. In some instances, this can become a disadvantage for the person pushing towards a specific goal. Certain goals can be pushed to the side or completely forgotten about because of the discomfort people feel placing themselves in a place like a gym for the first time.
It was finally time to head to gym class in the afternoon where we were instructed to take part of a physical test. This test would determine how fit or unfit we are based on a system that was implemented by those with greater authority, on which concluded that it was on such a scale society should be based on. So it was that afternoon that I preformed the tasks that were instructed on to me and my peers. I was able to completed them to my utmost potential which can be consider to be something not so distinctive. It was on this day that I was mocked by one my peers of my lack of ability to preform the instructed physical tasks, that was a no brainer to such a fit individual like himself. It
“All gymnasts are tall and skinny, they only care about winning, and they are all perfectionists”, is what I hear when people talk about gymnastics. When I tell people I’m a gymnast they always say “You’re too short to be a gymnast” or “How can you get yourself to flip when you are so close to the ground?” Also they always just assume I am very competitive or all I care about is winning. They also assume that I am a perfectionist. These are common stereotypes I hear the most about gymnastics.
Personal space, body language, and overall interaction between the participants in the gym was something that I hadn't paid enough attention to in the past, from the distance I could see that their interests. The intimate couples that I noticed in the gym seemed again sought to have created a private space for them by erecting invisible barriers through their private body language directed only at each other, resulting in considerable more space between these couples and other groups of people in the gym. It was a clear and present body language of please do not bother us attitude left a sense of diffused power that would be involved power relationships that operate without covert commands and requests. The dynamics of the couple was something that was very obvious, in that I was able to note the dominant and the submissive person. The person who had a tendency to meet the needs and the one who had the ability to be demanding.
Price, Brena and Pettijohn, Terry. “The Effect of Ballet Dance Attire on Body and Self-Perceptions of
Although fitness centers and gyms may appear to be a place to break a sweat and work out with the intention of not being seen without makeup and in grungy clothes, this may not be the case, in particular when it comes to college gyms. Contrary to the findings Tamara L. Black displayed in her dissertation for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology from the University of California in Los Angeles, in which she depicts the situation of the classical fitness center as exercise dominated, after observations made while participating in the Boston College Recreational Complex, fitness centers may be more heavily focused on expressing sexual and social relations than for health related issues. Although she does not elaborate on this view of the gym, she does recognize that “popular media, cultural stereotypes, and some empirical literature depict gyms as places to meet people, where sexualized interactions are likely to take place, where bodies are on display as objects of desire” (pg. 40). This may be the perfect definition of the situation that I found in my observations. Shari L. Dworkin and Faye Linda Wachs, in Body Panic: Gender, Health, and the Selling of Fitness, acknowledge “mainstream media construct men as active and women as inactive. In this view, women are often shown as ‘being visually perfect’ and passive, immobile, and unchanging’” (pg. 40). Perhaps we have media to blame for this hyper-sexualization of a situation that was initially intended for self-fulfillment and health related practices.
To conclude, breaking the norm inside the gym was mixed with positive and negative sanctions. I was given a displeasing gesture (negative; the look) and was rewarded with smiles and laughs (positive). I’m sure most of the members enjoyed it better than I did, simply because I was nervous, embarrassed, and almost busted my but a few times. I was rather pleased with the trainer’s reaction because he maintained control yet didn’t freak out towards my actions. I was over all satisfied with everyone’s reactions and glad that I’m not banned from the gym (I did tell my trainer after that it was a social experiment).
The competition between the different exercise protocols for space highlights the struggle for each group to garner valuable resources to enhance their training routine. Next, the gym showcases social laws that everyone adheres to such as cleaning equipment, avoid gawking at others, and sticking to your respective workout space. Consequently, when a deviance to any of these laws becomes apparent the gym society swiftly acts to correct the action with disapproval and guidance for corrective actions. Finally, the gym truly embodies cultural pluralism during this hour long viewing people work together, conversant, and encourage one another regardless of their ethnic background. Since examples are highlighting social concepts, let’s move
A gym’s culture is unique. I remember, when I was a gainless (aka muscle diprived), insecure teenage girl, I hated gym goers. I looked at them as self absorbed, petty and judgemental. I went to the gym anyway, because as an insecure teenage girl I thought I was fat, and the grain of rice that tipped the scale was my father telling me about why I have to eat healthier and exercise. I loved
Welcome to my gym! Where lunkheads and beauty queens are welcomed alike. Now you must be thinking, what is a couch potato like me doing among the ‘Incredibly Hairy Hulks’, retired drill sergeants, and obnoxiously loud social butterflies? News flash, I have no idea.
... the norm of gender color is still socialized in public places. For instance, in fitness center or gym have free uniforms for customers and usually they are divided into for women only and men only. Men's clothes are