James Pang U62057992 AN101 Professor Arkin Mentor Mustafa Thursday 12:00 - 1:00 05/06/11

Physical Expectations: An Exploration of American Gender Roles Boston Universitys Fitness and Recreational center, more commonly known as the Fitrec, is probably one of the most frequently visited buildings of Boston University among its college students. Featuring numerous facilities that vary from aquatic centers to smoothie health bars, the Fitrec also has a fitness center that is known as the Gerald Tsai Fitness Center. The Gerald Tsai Fitness Center boasts 18,000 square feet of weight lifting and cardiovascular conditioning area and is probably one of the most popular facilities within the Fitrec, offering the latest in exercise equipment that range from free weights to elliptical machines. The Fitness Center spans two floors of the Fitrec and is separated from the rest of the Fitrec by an entrance and several frames of glass. The first floor can be seen as having two sections, with one section being a cardiovascular conditioning room and a smaller section being a weight room. The second floor of the Fitrec on the other hand only features a few cardio machines and features a wide array of weight lifting equipment instead. Upon entering the Fitness Center, it becomes obvious to many that it is a place of extreme gender polarization. While men dominate the weight room, women can often be found crowding the cardio section of the gym, waiting in line for the next available treadmill or elliptical machine. Having observed this, one has to ask why is it that men and women do different things at the gym? And how do these differences in behavior reflect the

physical expectations placed on them by western society? These questions when answered essentially provide a deeper look into the gender roles that are currently present within American society. It is common for many people to assume that a persons sex and gender role are one in the same when in fact they are two very different things in the anthropological sense. This paper, though concerned with a persons sex, is ultimately a paper about the gender roles that can be found in America. A persons sex is biological whereas gender roles are something that is culturally defined. In other words, while a persons sex can be tested for in a medical exam, a persons gender is dependent on how his/her society categorizes his/her behavior. For example, in America it is common to associate behaviors such as working and providing for the family with a male gender role while females are expected to stay at home and care for their children. Though America is slowly moving towards higher degrees of gender neutrality, it is still greatly assumed by many that biological sex determines a persons gender role. Therefore, it is quite difficult for us to imagine cultures in which gender roles may be reversed, though they do actually exist in abundance. Moreover, though sex is determined by biology, it is still considered to be something of social construction. American society still holds the idea that there are only two mutually exclusive sexes when in reality there are people present with a whole spectrum of hormonal, genetic, and sexual characteristics. The concept of androgynous figures and the like are often a source of confusion for many, as they disagree with the categories and classifications of sex already in place. Sexual categories are thereby also arbitrary and not as simple as we think.

Though sex and gender remain as two distinct terms, they are related in that they are actually co-constructions of one another. It is impossible to bring up one term without thinking of the other, as a societys gender classifications are based on their sexual classification. The expectations for a persons gender role ultimately stems from what his/her sex is, which is further dependent on the sexual categories predetermined by that culture. Thereby, in order to be able to fully discuss gender roles it is important to establish what sexual categories are actually being observed first. In the case of the fitness center, I was unable to find any ambiguous sexual categories and found it simply easier to base my observations on the two typical sexual classifications of male and female and their associated gender roles. There are numerous behavioral differences between men and women at the Fitness Center, however after several hours of observation it becomes obvious that their motivations for going to the gym are actually the same. While I was making my observations, I conducted some interviews and asked people two simple questions. The first question inquired into what people considered their main motivation to be in coming to the gym while the second question involved asking people about the amount of importance they placed on aesthetics when going to the fitness center. Almost all of them, both male and female, answered the first question by replying that health was their main priority when coming to the gym. However, when I asked the second question many of them became confused as if I had asked the same thing. It later became obvious that people grouped health and aesthetics into the same category, though they are actually two very distinct things. Unlike aesthetics, health is a much broader concept that involves bettering ones well being by aiming to improve things such as blood pressure and longevity. Though there may not be many differences in exercise method for these two goals,

there is definitely a substantial difference when it comes to mentality. People who aim for aesthetic goals at the gym are much more likely to pay attention to things like calories burnt whereas people who go for health are probably not so concerned. Later observations that are made further support the aesthetic goals that people brought up in their interviews. Though the motivation for attending the fitness center remain the same for both men and women, it is interesting to note that they still engage in different behaviors, indicating that men and women have different societal physical expectations which are of equal importance. Upon entering the second floor of the Fitrec, it becomes apparent that the weight lifting section of the fitness center is completely dominated by men. Thereby, it is quite easy to deduce that an important aspect of masculinity within western society is a muscular physique. Bodybuilding, one of the many forms of weight lifting, was the most prevalent method of weight lifting in the gym. Other types of weight lifting, such as Olympic lifting, power lifting, and strongman, were essentially non-existent. Though these methods of weight lifting are very different from one another, they all share a common difference with the practice of body building. Whereas body building is centered around the goal of aesthetics, things like power lifting are based on performance, meaning that it is actually the amount of weight lifted that is of primary concern. Body building generally concerns minimizing fat while working on individual muscles on separate days to make them appear bigger, resulting in a very muscular yet toned physique. The equipment in the gym was generally geared towards this form of lifting, reflecting how aesthetics are of primary concern at the fitness center. This was even further emphasized by dialogues that I heard in which people made claims such as today is an arms and chest day and other phrases like get big.

Now that it is known that the primary physical expectation placed on the male gender is a muscular physique, it is important to consider what that implies. Generally speaking, appearing muscular gives the impression of great size and strength, which are qualities that are often seen as masculine. These qualities are further accentuated by the gym attire that men wore at the gym, generally consisting of basketball shorts and a loose t-shirt. Though these men all wore loose clothing, they were quite tight around certain areas such as the chest and arms. In doing so, men are seen as having filled out their shirts, even further accentuating their size and strength. Basically speaking, these qualities of size and strength all seem to reflect some form of dominance that men strive for. In contrast to the men of the fitness center, women are usually found in the cardiovascular conditioning area of the gym. The prevailing belief in exercise method is that cardiovascular activity is the primary method of burning fat, thereby it could be deduced that women are highly concerned with losing weight. Moreover, women were rarely seen at the weight lifting section of the fitness center, reflecting a desire to remain small as opposed to getting bigger. However, it is quite interesting to note that it was quite common to see women doing abdominal exercises and paying a lot of attention to the appearance of their stomach. The clothing that women wore, such as tank tops and yoga pants, were also very tight and served to show off much of their physique. Women seem to avoid the weight room entirely as to not risk appearing any bigger or gaining any weight at all. This is further reflected in their clothing, which even serves to minimize space. To sum up, all of these observations seem to point to the aesthetic goal of appearing small and slim.

Having observed both men and women at the gym, one can conclude that the physical expectations placed on men and women are essentially polar opposites. Men, who aim to seek some form physical dominance, exert a lot of effort into appearing big and strong while women do the exact opposite and try to remain small, appearing fragile relative to men. As mentioned earlier, gender roles are something that are historically conditioned but ultimately arbitrary. In American society, it appears that the gender roles found in America are actually defined by the other gender. Both genders strive to appear not like the other, hence resulting in the gender distinctions we see in America today.