Active Women, Power Relations and Gendered Identities: Embodied Experiences of Aerobics

Abstract

This chapter draws on an ongoing research project which aims to further an understanding of the significance of sport and exercise in the lives of women. Our principal aim here is to examine the embodied experiences of women who participate in aerobics (exercise to music). Drawing on evidence from participant observation and interviews, the significance of the techniques, practices and rituals of women in an aerobics class are mapped out. In particular we discuss issues of gender power relations in the context of aerobic exercise and explore how women’s identities are shaped and practised in and through the exercise experience. In this respect, our work confirms studies conducted over the past decade (Scraton, 1987; 1992; Cole, 1993; Hall, 1996; Morgan and Scott, 1993; Shilling, 1993; Birrell and Cole, 1994; Hargreaves, 1994; Tseëlon, 1995; Young and White, 1995; Woodward, 1997).