Gendered exercising

[jethrien]

I have a relatively limited sample size, I'll admit, but I've just realized how very female-oriented exercise videos seem to be. My previous work out videos were along the lines of "Bellydancing for Weight Loss" or "Fat-Burning Dance Party", so I wasn't particularly surprised that there were basically no men featured. But the new one that's kicking my ass does have a female trainer, but she's off the Biggest Loser tv show, which I'd gotten the impression was pretty balanced, gender-wise. (I don't actually watch the show; I hadn't initially realized who she was. I originally chose the video because it got really outstanding comments on Amazon.) The exercises are not at all female-oriented--they're stuff like pushups and crunches and punching invisible stuff and the evil side lunges with arm raises from hell. They're just straight up cardio and strength training, no froufy stuff at all. But the people in the video are still all women.

So why is it that exercise videos seem to be feminine by default? I mean, I use them because I know that if I add the hurdle of having to leave the house to go to the gym, I won't ever actually exercise. And I'm spoiled and refuse to run in foul weather. Surely many guys would like to exercise in their own homes. Is it because they were initially marketed towards stay-at-home moms and seem feminine because of that? Is it because women are more obsessed with fitness? Do men interested in exercise prefer either totally solitary pursuits (weight lifting or running with no one talking at them) or team sports, while women prefer the illusion of exercising with a group who nonetheless can't actually judge you? Is it the stereotypical "men don't like directions" thing? Why is this such a gendered activity?

Comments

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

I think it's a combination of all the things you mentioned.

I also think gyms are perceived as such a potential hostile environment for women, they avoid it. So making videos that are overtly women-inclusive is probably a way to combat that.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

Oh, and the gender mix in the Power90 videos are pretty equal. I forgot to mention that.

[firynze.livejournal.com]

I think it's largely because videos like that are marketed at women - women are supposed to be the ones concerned with maintaining their physique, after all, because clearly our market value is based on our appearance.

There ARE some videos that have men in them, or are marketed to men, that I've seen in stores, but these tend to be more in the kickboxing and punchy-workouts vein, rather than the "general workout" mode.

But I think you're right in that running and going to the gym to lift weights tends to appeal more to men, for whatever reason, and therefore videos end up being skewed towards the female demographic.

[elissali.livejournal.com]

One thing possibly missed so far: maybe the people making the videos figure that people would rather watch videos of women in tight clothes exercising? Maybe the assumption there is that (hetero) men like watching women in tight clothes exercising, and that women find the women on the video more approachable... in any case, what you really need to answer the question you're asking are sales records on whether men or women buy the videos. (I do agree that there's probably a gender bias here on things like stay-at-home moms, etc, though)

And, as a counter-example from yoga, there are a lot of yoga videos that feature men, Rodney Yee being the first one that comes to mind.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Advertising to women: This product will make you a bikini model. Advertising to men: This product will allow you to have sex with bikini models.

Actually, I wonder how much of it is sexual and how much is gender-based (cultural) approaches to body comparisons. When women see a good-looking woman, are they more likely to think "I could be that if I work harder" than men? The stereotype is that men look in the mirror and see a buffed-up superhero, and women see a flabby lump so matter how fit they are. Maybe it just plays into that?

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Hmm, hadn't thought of that one.

[shnayder.livejournal.com]

I would add that if I were to buy an exercise video, I would prefer that it have hot women rather than hot guys in it. Just saying :)