Perfect bodies and imperiled health: Critical ethnography, masculinity, and the Fitness Center
Author: Jonathan Houle, jonathan.houle@uqo.ca
Department: Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences
University: University of Ottawa, Canada
Supervisor: Dave Holmes
Year of completion: 2024
Language of dissertation: French
Keywords:
Surveillance
, Perfomance
, Appearance
, Masculinities
Areas of Research:
Sport
, Deviance and Social Control
, Body in the Social Sciences
Abstract
CONTEXT: Fitness centers (FCs) are strongly associated with the promotion of health and physical exercise. However, it is paradoxical to observe that many clients within these establishments adopt practices that appear detrimental to their health. Several studies have explored this issue in the contexts of bodybuilding and intensive training among male athletes. However, the experiences and practices of the "ordinary" male population that regularly attends fitness centers have rarely been the subject of in-depth study. Given that men's participation in FCs puts some of them at a greater risk of experiencing physical and psychosocial violence, the general objective of this study was to provide an in-depth analysis of the culture, discourses, and practices to which men are exposed in FCs in order to better understand their relationship with their bodies and health.
METHODOLOGY: Methodologically, we opted for a qualitative approach, specifically critical ethnography. In this regard, more than 250 hours of field observation were conducted, and 10 men with more than one year of gym training in an FC in the Gatineau/Ottawa region were recruited. The 10 participants completed questionnaires and shared their experiences through semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed using a critical approach guided by Foucauldian and Deleuzian poststructuralist perspectives.
RESULTS: A culture that values appearance and performance prevails in FCs. Men use FCs for identity work, where body shaping—particularly its prowess and musculature—becomes the measure of their success. Male users engage in these continuous production projects both within and outside the FCs. In a competitive manner, they strive to sculpt their bodies and establish their place within a tacit hierarchy linked to the culture of these centers. Their quest for improved appearance and performance presents itself as an endless journey, where each advancement pushes the destination further away. Both beginners, seeking rapid results, and seasoned gym-goers, eager to break through plateaus, turn to various technologies (professional services, informational resources, consumption of exogenous substances, surveillance and tracking platforms, etc.) to aid them in their capitalist project of body production. To achieve their goals, they engage in practices that subject them to forms of violence, ranging from panoptic surveillance to micro-fascism.
CONCLUSION: The normative and symbolic contexts surrounding the bodies of men who attend FCs foster an often excessive desire for "body production/improvement." The privileges associated with producing such a body motivate men to adopt practices that may be detrimental to their health.
