Jesper Andreasson

Female Fitness in the Blogosphere Gender, Health, and the Body

This article analyzes self-portrayals and gender constructions among female personal trainers within an Internet-mediated framework of fitness culture. The empirical material comes from a close examination of three strategically selected blogs. The result shows that some of the blogs clearly build upon what Connell calls emphasized femininity, as a means of legitimizing and constructing appropriate female fitness. In addition, there are also tendencies of sexualization in text and imagery present. As such, these self-representations are framed within a cultural history of body fitness dominated by stereotypical ways of perceiving masculinity and femininity. However, this does not capture the entire presentation of the self among the analyzed fitness bloggers. The blogs also point in the direction of ongoing negotiations and subversions of traditional gender norms. Among other things, they show how irony and humor are used as a means of questioning normative gender constructions while empowering female fitness and bodyliness.

The Fitness Revolution. Historical Transformations in the Global Gym and Fitness Culture

Abstract Today, fitness gyms and private health clubs are a huge global business. Fitness has turned into a folk movement, but not one comparable to the old 20th-century movements, often connected to national sentiments, but instead a highly individualized preoccupation. In this article the historical development of modern gym and fitness culture is described and an analytically developed approach to the understanding of the emergence of this multi-billion-dollar phenomenon is developed. The analysis suggest that the techniques, tools, and physical exercises used today in gyms all over the world are the results of a physical culture developed and refined during the 20th century. The body ideals, exercises, techniques, and the pedagogy of fitness have become an increasingly international enterprise. A tentative analysis of the globalization of gym and fitness culture is developed and presented. Three important and decisive phases in the globalization of gym and fitness culture are identified and analyzed.

Shut up and Squat! Learning Body Knowledge within the Gym.

The aim of this article is to describe and analyse learning processes among bodybuilders in bodybuilding environments, focusing on the ways activities form the basis for incorporation of both physical and cultural knowledge. Emanating from an ethnographic study, the arguments are based on a constructionist approach to knowledge. The result provides an understanding of knowledge as being, and becoming, embodied through different learning processes. This article shows how knowledge of exercise, nutrition and physiology is gradually acquired and physically experienced, eventually becoming knowledge ‘in the body’ rather than ‘about the body’. Through these learning processes, the individual develops perceptual as well as tactile abilities that, earlier, were unexplored or bodily inaccessible.

The Gym and the Beach Globalization, Situated Bodies, and Australian Fitness

Fitness culture is becoming gradually more globalized, both in terms of body ideals, and in terms of body techniques and philosophies of the body. This article discusses the consequences of the globalization of fitness. In particular, the article analyzes the relationship between processes of globalization and how local cultural ideals, gender, and environmental factors may contribute to the shaping of specific local gym and fitness cultures. The empirical material is based on an ethnographic case study in Newcastle, Australia, and includes observations from fitness centers and the local surroundings. In addition, interviews with personal trainers, group fitness instructors, and other professionals operating within the fitness field have been conducted. The results show that the construction of a local and national gym and fitness culture to a great extent is influenced by the standardization and globalization of fitness. The fitness industry can be analyzed and understood in terms of a “McDonaldization process.” This understanding, however, does not capture the whole image of Australian fitness. In the narratives and observations, there are also tendencies to individualize and personalize fitness in local ways, for instance, in relation to assets such as the natural environment and somewhat mythic and romanticized perceptions of an authentic Australian lifestyle.

Global narratives of fatherhood. Fathering and masculinity on the Internet

ABSTRACT There is currently an increasing amount of research on online fatherhood. In this article, we have used international blogs as our empirical data, in order to investigate and create an in-depth picture of fatherhood as it is expressed in various men’s stories about their everyday lives. Three distinct conceptions of fatherhood and masculinity emerge. The first of these positions could be described as a nostalgic position in relation to hegemonic masculinity. The second position is referred to here as complicity. This position indicates a changing landscape of fatherhood and family politics, moving towards gender-equal conditions. Thirdly, we have an inclusive position that reflects a gender-neutral position, and are understood less in terms of masculinity, heteronormativity and gender-divided responsibilities.

The Health Guru: Masculinity and Fitness Coaching in the Blogosphere

Through a close study of blogs, where male fitness experts share their expertise, this article analyses how masculinity are framed within the Internet-mediated context of the fitness culture. This is done against the background of Connells theory of masculinity, and recent critiques of the concept of hegemony. Through an in-depth analysis of three blogs, we get a complex and contradictory image of the different forms of masculinity portrayed in these blogs and in fitness culture at large. The texts and imagery on the blogs clearly exceeds the criteria/limits of traits and norms traditionally considered male or female. In doing so, the may contribute to an increased acceptance for, for example, gay identities and other submissive masculinities.

Online doping. The new self-help culture of ethnopharmacology

Abstract In Sweden, but also internationally, official regimes and public health organizations conduct fairly comprehensive antidoping measures. As a consequence, numerous ‘new’ ways to learn about and access these types of drugs have emerged. Social media and different internet forums, for example, have become part of a new self-help culture in which people can anonymously approach these substances, discuss their experiences of using them and minimize the possibility of encounters with the police. This article focuses on how the use of performance- and image-enhancing drugs (PED) is perceived and negotiated socially in the context of an internet-mediated and online community called Flashback. The results are in accordance with similar studies on internet bodybuilding communities. That is, even though the participants to a certain degree are aware of the risks and health costs of this kind of physical regime, the gains of using PED clearly dominate the discussions. Adding to this research, this article found that in the imaginary world of online bodybuilding a number of ideas about the ‘genetic max’, as well as the ultimate possibility of exceeding one’s limits, and creating something special and extraordinary, circulate. These stories confirm in many ways the legitimate mission of searching for the ultimate bodybuilding adventure, using different means and methods to transcend the limits of the self/body.

Keeping Death at Bay through Health Negotiation : Older Adults' Understanding of Health and Life within Gym and Fitness Culture

This article analyses older adults’ trajectories leading to membership in a gym, and the ways in which they negotiate their self-understanding, aging, and health in this context. Emanating from an ethnographic study, the arguments are based on a constructionist approach. The results show that older adults’ decision to start going to a gym should be understood in relation to an individualized health care system in Swedish society and as a means of negotiating deteriorating health, retirement, lost body capacity, and the meaning of becoming old. The physical activities carried out and the social relationships developed in these contexts are used to construct an empowered self-understanding prepared to challenge the “stiffness” of the dying body.

The new fitness geography: the globalisation of Japanese gym and fitness culture

Abstract Using a minor case study of the local fitness culture scene in Tokyo, Japan, this exploratory and qualitative article aims to discuss and analyse the consequences of globalisation of fitness culture. The article focuses particularly on how fitness culture is negotiated in Japanese society – at a national, local and subjective level, and in relation to attempts to uniformly rationalise and standardise gym and fitness culture. The results indicate that the fitness geography is changing, and through the establishment of a globalised fitness culture, Japanese youth are following in the footsteps of many other countries. However, this does not mean that we are witnessing a homogenisation process, or a completely McDonaldised version of fitness culture in Japan. Instead, this cultural phenomenon is shaped and formed in particular ways, pointing towards certain strong national sentiments concerning body ideals, views on gender and exercise and relaxation. For example, the cuteness ideal has a strong influence on the way young women talk about and perceive body ideals and corporeal performances in Japan.

Becoming an Ironman triathlete. Extreme exercise, gender equality and the family puzzle

Abstract Departing from a qualitative research approach, this article focuses on Swedish amateur Ironman triathletes and their family life. The purpose of the paper is to investigate how an elite amateur lifestyle is upheld and balanced with the demands of a sustainable family and social life. The results indicate that the process of becoming and staying an Ironman creates tensions in intimate relationships, making it hard to bring the family life puzzle together. Although the participants interviewed often talk about family life in terms of sharing things fairly equally, in terms of gender equity and involved parenthood, this seemingly is not always an easy ideal to fulfil in practice. On a broader cultural level, these findings can thus be contextualized in relation to discourses associated with the gendering of families and functions, and, of course, the gender of sport and performance.