If you are a woman, your experience of a gym as a beginner will likely vary from that of a man. As beginners, we are all overly conscious, nervous, and restrained. However, this difference between men and women in a gym stems from the highly gendered culture of the gym world. This should not be news to anyone, since we navigate a world crafted by men, where the rules are made by men; so, why should a gym be any different?
The gym is a world dominated by men, and the language of the gym is highly gendered. Popular gym lingo, such as ‘ripped’, ‘shredded’, ‘beast mode’, and ‘bro science’, is profusely masculine. The construction of the gym itself caters primarily to men. Women are not only marginalised in a gym but also must function in a highly sexist environment that the gym resonates with. In India, at least from my experience, most affordable gyms typically provide a single person as a common gym overseer rather than a personal trainer. In most cases, such an individual is a man who assists you during the first few days, after which you are on your own. He would often be found devoting much of his time to the men, with an aura of disinterest towards the women.
In such small gyms, spaces are often unofficially divided between women and men. Women could mostly be seen huddling in a corner, doing freehand exercises while most of the floor and equipment are occupied by ‘gym bros.’ Such an environment promotes ghettoisation and a culture of unequal accessibility to shared space, purely based on gender. Most women are discouraged from even trying to lift weights or do challenging exercises because they are judged immediately and receive unsolicited advice from men. Such advice might be taken in good note, provided it did not come with patronisation. However, that is seldom the case.
Recently, the gym has taken over the fitness arena, and it has become quite popular for women to lift weights and for older individuals to embrace resistance training. The gym’s popularity today is attributed largely to social media, where fitness influencers—both men and women—take the credit. However, this has done more harm than good for women. On social media, a popular trend promotes the gym as an alternative for women. Reels would often show a man lifting heavy weights in a gym, accompanied by ominous and intimidating background music. It would come with the message to prioritise the male pursuit of fitness over engagement with women. This not only encourages gender violence but also portrays women as exotic and frivolous creatures. In fact, most fitness content on social media is exclusively curated for male users.
Londa Schiebinger, a scholar of the history of science and gender and a feminist, has been working sincerely with tech giants to expose gender bias in research and design. In an interview, she explains how AI is falling prey to gender bias—for example, social media advertisements suggesting low-paying jobs specifically to female users.
Aggression is something that is propagated and sustained by men. One cannot deny that the basic gym activities, which require lifting weights or performing bodyweight resistance training, demand a great deal of aggression—something that masculine culture worships. Femininity has long been constructed in a patriarchal picture where women are criticised for being aggressive or too “manly.” However, the gym forces women into being aggressive—something that need not be seen as for or against femininity, but simply as a choice. Women face the duality of being forced into aggressive masculine behaviour in gym culture, which they have been historically criticised for, and if they deny it, they are labelled as lazy and unfit. Social media is filled with such reels and videos that, before introducing a popular gym activity, include a disclaimer stating that it will not make women look muscular. The paradox lies in the hypocrisy that women must endure in gym culture—this double whammy has been a constant of history when it comes to gender.
To navigate today’s neo-liberal world, one must be aware of the risks that an unhealthy lifestyle imposes on us. We cannot question the importance of being fit and active. However, the definition of what fitness is and what activity can be considered suitable for that end is contested. Fitness spaces need to be sensitised, and the toxic anti-women culture promoted under the garb of male fitness must be criticised. Women should not be made to feel alienated and cornered in gyms, and fitness institutions should actively take steps to address the lacunas hindering women from being themselves, or worse, quitting the gym altogether.
— Edited by Samhita| Design by Surabhi
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