Aesthetic/affective norms of femininity: An obstacle to women’s performance of exercise

Abstract

Aesthetic/affective norms around femininity could be an obstacle to women’s performance of exercise. Gender differences are significant: women are considerably more inactive than men. In this article we worked with the notion of body image and body affect, with the aim of reflecting on how aesthetic/affective norms around femininity could be an obstacle to women’s performance of exercise in Chile. To understand how these aesthetic/affective norms hinder physical activity, we analyzed media images using a qualitative methodology. The results show that there are four types of female body: extremely thin, thin, fat, and obese. This study explores how affectivity relates to the way in which exercise should be experienced: women must enjoy the actions in order to achieve the ideal body; indeed, they must experience them as pleasant. They should also be performed on a body that feels graceful, fragile, and small. We draw conclusions on the way in which images promote a body affect for the self and for others that becomes a barrier to the performance of female exercise.

How Can Physical Inactivity in Girls Be Explained? A Socioecological Study in Public, Subsidized, and Private Schools

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Becoming and being a masters athlete: Class, gender, place and the embodied formation of (anti)-ageing moral identities

“…Though reporting that most competitors wore one, she said, ‘I’m way too old for leotard’. Narelle's discomfort wearing a leotard illustrates how age and gendered expectation based on ideals of youthful beauty shape what is seen as appropriate bodily display for older sporting women (Dumas et al, 2005; Energici et al, 2021; Litchfield and Dionigi, 2012). None of the men reported challenges associated with wearing sporting outfits due to age or gender constraints.…”

“…These findings echo wider research that shows that women face a leisure burden where they are less likely to enjoy quality leisure and often facilitate men's leisure at costs to their own (Dilley and Scraton, 2010; Lamont et al, 2019; Dionigi et al, 2012). Women's stories also reflected the ‘double standard of ageing’ (Sontag, 1972 cited in Hartman-Tews, 2015) being more likely to frame their involvement as either an anti-ageing project or impacted by restrictive aesthetic-based gender norms (Energici et al, 2021).…”