Chapter 1: Activewear: The Uniform of the Neoliberal Female Citizen

Brice, Julie; Thorpe, Holly

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-46843-9_2

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…This results in one’s appearance becoming the ‘vehicle to female recognition and validation’ (p. 108), and on the flip side, also disapproval and rejection when women are unable or unwilling to conform to such consumer driven ideals. Research has shown how this ‘postfeminist gaze’, as well as the broader ideas within postfeminism and neoliberalism, are exemplified in the activewear industry (Brice and Thorpe, 2021a; Lavrence and Lozanski, 2014; Nash, 2016; Posbergh et al, 2022). In particular, activewear clothing has been described by some as a ‘tracking device on the yogic body’ (Luna Mora and Berry, 2021: 417) showing the bumps, the curves, and the fat on a body and providing an avenue for women to judge other women’s attempts to modify and transform their physique.…”

Section: Conceptual Framing and Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Postfeminism, consumption and activewear: Examining women consumers’ relationship with the postfeminine ideal

Brice

Thorpe

Wheaton

et al. 2022

Journal of Consumer Culture

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Activewear (clothing designed specifically for fitness and functional movement) has become a hugely popular fashion style for women around the world. Scholars have critiqued the activewear industry for reproducing postfeminist and neoliberal discourses, with advertising and marketing primarily featuring heteronormative women’s bodies (thin, toned, white, young), with a strong emphasis on consumption and choice. In this article, we contribute to the literature on activewear and feminist consumption practices to examine how women consumers of activewear clothing understand and respond to postfeminist discourses inherent in the industry. In so doing, we speak to how the often-critiqued idealised femininity is ‘taken-up’ and interrogated by women activewear consumers. Specifically, we draw upon focus groups and interviews conducted with women from New Zealand, examining how some women are complicit in the production of particular femininities, while others are critical of the industry partaking in an array of everyday ‘acts of resistance’ against (and within) the industry. We conclude with a brief discussion of some of the women-led changes occurring within the activewear market. Ultimately, this article highlights the complexities and attitudes of some women activewear consumers and their contribution (and challenges) to the production of femininity within society.

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Section: Conceptual Framing and Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Postfeminism, consumption and activewear: Examining women consumers’ relationship with the postfeminine ideal

Brice

Thorpe

Wheaton

et al. 2022

Journal of Consumer Culture

Self Cite

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show abstract

“…745-746). Within the 21st century, where wellness and health are often prioritized as a result of neoliberal and healthism discourses, purchasing and wearing the latest activewear designs is one way that women can present themselves as conforming neoliberal citizens (Brice and Thorpe, 2021a). In other words, by wearing activewear in public spaces, women are (subconsciously) performing an "intent" to exercise (whether they do or not is much less relevant) and thus may be read as "good" neoliberal citizens, proactively managing their own health through an active lifestyle.…”

Section: What It Really Means To "Biff It Out": Activewear and Landfillsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward More-Than-Human Understandings of Sport and the Environment: A New Materialist Analysis of Everyday Fitness Practices

Brice¹,

Thorpe²

2021

Front. Sports Act. Living

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Sport and fitness have long been linked with healthy lifestyles, yet most sporting events and consumption practices are highly detrimental to the environment. While academics have examined the harmful effects of sporting mega-events and the production and consumption of sport equipment and clothing, there has been less engagement with the “mundane,” everyday activities of consuming, laundering, and recycling of fitness objects. In this paper, we explore the potential in feminist new materialisms for rethinking the complex relationships between sport, fitness, and the environment. In particular, we explain how our engagement with Karen Barad's theory of agential realism led us to rethink women's habitual fitness practices as connected to environmental degradation. Working with Barad's concept of entanglement, we came to notice new human-clothing-environment relationships, focusing on how athleisure clothing itself is an active, vital force that intra-acts with other non-human (and human) matter within the environment. Adopting a diffractive methodology that included reading interviews with women about their activewear practices, our own experiences, new materialist theory, and environmental literature through each other, we focus on two examples that emerged through this process: laundering and disposal practices. Through these examples, we demonstrate the ways in which new materialisms encouraged us to move toward non-anthropocentric understandings of the sport-environment relationship and toward new ethical practices in our everyday fitness lifestyles.

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I Wear a Fitbit™; Therefore, I Am a Bitfit: Exploring the Impact of a Fitbit™ Device on Exercise and Work-Related Wellbeing

Lasikiewicz

Scudds

2023

J. technol. behav. sci.

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Workplace wellbeing initiatives supporting mental health often utilise wearable activity trackers to promote physical activity. However, evidence regarding their efficacy is limited. The current study explored the potential for a Fitbit™ to increase engagement in exercise and to moderate the effect of exercise on work-related wellbeing in full-time workers. Participants recorded their work-related wellbeing and physical activity for two consecutive weeks, one wearing a Fitbit™. Results indicated that participants engaged in fewer minutes of exercise when wearing a Fitbit™, and that exercise alone was not associated with better work-related wellbeing. Participants were more frustrated when they exercised but were not wearing a Fitbit™. Participants also reported greater temporal demand when wearing a Fitbit™, which was exacerbated when not engaging in exercise. However, Fitbit™ wear was also associated with greater work-related satisfaction, regardless of whether they had engaged in exercise that day. Our findings imply that wearing a Fitbit™ can moderate the impact of exercise on work-related wellbeing, suggesting that it is not the activity tracker or exercise alone, but the interaction between the two which is key. The potential for wearable trackers to be effective in improving health and wellbeing is more complex than previously anticipated and warrants further investigation.

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Chapter 1: Activewear: The Uniform of the Neoliberal Female Citizen

Cited by 8 publications

References 20 publications

Postfeminism, consumption and activewear: Examining women consumers’ relationship with the postfeminine ideal

Postfeminism, consumption and activewear: Examining women consumers’ relationship with the postfeminine ideal

Toward More-Than-Human Understandings of Sport and the Environment: A New Materialist Analysis of Everyday Fitness Practices

I Wear a Fitbit™; Therefore, I Am a Bitfit: Exploring the Impact of a Fitbit™ Device on Exercise and Work-Related Wellbeing

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