“Run, Jane, Run”: Central Tensions in the Current Debate About Enhancing Women's Health Through Exercise

Abstract

The advancement of access and opportunities for girls and women in health enhancing physical activity in recent decades is a matter of record. Yet despite burgeoning interest and increased female participation in sport and recreational physical activity, few women are active enough to benefit their health. Even after extensive government campaigns are repeatedly used to educate the public, fewer women than men participate in every age group. Something is drastically wrong when exercise is said to be associated with so many health benefits, yet only a small portion of the female population exercises sufficiently to accrue these benefits. It is important to critically evaluate the challenges inherent in achieving social equity in opportunities for healthy physical activity for all women. As we gain new understandings about how health gains can be achieved by reducing social inequality rather than providing more medical care, we can see how involvement in healthy exercise is closely entwined with the social and economic status of women, disempowering stereotypes of the female body and the issue of control over women's bodies. This paper explores central tensions in the current debate about promoting female health through physical activity across the lifespan by focusing upon (i) the continued medicalization of the female body; (ii) adolescence and the tyranny of physical appearance over health and physical activity choices; (iii) menopause and the perpetuation of disempowering stereotypes into old age; and (iv) issues of diversity and the impact of 'race' and ethnicity upon female health and physical activity. These issues are then examined in light of the discourses of recent population health strategies in Canada and the U.S. Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health (1996) which both (in differing degrees) demonstrate a continued preoccupation with individual lifestyle change and cautious medical prescription for exercise as recipes for better female health.

Women in midlife: Experiences of the mind and body movement of Nia.

“…Vertinsky (1998) explains that these types of activities promote beauty rather than health and that the pressure to satisfy social standards of slenderness and acceptable body types fails to attend to women's everyday embodied experiences. Thus, traditional fitness activities tend to dismiss holistic understandings of the self that include body, mind, spirit, and emotion, creative expression, and positive social connection.…”

“…A dearth of research exists that gives voice to midlife women and their experiences with mind and body forms of movement. Vertinsky (1998) explains that it is essential to listen attentively to what women have to say "about their own experiences in their lived bodies and how they see them as providing a location for health and healthful practices" (p.…”

"A little bit of weight is taken off": A phenomenological study of Celtic folk dance as a stress management strategy for women in midlife.

“…Wells (in Vertinsky, 1998) asserts that inadequate exercise is a major health issue for women today. In spite o f the disintegrating barriers to female participation in athletic activities and extensive government campaigns to encourage participation, women in every age group are less active than men.…”

“…What research has been done in the areas o f mid-life women and stress management has not included the voices o f the women participants. Vertinsky ( 1998) suggests that "it is essential to listen more carefully to what wom en... say about their own experiences in their lived bodies and how they see them as providing a location for health and healthful practices" (p.…”

“…1 hope that my research will 1) broaden our understanding of mid-life women's experience o f dancing; 2) add to the existing body o f knowledge in the fields of dance, exercise and stress; 3) expand the choices of exercise activities for stress management; and 4) encourage a health promotion program based on wellness Vertinsky ( 1998) identifies a number o f issues that preclude women's participation in physical activity as a health promotion strategy. These include both misconceptions about the physical abilities o f women and cultural assumptions about roles and appropriate activities for women.…”