Group fitness, that’s only something for girls and my mom, right?

The aim of this study was to explore which factors might affect participation in group fitness classes from a gender perspective. This was achieved through qualitative interviews with group fitness instructors at a local gym in Sweden. The gender perspectives used in this study are Connell and Pearse’s theory that describes gender as a social construct, and also Yancey Martin’s theory which explains how we act in social contexts and why it is affected by gender norms. The results showed that participation seemed to be affected by the gender norms that Connell and Pearse describes, and especially preconceptions about the concept that is group fitness classes. The preconception assuming that group fitness strictly attracts women seemed to make the barriers for men to attend even higher. Beliefs about masculinity and femininity, and how this was supposed to be practiced in social contexts as Yancey Martin describes it, seemed to provide some kind of security for the participants. In conclusion it can be stated that these where complex matters to seek an answer to, one factor could perhaps be explained by the historical context behind group fitness. Another factor could be how secure the men felt in their perceived masculinity and also how men and women differ in their view of the ideal body type