Tough, Sexy, and Smart: Cultural Ideals in Women's Fitness Videos

For my New Year's resolution and continuing quest to recapture my pre-marital body, I have been spending a lot of time lately looking at workout videos on YouTube. Being more of a sociologist than a fitness freak, I also find myself looking at these videos as a window into American culture, and a commentary on our values and beliefs.

Like any reasonable person, I tend to click on the videos with the most hits. Not only do they tend to be higher quality workouts (and achievable for semi-sedentary academics like me), but they're also indicative of the kinds of things that motivate other women like me. Although the smorgasbord of actual exercises is quite diverse (hips, abs, cardio, warmups, zumba, yoga, pilates, etc.),  the workout videos targeted for women seem to appeal to three distinct cultural ideals:

1. The Tough Girl
Being tough is definitely considered an asset in American culture today. The girls and women we admire are ones that don't care about girly things - and who can beat a boy in any competition she wants. Katniss Everdeen, Hermoine Granger, Mulan and Xena are all strong, independent women who can take care of themselves - and we want to be like that too. Girl power!

The tough girl of the fitness world is Jillian Michaels, who is a trainer on the Biggest Loser, and she has a reputation for pushing people to their limits to get into shape. She has a lower voice, a muscular build, and while the photoshop artists enhance her features for publicity photos and her DVDs, "sexy" is clearly not her mantra. Her favorite exercises are elements of kickboxing. Jillian's points come from being tough, and from making you believe that you can be tough too.
"Power through it!"
"Remember - if you don't get uncomfortable, nothing's going to change. This is not your mother's workout."
“Unless You Puke, Faint or Die, Keep Going!” 
"I want you to feel like you are going to die!"

 

  2. The Sexy Goddess

There can be no doubt that today's women want to be sexy as well as strong. Every video called "Look Good Naked in 40 min a Day" or "Hot Body Warm Up Routine" or "Victoria's Secret Workout" reflects this ideal. A real woman should be sexy - sexy means powerful and self-confident. The best combination is tough AND sexy - think Tomb Raider.

The "Pump It Up" videos from Diane Barry teach fitness through dance. The outfits in this and other similar dance workout videos say more than anything else. While the moves are only occasionally suggestive (body rolls, pelvic thrusts, etc.) the atmosphere with songs like "Satisfaction" and high-cut bikini bottoms are more than indicative that the fitness goal is to look and feel sexy:
"Over the body... nice and sexy"
"Have some fun with it."
"Do this every day and you will see the curves."




3. The Well-Balanced Woman
The third cultural ideal is that we need to be smart and take care of ourselves. This is the ideal that stresses that it's not about how you look, but how you feel that matters most. These women recycle, eat organic, vote, detox, care about what kids are watching on tv, and try to have balance in their lifestyle. They applaud P&G for their Olympic "Proud Sponsor(ship) of moms", and Dove's "Real Beauty" campaign.

The ClassFit Sugar videos are set it what looks like either a home or an elementary school classroom, with bright curtains and cubbies in the background. The women are more average-looking and wear less revealing clothing. The three featured women lead the exercises in tandem - they interact with each other more naturally, and don't have the same polished synchronicity of the Jillian and Michaels and the dance workout videos. The message is - we are just normal women, like you, and you can be fit and healthy and happy like us.


Working out, it seems is mostly motivated by the desire to be tough, to be sexy, or to be healthy. What do you think? Is this accurate? Is it helpful? How do these three ideals reflect the reality in society, and how do they impact women?