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THESIS DRAMATURGY and GENDER PERFORMANCE in FITNESS SPACES Submitted by Remo Macartney Department of Sociology in Partial Fulfil

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THESIS DRAMATURGY and GENDER PERFORMANCE in FITNESS SPACES Submitted by Remo Macartney Department of Sociology in Partial Fulfil THESIS DRAMATURGY AND GENDER PERFORMANCE IN FITNESS SPACES Submitted by Remo Macartney Department of Sociology In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado Fall 2019 Master’s Committee: Advisor: Lynn Hempel KuoRay Mao Courtenay Daum Copyright by Remo Macartney 2019 All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT DRAMATURGY AND GENDER PERFORMANCE IN FITNESS SPACES This study uses theories from symbolic interactionism and feminist theory to understand performance in fitness spaces. Dramaturgical Theory and the theory of Doing Gender are used to address this topic. The first theory is used to examine the way that actors perform their gender within a gym. This includes space, appearance, and props from Dramaturgical Theory. The second concept incorporates ethnomethodology to examine how the actor fashions an intelligible body and uses their modified body to complete certain performances. Along the way the actor builds competency with certain props. This allows them to complete new performances. This research is important in understanding how power is distributed across fitness spaces. Additionally this study provides insights into participant behavior and can be used to understand how actors use and arrange space. ii DEDICATION Dedicated to Dr. Peter Hall iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................ii DEDICATION................................................................................................................................iii Chapter 1 - Introduction...................................................................................................................1 Gym as Performative Space.................................................................................................7 Setting......................................................................................................................8 Teams.....................................................................................................................10 Props......................................................................................................................11 Gender................................................................................................................................12 Gender as Action...................................................................................................13 The Body............................................................................................................................16 Appearance...........................................................................................................19 Agency...............................................................................................................................20 Competency with Props.....................................................................................................23 Chapter 3 - Methods.......................................................................................................................24 Introduction and Site Selection...........................................................................................24 Data Collection...................................................................................................................25 Data Analysis......................................................................................................................26 Positionality........................................................................................................................27 Chapter 4 - West Coast Gym..........................................................................................................30 Sound in the Gym...............................................................................................................31 Appearance of Staff............................................................................................................35 Cleaning.............................................................................................................................35 Client/Trainer Interactions.................................................................................................36 Dogs...................................................................................................................................38 Clothing and Bodybuilding................................................................................................40 Saturday Crowd..................................................................................................................43 Exercise Classes.................................................................................................................45 Free Weights.......................................................................................................................46 Scheduling..........................................................................................................................48 Division Between Staff and Patrons...................................................................................48 Personal Training................................................................................................................49 Gym Culture.......................................................................................................................51 Age and Injury as Accounting............................................................................................61 Chapter 5 - Bodybuilding as a Performance..................................................................................66 The Pump: An Act of Performance....................................................................................68 High Fives and Other Acts of Support...............................................................................69 Chapter 6 - Doing Gender in a Public Gym...................................................................................71 Male Dominated Space.....................................................................................................72 Gender Performance.........................................................................................................75 Breeching.........................................................................................................................78 Female Spaces.................................................................................................................80 Shaping Bodies................................................................................................................80 Implications Found in Public Gym..................................................................................82 Chapter 7 - Discussion...................................................................................................................84 Dramaturgy and Gender Performance.............................................................................84 Space................................................................................................................................87 Props................................................................................................................................88 Appearance in Gym.........................................................................................................90 Intelligibility....................................................................................................................91 Acknowledgments and Limitations.................................................................................92 Intersectionality.....................................................................................................92 Standpoint.............................................................................................................93 Significance of Research................................................................................................94 Conclusion......................................................................................................................96 Works Cited.................................................................................................................................,.98 Appendix - Field Notes at Public Gym.......................................................................................101 CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION Walking through a University gym or public gym, it is easy to observe patterns of behav- ior in the gym based upon gender. When I first began my studies of sociology learning about symbolic interactionism and feminist theories expanded my understanding of the same everyday interactions that I had questioned prior to the beginnings of my studies. As I trained for body- building for years at the gym, I would notice women using the treadmills and men in the weight rooms. I would hear comments about it and buzz words like bulking, toning, and shaping entered my awareness. Once sociology became part of my life, I found frameworks to better understand questions such as “why do women do cardio and men lift?” In this new context, such questions could be answered with deeper and more satisfying responses than “they just do.” This process was slow and the depth of which I could conceptualize answers took years of development. I wrote the initial research proposal for what
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