Representations of Healthy Femininity in the Crossfit Narrative
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 8-18-2015 12:00 AM Bulky but Still Beautiful: Representations of Healthy Femininity in the CrossFit Narrative Cheryl Madliger The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Michael Heine The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Kinesiology A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Master of Arts © Cheryl Madliger 2015 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Sociology of Culture Commons, and the Sports Studies Commons Recommended Citation Madliger, Cheryl, "Bulky but Still Beautiful: Representations of Healthy Femininity in the CrossFit Narrative" (2015). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 3023. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/3023 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Representations of Healthy Femininity in the CrossFit™ Narrative (Thesis format: Monograph) By Cheryl Madliger Graduate Program in Kinesiology A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © 2015 Cheryl Madliger Abstract Positioned in the area of feminist cultural studies, this thesis examines representations of femininity, fitness, and health in four key publications related to the fitness programs offered by the CrossFit™ Corporation. A critical discourse-analytical methodology is used to deconstruct notions of fit femininity in the CrossFit narrative. I argue that themes on femininity reflect contemporary healthist ideologies that promote concerns for health as an individual, moral responsibility, and normalize entrenched notions of the female body as a project to be managed. Drawing on the language of feminine empowerment, the CrossFit narrative constructs the ideal female body as one with increased muscularity and functional abilities, while also offering up a singular feminine ideal that reproduces ideological views sustaining unequal gender relations. An overarching dominant theme of the CrossFit narrative stipulating a need for constant improvement, anchors a discursive effect promoting continual consumption and self-monitoring of, and for, health. Keywords: CrossFit, Gender, Femininity, Critical Discourse Analysis, Consumerism, Healthism Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................................. I LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................................... IV LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................................... V CHAPTER ONE —INTRODUCTION: THE RESEARCH ISSUE ........................................................ 1 1. THE CROSSFIT PHENOMENON .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Doing CrossFit 4 1.2 The “Sport of Fitness” 6 2. ANALYZING DISCOURSES OF HEALTH AND (CROSS)FITNESS ...................................................... 7 2.1 Fit to Consume 7 2.2 Spaces of Discourse Production 8 3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND OBJECTIVES ..................................................................................... 10 ENDNOTES FOR CHAPTER ONE ...................... ................................................................................ 11 ............. CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY AND METHODS ..................................................................... 13 1. CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS .................................................................................................... 13 2. SCOPE OF ANALYSIS ......................................................................................................................... 15 3. CODING: DATA ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................... 19 ENDNOTES FOR CHAPTER TWO .......................... ........................................................................... 20 ............. CHAPTER THREE: LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................... 22 1. FEMINIST RESEARCH ON HEALTH AND THE BODY .................................................................... 22 2. HEALTHISM ....................................................................................................................................... 26 3. CONSUMERISM AND COMMERCIALIZATION ................................................................................. 28 i 4. CROSSFIT ........................................................................................................................................... 30 ENDNOTES FOR CHAPTER THREE ......................................... ........................................................ 31 ............. CHAPTER FOUR: THEMATIC ANALYSIS OF THE CROSSFIT NARRATIVE ........................... 34 1. CROSSFIT: CONSTRUCTING WOMEN’S SUBJECTIVITIES ............................................................ 35 1.1 The Women of CrossFit 35 1.2 Balance 40 1.3 “Better” for Baby 44 2. WOMEN’S BODIES ............................................................................................................................ 53 2.1 Body Image and Eating Disorders 53 2.2 CrossFit: Saving Women from Themselves 55 2.3 ‘The Fight:’ Resisting Bad Body Image 58 2.4 Form and Function 60 2.5 Sites of Re-definition 62 3. THE CROSSFIT BODY ....................................................................................................................... 64 3.1 CrossFit and Aesthetics 64 3.2 “Building” a Body 66 3.3 “You Can Still Be a Girl and Lift Weights” 68 3.4 Strong is the New Skinny 70 3.5 Beauty and the Bulk 72 3.6 Strong and Muscular is Sexy 74 4. ISSUES OF EQUALITY ........................................................................................................................ 78 4.1 CrossFit: On Women’s Side 78 4.2 The “F”-Word: Feminism and CrossFit 80 4.3 The Improvement Imperative 82 ENDNOTES FOR CHAPTER FOUR .............. ...................................................................................... 86 ............. ii CHAPTER FIVE—CONCLUSION: DISCURSIVE EFFECTS OF THE CROSSFIT NARRATIVE ............................................................. 93 ENDNOTES FOR CHAPTER FIVE .......................... ........................................................................ 102 ............. BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................... 103 LITERATURE REVIEW AND DISCUSSION ...... .............................................................................. 103 ............. CROSSFIT SOURCES .... .................................................................................................................. 106 ............. CURRI CULUM VITAE .......................................................................................................................... 111 iii List of Tables TABLE 1: EXPLANATION OF THE CROSSFIT TERMINOLOGY ............ ......................................................... 5 ............ iv List of Figures FIGURE 1: SCHEMATIC MAP OF THE CROSSFIT ‘EMPIRE’: LOCALES OF NARRATIVE PRODUCTION ... 10 FIGURE 2: FRONT PAGE OF THE CROSSFIT JOURNAL, MARCH 15, 2015 ................................................ 15 v Chapter One —Introduction: The Research Issue 1. The CrossFit Phenomenon In 2013, Chloie Jonsson, a personal trainer and transgender woman, launched a lawsuit against the corporation CrossFit, Inc. seeking 2.5 million dollars in damages for what she considered discrimination. CrossFit, which styles its products as the “Sport of FitnessTM” prohibited Jonsson from participating in its official competitions arguing that the gender change disqualified her from competing. CrossFit, Inc.’s lawyer offered a legal response to the lawsuit, saying that “the fundamental, ineluctable fact is that a male competitor who has a sex reassignment procedure still has a genetic makeup that confers a physical and physiological advantage over women.”1 This sparked debates among those involved in CrossFit and those interested in the participation of transgender athletes in sport and brought the very notion of gender to the forefront of discussions relating to CrossFit. In the training and fitness programs developed by the CrossFit Corporation, men and women work out side by side and perform similar workouts. On CrossFit.com – the corporation’s main web site – where the company got its start and continues to publish a workout of the day, or “WOD” (See Table 1 for an explanation of some Key CrossFit terms) for followers to perform, there is no distinction between men and women’s suggested weights.2 A media representative from CrossFit published a statement on CrossFit.com’s Facebook page to explain the rationale: "CrossFit.com does not usually publish female workout prescriptions. Some misinterpret this as a sign that CrossFit ignores women. In reality, CrossFit women can frequently handle