| Using a combination of participant observation and in-depth qualitative interviews with women in two Southern California fitness centers (one upscale and one midrange), this dissertation explores how a glass ceiling or upper limit on strength is central to understanding women, bodies, and fitness practices. Numerous women within fitness shape find their bodily agency shaped not by biology, but by ideologies of emphasized femininity which structure a historically defined (and shifting) upper limit on women's strength. Results showed that 3/4 of women on these two sites had an awareness of this upper limit, and that non-lifters, moderate lifters, and heavy lifters uniquely and strategically negotiated this limit on musculature by avoiding, holding back on, or adjusting weight workouts, respectively. Next, I examine discursive exchanges surrounding women who venture into one gender transgression zone (GTZ) within fitness centers, core free weight spaces. Results revealed several cultural practices, which actively manage evidence of a continuum of overlapping performance in a manner, which erases challenges to categorical gender difference. Lastly, through the use of textual analysis and interviews with personal trainers, I examine the role that the fitness industry plays in disseminating gendered bodily knowledge and whether or not and how this plays a role in setting or cracking a glass ceiling on women's strength. The implications for future research surrounding "holding back" so as to adhere to standards of emphasized femininity are considered for women in male-dominated occupations such as firefighting, construction work, and the police force. |
