Through Mirrors and Windows in the gym: Manhood in the making

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present an insider ethnography about the construction of the self around the appearance of an ideal of manhood in a gym, revealing the spetacularization of the self through gymnastic exercises. Performances of gymnastic techniques and social media posting show the gendered way they are practiced and conceived, and how the embodiment of those practices and discourses reflects a set of contemporary values. The simplification of life through individualism and self-centering leads to a subjectivity deprived of the large spectrum of social affection, reducing the individual to a somatic entity instead of a sensitive embodied being. The allegory of mirrors and windows represents the tacit game of gazing and being gazed at in a gym, where the performances take place. Through embodiment theory and gender studies, this ethnography revealed the subtleness of the subjective dimension in the embodiment of techniques / world views / dispositions among the gym-goers, unveiling the symbolic and material interplay between the individual and the social environment. Thus, a conceptual frame interlinking this triad is presented as one possible understanding of how a stereotyped masculinity is practiced repeatedly through gymnastic sets, unveiling the paradigmatic spirit of our times.