Go big or go home!

I hit the gym 3 days a week in an effort to keep myself healthy and sane. I've heard that 3 days a week is the suggested minimum but that's not really the issue here.

A quick scan of the health and fitness mags at any bookstore gives us a picture of bodies, both men's and women's, which serve as universal symbols for what WE should look like. Men are supposed to be muscular, ripped, athletic, etc. while women are supposed to be slim, trim, hour glass shaped, etc. And don't forget, both have ridiculously white teeth! These are ideal forms of men and women and serve as intelligible bodies - that is, forms we can readily identify as the epitome of male or female.

Back to going to gym. I have all these reasons for why I go: it makes me feel good, I have a better self image, I have more energy. . .blah blah blah. Going to the gym is a body practice and it's not a far stretch to say that it is a pursuit without terminus. For those of you who go to the gym consider this: have you ever reached a point where you're comfortable not going anymore? I think the answer is probably no. There is no end in sight because there's always room for "improvement." If I can run 5 miles per day why not 6? 100 pushups why not 200? My lats need work. My calves could be more defined.

How did we end up going through this insane cycle? The short answer is that we are what Foucault refers to as "docile bodies." Just for clarification, the term "docile" in this context does not mean passive. It refers to the fact that we partake in this gym activity willingly without being forced. We internalize the images of the intelligible forms of men and women and by choice, subject ourselves to hours of exercise. As a result, we become prisoners of our own resolve and discipline.

Unfortunately, the veil of choice is a fallacy. Since we aspire to the form of these intelligible bodies we are actually participating in an other-oriented emotional economy. We look at others around us, want others to see us, thus seeking implicit and explicit feedback and/or recognition of our body practice. Do I look more like Ryan Gosling, the dude on the Men's Health cover, or the trainers from the Biggest Loser? The way we feel about our bodies is derived from comparison to others.

Despite everything I've ranted about, I'll be at the gym by 6am tomorrow hoping that every extra pound of weight I lift or minute I run will get me one step closer.

Thanks for reading,

Marcus

Going to the Gym?

One common body practice for both genders is going to the gym or working out. Both men and women strive to be fit and have a nice, toned body. Some people might be doing this for themselves, while others are working their butt off to look good in order to attract potential mates. Nowadays, working out is socially constructed to make one look good and get a nicer body. Before having a nice, toned physique was "in," exercising was solely there for maintaining a healthy and strong body and immune system. Now, exercising is considered a pursuit without terminus; people keep going to the gym, running outside, lifting weights, practicing yoga, etc. but never seem to be happy with how their body looks. They keep pushing themselves to get a better physique, but in reality, their idea of perfect body is unreachable and only an object of their imagination. This praxis could be considered an unhealthy way of trying to be healthy. Of course exercising is good for the body, but too much of it or an unhealthy goal could put strain on it.

Who's that in the window?

For some reason I wasn't able to upload a picture onto the post, but my example of a body practice is using windows on the streets to look at your reflection. I don't personally do this all that often, but I do find myself doing it occasionally. The real problem I have with it is when I'm walking with friends and they stop talking to me or ignore me because they are looking at themselves in a window that we are passing. This body practice is an example of the theory that we as humans believe we are supposed to look a certain way. By looking in a window, we are submitting to the idea that we have to look perfect at all times. It is impossible to look our best at all times, and as humans we need to recognize that. I realize that it is unrealistic to expect people stop looking at their reflections altogether, but I think we should be able to limit this body practice and stop checking ourselves out whenever we see our reflection.

The now widely hated yet still widely used 'kissy face'

http://www.heymister.net/blog/2009/1/21/anatomy-of-a-kissy-face.html

For my example of a body practice from everyday life, I chose the "kissy face" with the awkward sideways backwards peace sign (I'm sure there is a proper name for this...but I don't know it). This facial expression has been used by the masses of young adults and teens in pictures as the new "smile". As making this face in pictures became more and more popular, it seemed like it sort of became part of the culture of young adults/teens. If you wanted to look hot in your profile picture, you couldn't just smile...what would really make people attracted to you is the pouty/flirty/kissy/whatever you want to call it-face. It became a face of "cool" culture, especially around groups of girls. As a group of high school girls line up together for a photo together, their eyes are shifty, wondering what all the other girls are going to do in the picture. Finally one makes the kissy face, and within seconds, every girl in that picture is making that face. The more popular this body practice seemed to get, the more it became the norm amongst the culture of young adults. Of course we can always choose what face to make in a photo...right? Or are our intelligible bodies subconsciously posing for pictures in a certain way relative to that of what our culture has shaped us to be...

Vogue

Vogue....
This whole concept on body practice and images got me thinking about social norms and practices. Clothes are such a large part of our life, Robin is always saying we are dressing is "drag" which is pretty true. If we all didn't care we would probably just wear what is the most comfortable, unfortunately a lot of our care and wear tight uncomfortable and on occasion. Clothes are the signifiers and the signified would be how that is perceived like the social rank of the person, financial status and kind of tells you about the person to some extent.
Take clothing in vogue for example, the magazine itself is expensive, the models are all ridiculously skinny and the clothes are all super expensive. Not to mention kind of ridiculous, would someone really just wear a blue bra (maybe... prostitution and stripping aside)? If clothing is "external signs which adorn the body (like decorations..." as Bourdieu claims and it "signifys social position" why are wealthy "fashion" magazines promoting unrealistic clothing lines...? This is in a magazine and it argues culture just like everyone magazine; it's saying look here, look at these women who are perfect and they are hardly wearing anything, obviously if you want to be like them you need to BUY THESE CLOTHES! Cultural rhetoric at its best. Or at least that's how I interpret it.

The Idea of Being Tan

One body practice of our culture now-a-days is the idea that being tan means being beautiful and healthy. Every girl competes with one another to see who is darker in skin tone, yet any tone of skin should be appreciated. Females have the idea that pale looking skin signifies a image of ugliness and being sick. Darker skin tone represents a healthy woman. Americans do not take into account that natural skin should be valued. In other foreign countries, for example China, woman with whiter skin means wealth. Pale skinned Chinese woman are rich because they don't go outside as often as the darker skinned Chinese woman, who works in the rice field because they are poor and need to earn money.

American girls are also influenced by the media to have pale skin. One never sees an American celebrity's intelligible body to be a pale skin tone. Our nation believes the reverse of other nation and support the idea that being tan means being wealthy and healthy. It also believes that pale skin means being indoors too much and the tan skin tone means going out. America's culture is to get as much outdoor as possible which means being more fun and having more experience and time to enjoy life, which further means that because one has time on their hand, they don't need to work as much and are already rich. Many Americans either tan on the beach to get their looks or go to a spa or, as convenient and affordable as it get now, go and buy self tan spray. Therefore, being pale becomes a subconscious body practice for females within the United States. American girls are adapted to getting tan skin though it is unhealthy for them to use the method they use to achieve it, which completely contradicts the image that tan toned skin portrays, which is being healthy.

Why do I like, think like, I need to like, say 'like' like all the time?

Much to my father's annoyance, the body practice of saying the word 'like,' is one all too familiar to me. The word 'like' seems to be associated with ditzy girls that don't have anything intelligible to say, so they dilute their speech with fillers. Sure, if a guy over-uses 'like,' it will be noticed, but the second a girl starts to over-use this idiom, dumb valley-girl impression will surely proceed whatever this girl is saying. It is part of our culture to say the word 'like' but it is also common praxis to label those who use this word excessively as unintelligent. My brother's and I grew up in the same environment, and I got a 36 on the English section of the ACT. I'm quite capable of finding words to convey what I'm trying to say, but I seem to over-use 'like' much more than my brothers. Why is this? I believe that Susan Bordo's argument to women using their bodies' to been seen as docile can also be applied to women using their speech to seem docile. Because using fillers such as "like" is considered a feminine quality, I think that it becomes a subconscious  body practice for girls, however competent they are in the English language, to begin saying 'like' every other word. This word has become such an epidemic in our American culture, the Academy of Linguistic Awareness began a campaign against this word, which you can see here. file://localhost/Users/larisapyskir/Desktop/108_0805-50p.jpg