Although feminist researchers have critiqued aerobics as an activity that maintains ideologies of female inferiority, many women, including feminists, attend, participate in, and enjoy aerobics classes. This research provides a preliminary exploration of the extent to which women can exercise agency within the gendered constraints of aerobics. The 10 feminist exercisers interviewed use strategies for participation that both downplay oppressive aspects of and enhance personal empowerment in their aerobics classes. These strategies include distancing, rejecting the critique, asserting agency, and making do. The women’s ability to enjoy a practice while constantly remaking it to suit their own purposes is indicative of the way women often must live their lives within a misogynistic, patriarchal culture.
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