I studied a group of amateur and professional bodybuilders a few years ago. Calling the gym a gendered space is really nothing new. Most gyms in America move equipment around such that “feminine” and “masculine” machines are not too close. But the amount of thought that goes into how the gym is organized is more than you might think.
In many gyms, most of the mirrors located outside of the locker room are located in the “masculine” areas of the gym. During my study, I asked a gym manager about this. He laughed at me and said, “Women come to the gym ‘cause they don’t like to look at themselves, men come to the gym ‘cause they do.” This is obviously a gross generalization, and I immediately thought of lots of counter-examples of both men and women. But the men to which the gym manager was referring are a pretty specific sub-group.
Gold’s Gym brought Venice Beach bodybuilding culture all around the country for Americans to enjoy. And in most Gold’s, like other large gym chains, you can find the same group of men about whom the manager was talking. They’re lumpy, lumbering, and when they work out, they’re loud!
Gyms are interesting spaces to study, because they are frequented by people that might not ever meet outside of this setting. A new gym – Planet Fitness – has an interesting policy aimed at altering the dynamic of commercial workout space in the US. Planet Fitness’ policy is to not allow lunks to work out at the gym. They define a lunk as “lunk (lunk) n. [slang] one who grunts, drops weights, or judges.” Now, you might think, how do they actually police this? Each Planet Fitness if equipped with a “lunk alarm” that goes off when anyone begins acting like a lunk. A gym employee approaches the offender, asks them to leave, and they are not allowed back.
Inequality by (Interior) Design 