Form-Fitting Active Wear

Form-Fitting Active Wear:
Women’s Use of Clothing as an Impression
Management Strategy
By Natasha Martinez
Senior Seminar, Fall 2014—The Body and Society

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INTRODUCTION
Contemporary feminine body ideals popularized in the media create a standard that for
many women is nearly impossible to achieve. More so than ever before, these feminine body
ideals have emphasized a level of physical fitness among women as an ideal, creating a culture in
which fitness is commodified. Women’s fitness is marketed and sold to consumers through
various fitness commodities, such as tea detoxes, protein powders, and bracelets that track
exercise, weight, and fitness progress. The appropriation of form-fitting active wear among
women is arguably the most widespread and popular forms of fitness commodification. Women’s
use of form-fitting active wear is now so popular that it has become an acceptable style of
clothing in nearly all social situations. As it has now transcended the fitness realm into everyday
life, form-fitting active wear allows women to present themselves in line with the new fitness
trend nearly everywhere they go. Though they may not outwardly fit the mold of the ideal body,
women’s use of form-fitting active wear allows them to appear to be at the very least be trying to
live up to this ideal.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The role of clothing is key to understanding the social processes that reinforce gender
roles as well as dominant beauty ideals. Functioning as our “social skin” clothing has a uniquely
intimate quality and serves as a means to express identity and symbolic values (Hendley and
Bielby 2010:515). As individuals try on different clothing styles, they are essentially trying on
different social identities, associating themselves with particular lifestyles or moral values.
Advertising plays a significant role in the attribution of values in clothing, linking particular

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clothing styles with feminine body ideals. The trend towards form-fitting active wear among
women reflects such feminine body ideals, drawing on ideologies of self-care, body
maintenance, and physical fitness and linking them with the consumption of these styles. Today’s
culture of consumption disciplines women’s bodies to promote consumption as well as a
normative femininity. Women today in a sense police themselves, thus helping to manage their
outward appearance and manipulate others impressions of them. Women’s clothing is key to this
appearance management, as it corresponds with personal as well as collective identity, and has a
profound impact on the way women are viewed and treated in society. Our culture of
consumption perpetuates popular form-fitting clothing styles that are tied to feminine beauty
ideals, leading to self and public surveillance practices that both objectify and subjectify women.
Discipline of the Body
Michel Foucault’s work on the discipline of the body produced a new kind of sociological
focus on the body. Sandra Bartky (2008) draws on Foucault’s work in her analysis of the
discipline of women’s bodies. Drawing on Foucault’s notion of the Panopticon as a metaphor for
the constant surveillance of society, Bartky argues that, “The disciplinary power that inscribes
femininity in the female body is everywhere and it is nowhere; the disciplinarian is everyone and
yet no one in particular” (Bartky 2008:24). Discipline and power today are no longer just
political, but more so anonymous and pervasive, centered on the power of the mind through a
constant sense of surveillance. Social standards regarding what it is to be feminine subscribe a
sense of gender conformity among women, and those that do not conform to gender norms are
often stigmatized or disciplined in society.

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The normative femininity produced through social discipline along with gender roles
leads women to present themselves in social situations in ways that “convey a particular
impression to others that it is in [their] interests to convey” (Goffman 2008). Clothing is key to
impression management, and as Gilleard and Higgs (2013: 116) suggest, “the very personal act
of getting dressed is an act of preparing the body for the social world, making it appropriate,
acceptable indeed respectable and possibly even desirable”. Through policing themselves as well
as their clothing choices in accordance with gender norms, women submit to a sense of constant
surveillance. As women’s clothing choices are influenced by the desired impressions gained from
others, clothing becomes a method of objectification and subjectification among women. Citing
the Objectification Theory, Prichard and Tiggemann (2005:19) argue that, “all women from
Western cultures are constantly looked at, evaluated, and, therefore, potentially objectified”.
They suggest that this constant sense of surveillance and body objectification encourages women
to “see themselves as an ‘object’ for others to view and evaluate on the basis of their appearance.
Internalization of this observer’s perspective is termed “self-objectification,” and it is
characterized by the habitual monitoring of one’s outward appearance” (Prichard and Tiggemann
2005:19).
Feminine Body Ideals and Beauty Work
Conventional body ideals for women in Western society favor slim, youthful bodies. While
various other standards for women’s bodies exist, the emphasis on a “fit” or slender body as
distinctly feminine is relatively recent, and is perpetuated by the media as well as the modern
consumer culture. Women whose bodies are seen as physically fit and conventionally attractive
tend to fare better in almost all realms of life. They are often in a better position to be hired for

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jobs, are paid better, are treated better, and are perceived better by others. In contrast, those who
do not fit in with the dominant female body ideal are more often stigmatized in society (Kwan
and Trautner 2009). In her extensive analysis of the social effects of clothing, Kaiser (1997)
argues, “obesity represents a violation of what it means to be a female. That is, an overweight
woman is regarded in American society as being unfeminine, unattractive, and ‘out of the
running,’ sexually speaking” (136). She continues, adding, “For many women obesity was
symbolic of disorder, of being unable or unwilling to exhibit personal control” (Kaiser 1997:
136). As a result of these social pressures, those who actively seek to control their physical
appearance through exercise and other modes of beauty work are rewarded in society, whereas
those who fall outside physical body ideals are stigmatized and seen as lacking in self-discipline.
The notion of self-discipline and self-responsibility as a means to control ones health and
physical body is linked to the Western capitalist, consumer culture and helps further the interests
of bureaucratic institutions. Such institutions benefit from health and fitness ideologies, as they
are able to reduce health costs by this “change in the moral climate” allowing individuals to
“assume increasing self-responsibility for their health, body shape and
appearance” (Featherstone 1991:24). Our consumerist capitalist society cashes in on the
popularized, nearly impossible to achieve feminine body standards for women, as such an
ideology fosters the “the security of production, a technology of consumption and the
commercial legitimation of desire” through continued consumption in a capitalist economy
(Turner 2008:32). This forms a neoliberal kind of government, in which the power of the
government lies in its ability to control from a distance, disciplining its subjects through an
ideology of empowerment and self-fulfillment (Laverence and Lozanski 2014).

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There has been a heightened awareness in sociological literature on the role of consumer
culture in perpetuating feminine body ideals. As Mike Featherstone (1991:22) argues, consumer
culture promotes that, “with effort and ’body work’ individuals are persuaded that they can
achieve a certain desired appearance. Advertising, feature articles and advice columns in
magazines and newspapers ask individuals to assume self-responsibility for the way they look”.
In this way, clothing companies and other media outlets perpetuate the act of appearance
management and self discipline as a means to achieve the desired feminine body ideal.
Lululemon, a high-end active wear company, expresses such ideologies in their brand
marketing strategies, linking neoliberal consumption with conceptions of self-responsibility and
body maintenance. As Laverence and Lozanski (2014:86) suggest, “although Lululemon
advocates taking control of one’s life, its products suggest that this control is best carried out in
pants that are widely reputed to lift butts, and bras that solve ‘one of life’s greatest conundrums:
the uni-boob’”. As such, brands like Lululemon suggest that female bodies are not adequate on
their own, and instead achieve necessary femininity through the consumption of their active wear
products. Those that consume their products are not only deemed adequately feminine in their
bodily form, but also are awarded a sense of moral virtue that is distinctly linked to self-care and
body maintenance as a means to achieve a feminine identity.
Symbolic Values in Clothing
Diane Crane and Laura Bovone (2006) in their analysis of clothing and material culture,
suggest that consumption of certain commodities, particularly clothing, is seen by consumers as
having and expressing a symbolic value. Personal values are expressed by individuals in the
clothing they wear, representing their own personal identity. Therese Andersson (2011:14)

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furthers this sentiment, noting, “as the body is a site for identity, clothing has a key function in a
non-verbal communication process where appearances are negotiated”. Clothing can help
women convey a feminine identity, “acting as a filter between the person and the surrounding
social world’’ (Crane and Bovone 2006:321). As such, women’s clothing can represent individual
and collective values that are inextricably linked to concepts of femininity.
Advertising for clothing helps to emphasize socially constructed symbolic values in
clothing. As Crane and Bovone (2006:322) assert, “Through advertisements for their products,
clothing brands transmit sets of values that imply an ideology and specific life styles”. The active
wear brand Lululemon is a prime example of this, as they link their brand to ideologies of
physical fitness, self-discipline, and self-fulfillment. Laverence and Lozanski (2014:78) describe
the neoliberal governance inherent in Lululemon’s brand strategy, asserting, “Lululemon
branding folds discourses of empowerment into consumerism, and illustrates how discourses of
choice and self-care reinforce the responsibilized self”. Advertising by Lululemon destresses the
practical use value of their clothing, and instead utilizes “the ’floating signifier’ effect
(Williamson 1978; Lefebvre 1979; Baudrillard 1975) by transvaluing the notion of use so that
any particular quality or meaning can become attached to any culture product” (Featherstone
1991:20).
Laverence and Lozanski (2014:85) further their argument, claiming, “The Lululemon
brand capitalizes on this ‘new ethic of self-conduct’ (Rose 1999:87) in its implicit suggestions
that the consumption of athletic wear reflects an ethic of personal commitment”. The consumer
of Lululemon’s active wear products achieves an elevated status aligned with a lifestyle
characterized by symbolic values of self-discipline and moral virtue. The commodification of

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such markedly feminine clothing styles allows women to manage others impressions of
themselves and cast them as a reflection of their own moral values (Goffman 2008).
Form-Fitting Active Wear
Clothing in consumer culture promotes the “unashamed display of the human body”
through styles designed to emphasize and showcase women’s bodies (Featherstone 1991:22).
Form-fitting styles coincide with feminine body ideals, and help to promote a culture of
narcissism, objectification, and subjectification (Featherstone 1991). Fowler’s research (1999) on
sports apparel found that retailers at the time of her research predominantly offered sports
apparel for men, characterized by baggy styles that did not properly fit the female body. Fowler
(1999:86) found that female customers “associate clothing with body satisfaction, and express
disappointment with fit as discontentment with their bodies”. This apparent lack of active wear
styles designed to fit the female body stands in sharp contrast to more recent retailers, such as the
highly popular Lululemon, whose clothing styles are designed to contour the female body,
representing an increased sexualization as well as growth of the women’s active wear industry
(Laverence and Lozanski 2014). Although today active wear retailers offer clothing designed for
the female body, the more fashionable form-fitting styles they offer actually lead to increased
self-objectification among women (Prichard and Tiggemann 2005).
In their research on young female soccer players, Hendley and Bielby (2012) found that
as the young athletes got older, they were more likely to trade in their baggy sports clothing for
tighter, more form-fitting styles. Those who wore more form-fitting styles associated these styles
with a feminine identity, and were also more likely to engage in self-objectifying behavior. These
young girls frequently engaged in self-surveillance methods that objectified their bodies, and

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they subjectified themselves through altering their clothing in a more sexualized way (Hendley
and Bielby 2012).
In their study of objectification in fitness centers, Prichard and Tiggemann (2005) found
that women who wore more fashionable, form-fitting active wear were more likely to engage in
self-objectification. With the wall-to-wall mirrors of the fitness centers, women who wore form-
fitting active wear styles were also found to have “greater opportunity for experiencing an
objectified view of the self,” and were more likely to adjust their clothing while looking in the
mirrors (Prichard and Tiggemann 2005:27). In contrast, the women who wore looser, less
fashionable styles were less likely to engage in self-objectification as well as self-surveillance.
Thus, the more form-fitting styles characteristic of fashionable, more frequently advertised active
wear companies seems to highlight women’s body image issues and increase their levels of
objectification and surveillance (Prichard and Tiggemann 2005). This implies that the consumer
culture favoring form-fitting active wear styles create a climate in which “individuals are made
to become emotionally vulnerable, constantly monitoring themselves for bodily imperfections
which could no longer be regarded as natural” (Featherstone 1991:20). This undoubtedly has a
profound impact on women’s body image, and perpetuates the use of bodywork among women
to conform to feminine body ideals.
Conclusion
There has been significant and diverse research surrounding the discipline of women’s
bodies through surveillance and media influence. My research attempts to discern how women
find identity through clothing and how issues of feminine body ideals influence their sense of
identity. I also focus on how women feel in form-fitting clothing, specifically active wear, and

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their engagement in methods of self-surveillance and self-objectification. In addition, I touch on
how they perceive other women who wear these styles in various social settings, focusing on
whether or not they can identify if women are wearing these styles for working out or merely to
appear to be working out, thus showing the connection between form-fitting active wear and
impression management strategies.
METHODOLOGY
To address my research topic, I conducted qualitative research, using in-depth interviews
with a semi-structured interview guide that was modified over time. To gather participants in my
research, I relied on a nonprobability snowball sampling procedure. I conducted my first
interview with someone I knew, and gained access to subsequent interviewees from referrals
from previous interviewees. In addition, I had a colleague who worked with freshman on campus
request participation in my research through a Facebook post directed at this group of freshman.
One of the women I interviewed was approached directly on campus to request participation in
my research. I focused my sample on young women between the ages of 18 and 25 in the
Sonoma County area. The participants I gained fell in this age frame, ranging from 19-22 years
old. Due to the limitations in my sample, I do not wish to suggest that the results of my research
are fully generalizable to the wider population.
The participants in my research varied in education, social class, and employment. Seven
of the participants in my research identified as Caucasian or of European descent, one identified
as white and Asian, one identified as Vietnamese and Asian, and one identified as Mexican. I
recognize that my sampling procedure and the lack of strong diversity among my interviewees

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presents a flaw in my research. Future research in this field utilizing a probability sampling
procedure would likely produce a more diverse sample as well as more generalizable results.
My interview guide addressed a broad range of questions and themes relevant to my
research. The length and depth of my interview guide posed as a strength for my research, as I
was able to gather in-depth, thoughtful responses from interviewees. I did not formally change
my written interview guide throughout the interview process, though I did eventually stop asking
the questions regarding life satisfaction and self-actualization. I chose to drop this section of my
interview guide due to the relative irrelevance of these questions to my general topic. I also
altered some of my questions, follow-up questions, and probes based on information gained from
each interviewee. For participants not enrolled in school, I adapted my questions regarding
clothing choices at school to cover clothing choices both at work and outside of work. This
difference in questioning could pose as a weakness in my research, as these distinct social
settings could, and occasionally did, correspond with different attitudes about clothing.
As the interview process progressed, I began asking later interviewees questions about
body ideals popularized in the mainstream culture. I then asked the questions in my interview
guide on personal body image, in an effort to compare how these women saw themselves in
relation to the dominant feminine body ideal. I see this revision as both a strength and weakness
in my research. While it strengthens my interview guide and gives me a greater depth of
understanding in regards to body ideals and body image, it weakens the quality of my results for
the previous interviews that did not address this topic.
Overall, interviewees responded remarkably well to the questions posed in my interview
guide. Though there were occasionally inconsistencies within individual participants answers,

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the majority of interviewees seemed to openly reflect on the topic, providing in-depth, thoughtful
responses to the questions posed.
The average length of the interview was 40 minutes. The longest interview conducted
was 73 minutes long, and the shortest was 31 minutes long.
I maintained confidentiality throughout the interview process by having each interviewee
read and sign an informed consent form before starting each interview. I also transcribed the
interviews and kept the interview files on my own password-protected computer. I transcribed
the interviews using headphones to protect the confidentiality of respondent’s answers and
identities. I also used pseudonyms selected by each interviewee for labeling the recordings of the
interviews as well as for the transcribed interviews.
Throughout the interview process, my interview skills increased substantially, and I was
able to become a better listener and direct the interview in a logical way. I began to rely less on
strictly following my interview guide, choosing instead to adopt the stance of a conversational
partner, as advocated by Rubin and Rubin (2005). I became better at recognizing the subtle cues
in responses and the broader themes they conveyed, allowing me to probe for more detail.
Through focusing my probes on responses that interviewees seemed to see as unimportant or
simply glossed over, I gained more detailed responses from interviewees. By encouraging more
focused responses, I found that interviewees became more self-reflective and their interest in the
topic seemed to increase, leading to more in-depth responses. This produced a greater
understanding of the meaning behind the responses and increased the quality of responses.
In transcribing interviews, I strove to highlight the subtle changes in body movements
and voice inflections that seemed relevant to the interview. I also made note of the long pauses

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between responses, as well as any interruptions in the interviews. In addition, I also included the
all of the “likes” that interviewees used in their responses, so to maintain their style of speech in
the transcribed interviews. I fully transcribed all completed interviews, and completed each
transcription myself.
In coding the interviews, I started with an initial line by line coding technique for each
interview. I then proceeded to create more focused codes, highlighting several main themes that
came out of the initial coding. I went through each interview and made note of the instances
these codes came up in separate files for each focused code.
My research strived to adhere to the responsive interviewing modeling, outlined by Rubin
and Rubin (2005:15) as “an approach that allows a variety of styles yet incorporates what is
standard in the field”. Rubin and Rubin (2005) describe the model as an interactive, adaptive
process that requires careful attention by the researcher to understand the unique perspective of
each participant and guide the interview with this perspective in mind.
For the most part, I acted as a passive listener in interviews, allowing interviewees to
interpret and respond to questions in their own way. Many of the responses gained from
interviewees were lengthy and filled with different themes relevant to my research. By listening
closely for subtle cues embedded in responses that seemed most relevant, I crafted probes and
follow-up questions around these hidden themes. In addition, I used and slightly changed certain
questions in my interview guide based on information I came to discover about the interviewee,
often citing previous statements they made on a topic before asking the desired question
regarding a similar topic. I attempted to recognize topics that seemed important and those that
seemed unimportant to the interviewee, and crafted new questions with those understandings in

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mind. My use of the responsive interview model in this way proved successful, as I was able to
gain insight into the unique perspective of each interviewee. However, taking the role of a more
passive listener proved unsuccessful at times when certain interviewees expressed several
contradictory statements. In general I refrained from pointing out these inconsistencies, seeing
this approach as too aggressive or confrontational.
My own interest in clothing as well as my background knowledge of the objectifying
implications of form-fitting fitness clothing may have influenced the kind of questions and
responses I chose to focus most on. I tried to be objective in my research process, but my
personal opinions and background on the subject likely influenced my research in some way.
Through coding my interviews, I strove to convey exactly what the interviewee had said and
meant by their statements, despite my personal opinions on their inconsistencies with previous
statements.
FINDINGS
Through analyzing my research, I found that women wore form-fitting active wear in a variety of
social settings, extending their use beyond fitness-realm. The most popular styles of form-fitting
active wear worn by these women were yoga pants and leggings, and looser forms of active were
far less popular. As form-fitting active wear represented a growing trend in clothing among
young women, it was largely viewed as a positive presentation of oneself in a social setting.
Women’s appropriation of form-fitting active wear offered them a variety of social rewards,
including a positive, fitness-oriented feminine identity in the eyes of their peers.
Presentation of Self

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Most of the women I interviewed thought it was important to present oneself well in a social
setting. They viewed the kinds of clothing worn and the amount of effort taken to get ready as a
reflection of self-care and individual personality traits. Dressing well, specifically for school,
was equated with a level of professionalism, offering individuals positive impressions from
professors and peers. For example:
I personally when people dress nice I look at them, I don’t know if that’s bad though, it’s
like judging people by how they look? But it’s not like how they look it’s about how they
like, how much energy they put into themselves cuz it just is like a self-reflection kind of
thing. […] I think if people cared more about the way that they looked professionally in a
school setting, I feel like (laughs) we would be more professional in general. (Kaitlyn,
age 21, white, upper-middle class, a college student)
I feel like the whole… like networking is becoming like very important and so I mean
even with like your professors, like you should always have like, like a good relationship
with your professors. And I think like even like looking presentable will even like have
an impact on like what your professor thinks of you. Like if you come to class kind of,
you look like you just rolled out of bed, like your professor might think like “mmm.”
Like I don’t know, it’s kind of like those impressions that you leave on people. […] Like I
think that you should kinda be dressed nice cuz you’re interacting with people that could
help you in the future or like have an impact on like your future. (Alyssa, age 21,
Mexican, upper-middle class, a college student)
Presenting oneself well in a school setting through clothing reflected positively on women’s
sense of self and public identity. Women viewed school as a professional environment; school
was a networking opportunity that could impact their professional success. By presenting oneself
well in the school environment these women were in a sense dressing for success, helping to
manage others perceptions of them in a positive way.
Beauty Work

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Women also described wearing makeup as a positive presentation of oneself in a social setting.
Wearing makeup reflected well on these women in the eyes of others, and was associated with a
level of self-care. In support of Kwan and Trautner’s (2009) findings, these women experienced
subtle rewards for their beauty work efforts. When they did not engage in the beauty work ritual
of applying makeup, their peers often disciplined them in subtle ways. My conversations with
Rachel and Beatrice help illustrate this point:
I: Do you think people treat you differently if you feel like you look good or you feel like
you look bad?
P: I think it’s more of like not a bad or good thing, I think it’s more of just like a young or
looking older things that kind of, they treat you like you’re a little bit older if you look
good. Like if I’m at work and I have makeup on like, I look older and they treat me a
little bit differently I feel like. […] Cuz I do look younger without makeup, and I have
braces so that makes me look younger too. So it kind of helps if I, if I doll myself up so
people, people I think they can’t really tell how old you are if you don’t have makeup on
so they just kind of, they treat you younger just in case I feel like. So yeah, I’d say people
judge based off of looks which isn’t always a good thing but I definitely know that it
happens (laughs). […] I guess there’s more, a little bit more respect if I’m looking older I
guess. Yeah, just a little bit more respectful and a little bit more demeaning if I look
younger. Just like a little bit, just slightly (laughs). Like “aww” you know like, “you’re
young and cute”. Or, “oh, you’re serving us like alright, hi, how are you?” I don’t know
it’s just different. (Rachel age 20, white, working class, a restaurant worker)
I: Yeah. And do you think people treat you any differently when you feel like you look
good or you feel like you look bad?
P: Well sometimes […] when I just don’t have any time to get ready in the morning
people will be like, “Oh you look like you’re sick,” or something like that […] Which is
like so irritating. […] Well just because like if people are used to you seeing… used to
seeing you a certain way, even if you don’t literally look sick, just because you look
different they’ll be like, “I can’t like place my finger on what’s different so I’m just
gonna say sick.” So I mean like that’s just like probably another thing that doesn’t really
help is like when people comment on like, “Oh wow it’s so different today.” (Beatrice,
age 22, white, upper-middle class, a college student)
Others were more critical of the beauty work of their peers, specifically in early morning classes.
My conversation with Anna illustrated this perspective:

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A lot of people don’t care in their morning classes if people have makeup or not, so the
few people that are in 8 A.M. class with their perfectly done hair and makeup and they
look flawless and everyone else is still waking up, I think they kind of look down among
them and they’re like, “oh why do they look so good” and “it’s so early in the morning no
one cares” or […] when it’s you know, a little bit later in the day and you’re not made up
people feel like you don’t really care about your appearance. And there may be a reason,
they may not wanna impress anyone, they don’t need to, but a lot of women want other
people to think they look good, so they’ll you know, put on that extra mascara or do their
hair because they wanna you know, make a statement that they care about what they look
like and they want other people to think they look good. (Anna, age 21, white, middle
class, a college student)
These women engaged in beauty work rituals, such as applying makeup, as a way to present
themselves well in their social world. Women chose whether or not to engage in beauty work
largely on the basis of how they would be looked at and evaluated by their peers. Through the
surveillance and discipline of their peers on their beauty work efforts or lack thereof, women
understood the rewards that engaging in beauty work brought them in specific social settings.
Feminine Body Ideals
Women had a relatively consistent description of the kind of body idealized for women in
society. For example:
Today, like currently, I feel like there’s this big obsession with butts. […] And so I feel
like […] for the past like year or so it’s been like, they need to have big butts and like tiny
waists and like flat stomachs. Like I feel like that’s what girls are being like pressured to
have, and really like especially when it comes to your […] behind like it’s kind of like
you’re born with what you’re born with. So if you don’t have a big butt… like I know
girls have been like… like squats, they’ve been doing squats a lot. And like a lot…
exercises that are supposed to like lift and like make your butt bigger because that’s what
like everyone’s into these days, […] like that’s what people want lately, is what I’ve
noticed. (Alyssa, age 21, Mexican, upper-middle class, a college student)
I think now more curves are in. So still everyone wants them to have a flat stomach, they
want girls that have you know, voluptuous chests, they want someone with a butt, but
they also want you know, thinner thighs, flatter stomach, not too muscular cuz that’s not

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as feminine, that’s more masculine. But they want you, you know, to be toned and have a
little bit of abs I guess, to show that you care and you work out and you care about your
body. But if you work out too much then that’s more masculine. (Anna, age 21, white,
middle class, a college student)
P: Oh my gosh, they put so much on us. […] I think they put the standard of like when
they show Victoria’s Secret models on the TV and stuff. I think that’s definitely… that
was my like my perspective too. I didn’t think that like people all have that but […] that’s
like the standard that they set. Like if you can get to that point like you can get to that
point kinda. […] But yeah I definitely think it’s tough when they do it.
I: Yeah. And how would you describe like the ideal body shape?
P: Definitely the huge… I don’t think there’s anything wrong not having a thigh gap but
[…] I feel like a lot of like in the modeling it’s about like […] thigh gaps, long legs. Me
I’m more into like the super like toned like lifted butt and then flat, completely flat
stomach. And I don’t think like huge boobs but like average size boobs and tan skin. […]
I: And is that your… what you think is an ideal or do you think that that’s what is the
mainstream beauty ideal?
P: I definitely think it’s mainstream, like for me personally that’s my goal. Well it’s not
my goal but it’s like that’s how I perceive it in my own mind. (Schway, age 20, white,
These women internalized the idealized image of women’s bodies popularized in the media that
favored voluptuous chests, large behinds, flat stomachs, and thin thighs. The contemporary
beauty ideals encouraged an increased physical fitness orientation for women, moving women
into this previously male-dominated physical fitness realm. Despite this shift in gender norms
regarding exercise and fitness, women’s roles in the fitness realm still faced a glass ceiling.
Though they were expected to work out to achieve this idealized feminine body, they were
discouraged from becoming too muscular, as this was seen as a masculine characteristic. Instead,
women were pressured to achieve toned yet curvaceous bodies as a feminine body ideal. Though
women understood these ideals to be somewhat unrealistic and problematic, they admitted that it
did not prevent themselves or others from striving to attain this bodily ideal.

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Body Image
The women I interviewed all mentioned that they were generally satisfied with their bodies, yet
most of them offered that there was room for improvement. The improvements to their bodies
that they desired largely focused on their stomachs, breasts, thighs, and behinds. Most though not
all of them suggested that they could make the necessary improvements on their bodies through
better diet and exercise. For example:
I: Okay. And how satisfied would you say you are with your body?
P: I would say […] I could do better with my working out routine definitely. And I’m
happy with my body, but I’d like to tighten up a little bit I guess. And eat a little bit
healthier. […] I wouldn’t change my body but I would work out more and you know,
transform it a little bit. And get stronger for, for my personal reasons, I mean just to be
healthy and you wanna look good. I mean I wanna look good so, yeah, I guess I wouldn’t
like change but just like, work out more (laughs) I guess and just eat healthier to change
it. (Rachel, age 20, white, working class)
P: I think I’d be more satisfied with my body if I worked out. But I like, in general I don’t
have any major body issues ever. Like, cuz if I like, […] if I weigh like three or four more
pounds than I normally do then I’ll kind of be irritated and like, […] self-conscious about
like, “Do I look any bigger? Like is my stomach just like bloated? Does it look really
bloated right now?” But that’s like basically like the extent of my body issues for the
most part. I mean sometimes I think my thighs are fat but I like, […] I know that I’m not
fat. And […] that’s kind of like, the main concern that I always have is just I don’t wanna
be fat.
I: Okay. And if you could, would you change a certain part of your body?
P: I think I would either give myself, I think I might give myself bigger boobs or a bigger
butt. For sure. One of the two I probably would. Probably bigger boobs because you can
work out and like change the shape of your butt a little bit. (Beatrice, age 22, white,
upper-middle class, a college student)
I wish I was more toned and I wish I had a bigger butt. […] But I don’t so… I mean I
could work on it and like work out more but like I can… like if I work out more then I
know like I’ll get a nicer body but it’s like I’m not putting in that effort right now […]
(Kristen, age 22, Vietnamese and white, upper-middle class, a college student)

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These women internalized the idealized image of women’s bodies popularized by the media,
favoring thin waists, thin thighs, large behinds, and big breasts. They compared themselves along
with these ideals, and their body image concerns centered on these idealized body parts. They
suggested that through better diet and exercise, they could work towards achieving this feminine
body ideal.
Body Discipline
In both subtle and overt ways, women disciplined their bodies through diet and exercise as a
means to control their outward appearance.
Diet
Women used food as a way to discipline their bodies. Though they viewed healthy eating as
important, they lacked a consistent healthy eating pattern. Many of the women had disordered
eating patterns, oscillating between healthy eating and binges on junk food. They provided
justifications for their eating patterns, offering:
I: And how important do you think it is to eat healthy?
P: […] I actually think it’s like really important. […] I mean I slack off a lot, especially
for me, these past couple of weeks, like it’s so hard to eat healthy when you’re like, when
you’re stressed out. Cuz it’s like I’d rather just go pick up some food than cook
something, like I just don’t want to. So when you’re stressed out or when you’re tired like
I think it’s really hard to eat healthy. (Alyssa, age 21, Mexican, upper-middle class, a
college student)
I do have a really bad sweet tooth and like I can’t control that. So it’s like I eat healthy so
that I can like eat a lot of like sweets. It’s bad. […] I mean it’s just like choices and like
willpower and if you’re willing to make sacrifices then you know, like you’re gonna be
fine. (Kristen, age 22, Vietnamese and white, upper-middle class, a college student)
Eating healthy was also seen as a strategy to prevent against unwanted weight gain. For example:

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P: I think that eating healthy is probably more important than getting exercise […] I think
eating healthier […] it’s more preventative whereas exercising is kind of like just trying
to fix a problem after. Like you can just eat well and prevent the problem from happening
[…]
I: Okay, and what do you mean by the problem?
P: […] but a problem I mean like being fat. Exercise is like […] when I can think of
exercising it’s not to be healthy it’s to avoid being fat. And when I think of eating
healthily it’s like the end goal that is not to like be the healthiest body I think it’s to like
not be fat. So it’s just like that’s kind of what my concern is. […] it’s not ever really about
health. (Beatrice, age 22, white, upper-middle class, a college student)
I: Yeah, so do you ever binge on sweets or like junk food?
P: Yeah! I’ve definitely binged on like cookies and then I’m like, I need to go to the gym
tomorrow! (laughing) But not as much as I used to. Like in high school I was really bad,
like I would eat like donuts and In N’ Out just like, I never cared and even in like
beginning stages of college I just like didn’t care and then I sort of like started developing
like a conscience (laughs). Yeah […] and realizing like, “okay like, I can’t be doing this
all the time”. And then sometimes visiting my mom kinda makes me realize too cuz […]
my mom’s like, “I can’t eat this… I can’t eat this like bowl of ice cream or I can’t eat this
scoop of ice cream” and I’m just like, oh wow like, I wouldn’t think twice about it you
know? And then she’s like, “well it’ll catch up with you!” And if you knew my mom she
like, is the tiniest petite person ever so for her to say that I’m like woah, I need to watch
out. (Kaitlyn, age 21, white, upper-middle class, a college student)
Women disciplined their bodies through controlling their healthy food consumption as a means
to prevent against weight gain. They saw healthy eating as important, yet struggled to maintain a
healthy diet in their everyday lives. As such, there was a constant tension between what they
wanted to eat and the threat of weight gain.
Exercise
Women saw exercise as an important tool for altering their bodies. While all of the women
expressed that exercise was important, the large majority explained that they were not currently
exercising as much as they should, offering a variety of explanations for their current lack of

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exercise. Most of them did not exercise consistently, and their frequency of exercise fell in
phases. My conversation with Rachel spoke to this common theme:
I: And is it important to you to work out?
P: It is, yeah. I’ve been (laughs) I’ve been slacking lately but I try and at least get two
days a week in of like, an hours worth of something. Cuz I have a gym membership in
Santa Rosa and I go as much as I can so. But I’m off and on I go through phases (laughs).
(Rachel, age 20, white, working class)
Kristen explained her inconsistent work out regime, offering:
I: And how often would you say you work out?
P: Lately, like I haven’t. But two months ago and over summer I worked out consistently.
It’s just because this is my last semester and I have a lot of schoolwork to do. (Kristen,
age 22, Vietnamese and white, upper-middle class, a college student)
Few of the women I interviewed exercised on a consistent basis. Understanding the importance
of exercise both for them and for how others would perceive them, women offered justifications
for their current lack of exercise, stressing that under different circumstances they would be able
to exercise more often.
Exercise was identified as a way that women could control their bodies. Their motivations for
exercise ranged from appearance-related reasons, health-related reasons, and mood-related
reasons. For some, it involved a combination of reasons:
I: Okay. And what motivates you to work out?
P: If my friends go and they kind of force me then it’s good. I think maybe like, the way
that my boyfriend will see me too. Cuz I don’t wanna like get fat (laughs) and have him
not like me. So I think that probably adds on to it too. But it’s nice to just get out every
once in a while too. (Andrea, age 19, Asian and white, middle class, a college student)
I: And why do you think it’s important to work out?
P: Health-wise. My mom has diabetes and it’s because she didn’t work out for a really
long time. And I’ve just played sports my entire life so I’m just… that’s what I’m used to.
The past two years I actually haven’t like done any exercise. And like I didn’t gain any

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weight, like it wasn’t that, like I just didn’t… like I got sick a lot more often. (Meghan,
age 20, white, middle class, a college student)
Like I said like endorphins like they make you happy but like they make you feel good
[…] it’s dopamine in your brain that’s making me feel good, you know? So I think that…
I mean, just working out alone, I mean besides it really like helping your body, like it just
gives you more positive mind. (Meghan, age 20, white, middle class, a college student)
I: And what motivates you to work out?
P: […] growing up, there was like a lot of like pressure from my family to like, you have
to be thin. Like it wasn’t even be in shape, it was like you have to be thin. So like there’s
a lot of pressure from like not only just like my parents, but like my cousins and my aunts
and my uncles and like my grandparents, like you need to be thin, you need to look good.
[…] So that’s what motivated me to work out for a long time but then once I started like
actually like consistently working out it just turned into like I feel better about myself
when I work out. Like I’m in a better mood, I’m more energized, […] I do feel like I look
better. Like there’s just something about working out that just like… like the endorphins,
like it just makes me feel better. […] Like so as I’ve gotten like older I guess like it’s
gone from like feeling like the pressure to look a certain way for my family and that’s
why I worked out to like actually working out like for myself and like how I feel.
(Alyssa, age 21, Mexican, upper-middle class, a college student)
In a society that favors thinness as a feminine beauty ideal, women used exercise as a tool to
alter their physical bodies. As such, their motivations for exercise served an objectifying purpose.
In contrast, motivations for exercise for health or mood related reasons served a less objectifying,
more positive purpose.
Exercise also helped women manage others perceptions of them. Kaitlyn, a 21-year-old college
student, spoke to this point:
But, I think what motivates me is probably like, my self-image I think, just like you
know, I don’t wanna be looked at as somebody that is lazy and […] I don’t wanna be lazy
(laughs) ultimately I mean like both of those things combined.

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For Kaitlyn, exercising was a means to establish a positive, fitness-oriented identity. Lack of
exercise was associated with laziness and was perceived negatively by others. As such, a
commitment to exercise was seen as a positive reflection of one’s public and private identity.
Many women suggested that they used exercise as a way to compensate for their unhealthy
eating habits. Sophie, a 21-year-old college student, explains this pattern, offering, “I eat a lot of
junk food, I’m not gonna lie. I love desserts, I love pizza, I love pasta, so there has to be an
equilibrium I think if I’m gonna eat the way I do.” Other women expressed similar positions:
I mean we all get into bad habits, I’m by no means an angel, I have my unhealthy ways
but at the same time I like to think that I compensate for it by trying to maintain some
sort of fitness and health (Kaitlyn, age 21, white, upper-middle class, a college student)
By exercising to compensate for unhealthy eating habits, these women disciplined their bodies in
an effort to maintain their health and fitness and prevent weight gain.
Women exercised in a variety of locations. Many avoided working out at the gym, an area of
heightened peer surveillance. Andrea, a 19-year-old college student, explains her avoidance of
the gym:
P: I go out on more hikes and like, do trails rather than go to the gym. I don’t like people
watching me I guess (laughs). It’s kind of weird, but I like going outdoors and like,
having the fresh air rather than the gym […]
I: Okay. And […] okay so you mentioned like, people at the gym, you feel like they’re
watching you?
P: I just, I think everybody’s kind of watching. […] Like, I don’t know I feel like it’s like
a lot of people’s way of like, “oh I wanna look like that,” or “ooh, she doesn’t come here
very often,” or something like that. […] I would just rather be outside and like, with my
friends.

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While roughly half of the women interviewed did work out in a gym, many understood this as an
area of heightened surveillance. Reflecting the research by Prichard and Tiggemann (2005), the
wall-to-wall mirrors and presence of others in a gym was characteristic of both self-surveillance
and peer-surveillance. While some women still chose to work on in this environment, others
avoided it in an effort to protect themselves against this sense of surveillance.
Surveillance
Peers and social setting had a strong impact on how women presented themselves in
public. The very act of leaving the house negated what kind of clothing these women chose to
wear. Women in effect surveilled themselves, as well as one another, into conformity with a
mainstream feminine presentation of self. Kaitlyn, a 21-year-old white upper-middle class
college student, expressed that she liked to dress up, yet felt uncomfortable dressing the way she
would like to at school due to the perceptions she would receive from peers. She mentioned:
But as far as peers go you know, like, I’ve, I definitely care a lot, […] I’m definitely more
aware nowadays than I was before. Before, I would wear heels everyday and like, I
wouldn’t even care or I wouldn’t, maybe I was just ignorant, but I did for sure get like
little whispers and stuff like that, like ,“why are you wearing heels?” and stuff. And it’s
just like okay, you know, like I get it but it’s like, I often wore heels in high school
(laughs) I don’t know!
As Kaitlyn recognized the criticism coming from her peers on her clothing choices, she became
“more aware” of the surveillance of others and altered her clothing choices with this sense of
surveillance in mind.
Other women spoke about the compliments they received on their clothing as influencing the
kinds of clothing they wore. For example:

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[…] if I am I’m consistently getting compliments on… like this has happened before
where I’ll buy a pair of leggings and be unsure about whether, like I’ll be like, “I really
like these but I think that [they] might be too much to wear, like people might think I’m
weird or something like that, or like people might not like them,” and then I’ll get a
couple compliments on them and that will like really like boost my self-esteem about
them and stuff like that. But if I’m already confident in the pants it’s like the compliments
like add to it a little bit but not as much as if I’m like self-conscious about them and then
I get complimented. (Beatrice, age 22, white, upper-middle class, a college student)
I: Okay. And how do you feel when you wear types of clothing that you like?
P: I feel confident. Especially if you take a risk wearing something brighter or bolder
people you know, tend to notice it and they’ll either comment on it and you know give
you a compliment or if [they] don’t then you know not to repeat that and […] dress more
subtle (Anna, age 21, white, middle class, a college student).
For Beatrice and Anna, receiving compliments on their clothing helped influence the kind of
clothing they wore in a social setting. They understood that the clothing they wore would be seen
and judged by their peers, and their clothing choices were based on this anticipation of
surveillance. Gaining a positive recognition from peers through compliments made them feel
better about their choices and helped shape their clothing preferences.
Form-Fitting Active Wear
Comfort
Women wore form-fitting active wear, such as leggings or yoga pants, for reasons that
extended beyond the clothing’s utility purpose. One of the most common explanations for their
use of form-fitting active wear was for the level of comfort that these clothing styles provided.
Kristen, a 22-year old college student, remarked on the level of comfort with leggings, stating,
“It’s comfortable and I would say it’s more casual now. It’s like if you go everywhere you can
definitely just see a bunch of people wearing leggings."

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When reflecting on the popularity of form-fitting active wear on campus, Anna stated:
I just took a test at school last week and all the girls are in their Ugg boots or slippers and
yoga pants and sweatshirts. It’s just something that’s comfortable, it’s relaxing, it’s easy,
an easy go-to. (Anna, age 21, white, middle class, a college student)
For these women, form-fitting active wear was an easy choice when deciding what to wear each
day. Yoga pants and leggings were stretchier than other forms of clothing, and provided a level of
comfort for women that other forms of clothing did not. Due to the commonality of this style of
clothing among their peers, women seemed more comfortable sporting this trend across various
social settings.
Brands
While some of the respondents cared little about the brands of their leggings or yoga
pants, others were more particular about where they shopped for these styles. Lululemon, a
higher-end active wear retailer, was among the most popular of the brands listed. Respondents
also purchased active wear from less expensive retailers, such as Target, Victoria’s Secret, or
Costco, yet these were generally regarded lower value than their more expensive counterparts.
For example:
I really like Lululemon yoga pants but I don’t have any because they’re super expensive.
But I think that they look really good because they look really well made and I don’t
know what it is exactly that I like about them. That also is because they’re one of the
most like popular ones like so I’ve seen them the most on people on like, I just like have
seen them a lot so they’re kind of like become like a big idea of my brain. (Beatrice, age
22, white, upper-middle class, a college student)
P: So it’s like not like a specific place that I go to but if I had to pick two specific places it
would be Lululemon and Victoria’s Secret.

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I: And is there a certain difference between those ones, you know from Lululemon or
Victoria’s Secret, compared to less expensive or different styles?
P: Well they look more expensive. I don’t really know exactly what it is I think it’s
probably that they’re like, made of more material. Like the ones that… the yoga pants
that I get from Target are more likely to be see-through than other ones. And like so I
think that you can just tell because of the material, it’s like I think that the ones from
Target are probably made with like cotton or spandex and the ones from the other places
might have like latex or like I don’t know, some other thing makes them like thicker and
like probably stretchier […] I think most people when looking can tell whether or not
they’re expensive ones or not. (Beatrice, age 22, white, upper-middle class, a college
student)
I: And do you have any favorite brands for them?
P: No I don’t. […] It doesn’t really matter to me. I know a lot of girls like, a lot of girls
like Lululemon. Like I have this one friend who’s like, “you need to get a pair.” Like
she’s like, “you just need to invest in them, they’re like the best thing ever.” Like and I’m
like, “I don’t know if I wanna spend like 80, 85 dollars on a pair of leggings.” So for me
right now my Costco ones and the ones my mom gave me, like those are good. (Alyssa,
age 21, Mexican, upper-middle class, a college student)
But I used to shop at Lululemon a lot and I feel like a lot of the girls that wear Lululemon
are kind of wearing it to stay fashionable and be like, “hey I bought these $100 yoga
pants.” Showing them off. I don’t think that it’s… I mean I’m sure they work out in them
as well. But personally like when I’ve bought them I wasn’t buying them to go, “oh my
god, these are gonna be so great for when I’m working out!” I was like, “oh my god, I’m
gonna be just like one of the other girls,” trying to fit in basically. (Sophie, age 21, white,
working class, a college student)
These girls recognized the status that the more expensive brands, such as Lululemon, held in the
esteem of their peers. Yoga pants or leggings from Lululemon had a symbolic value as they were
seen as a sign of status, yet were also distinguished from less-expensive brands due their
perceived higher quality.
Looking Cute While You Sweat
Many of the women I interviewed did wear form-fitting active wear while working out, yet many
of them chose form-fitting leggings with looser-fitting tops. They had several practical reasons

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for their exercise clothing preferences, citing a disfavor of heavy, looser pants and a favor of
more breathable tee shirts and tank tops. While their clothing served a practical purpose, it also
served an appearance-related purpose. As Sophie, a 21-year-old college student noted, “I mean
it’s workout wear so you wanna look cute while you’re sweating but you also wanna be
comfortable.”
Anna, a 21-year-old college student, commented on the transformation of form-fitting active
wear from practical workout wear to a mainstream trend in women’s fashion:
I think a lot of girls in a school setting are wearing them to go to the gym or I also think a
lot of them are trying to follow the trend. […] I’ve noticed […] more cuter fitness wear
coming out now. It’s not your simple yoga pants or something with a colorful band, it’s a
lot more intricate designs. My roommate just went to Forever21 and she came home with
these really cute blue yoga fitness wear pants and you know they have matching sports
bras and hoodie sweaters and it’s just kind of making fitness wear not look as
comfortable and look stylish as well. So I think that’s a bigger trend and it’s not you
know just looking like you’re being a scrub and you’re not trying. It’s like, you’re
actually trying to look like you work out and also be cute and wear it everywhere as well.
Anna described her preferences for form-fitting active wear worn for the purpose of exercise:
I used to wear yoga pants and then I got the more capri pants. […] when I […] took the
dance classes I found that the shorter ones were a lot better. They fit the same but when
you’re doing that much physical activity for that long it gets kind of hot wearing all black
long material. So the lighter material, more form fitting, as long as it’s flexible I think
that’s what’s most important. You don’t want to be wearing heavy loose fitting clothing or
really tight jeans restrict your movement. I think wearing some sort of stretchy
lightweight material is really important (Anna, age 21, white, middle class, a college
student)
Meghan expressed her preference for form-fitting shorts and looser fitting tops, which she chose
for both practical and appearance related reasons. For example:
I: Okay. And would you say you wear more like form-fitting clothing when you work out
or looser clothing?

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P: Probably more form-fitting. […] I guess bigger shirts then.
I: But more form-fitting like shorts or?
P: Yeah, more form-fitting shorts, definitely.
I: And do you ever […] do you ever wear yoga pants or leggings while working out?
P: Yes but I try… I… not usually. It’s not something that I try to do.
I: Okay. And how do you feel in the clothes that you wear while you’re working out?
P: Good (laughs). Yeah.
I: Do you feel like you look good?
P: Yeah. (Meghan, age 20, white, middle class, a college student)
Yoga pants, popularized by retailers such as Lululemon, were less frequently worn for exercise
purposes. Though these pants were still popular among women, they were more popular outside
of the fitness realm, as the length and thickness of the pants made them too heavy and
impractical in a workout setting. By opting for lighter bottoms and looser tops, women’s use of
form-fitting active wear for exercise served a practical purpose. At the same time, it also served
an appearance-related purpose, as women continued to favor the more form-fitting styles popular
among their peers.
Other women often avoided form-fitting clothing altogether while working out, favoring looser-
fitting clothing instead. This also served a practical purpose, for example:
[…] well actually what I work out in most of the time it’s work out shorts. And I might
wear like these and stuff (pinching her leggings she’s wearing) but the shorts are a little
bit looser fitting and it’s just nicer cuz I like run a lot and stuff and it’s just […] I don’t
like all of the like dripping sweat you know? If I’m gonna drip sweat I’d rather have
shorts and just have like more area of clothing kinda. […] I just feel comfortable and just
more like what is it, movable I guess? Not like constricted really. (Schway, age 20, white,
Sophie, a 21-year-old college student who worked at a high-end active wear store, spoke in
length about the different things she discovered women sought in their workout clothing based
on the kind of workout they were engaged in, explaining:

Martinez !31
There’s some women who would rather not wear tight-fitted they definitely want loose-
fitted depending on their workouts. That’s for sure. But generally I think the brand sells
tighter clothes just so that… and a lot of them like, shirts will have ties on the bottoms so
you can tighten it. So if you’re doing a pose in yoga your shirts not gonna like fall up and
have your midriff showing. So they do have little catches like that on our pieces that
make it so that your bodies not like, exposed during workouts or anything like that. […]
Definitely is catered to different types of women, depending on if they want it tighter or
looser. But that’s just a personal preference. For me I don’t really care that much I’m
okay in just leggings and a tee shirt. I don’t really do much I just like run, so it’s not like
my shirts falling off when I’m running or anything. But at least for the women that are
doing yoga, Pilates, and bicycling they don’t want things coming up in the back or
anything like that so. (Sophie, age 21, white, working class, a college student)
So I guess I just want it to be comfortable and to do what it’s supposed to do for me. […]
I don’t like to wear super tight clothes I just want it to be fitted to that it’s not, I’m not
tripping over it when I’m running, I’m not snagging it on stuff when I’m doing whatever.
I just want it to benefit me in the best way. (Sophie, age 21, white, working class, a
college student)
These women chose form-fitting or looser fitting active wear for their exercise in a large part for
practical purposes. They sought clothing that was light, breathable, and would not hinder their
work out in any way. Form-fitting clothing in some ways prevented over-exposure during
exercise, offering protection from clothing falling down or riding up. At the same time, form-
fitting active wear coincided with more trendy, fashionable styles offered by popular retailers.
Women’s appropriation of these styles allowed them to look cute at the gym, yet the clothing was
trendy enough to still look appropriate in virtually any other social setting.
Social Setting/Versatility
Almost all of the women I interviewed talked about the versatility of form-fitting active wear.
Sophie, a 21-year old college student, described this versatility, saying, “I can wear them out, I
can wear them to sleep, I can do everything in them, so that’s probably what I like the best, is I

Martinez !32
never wanna change out of them (Sophie, age 20:2). None of the women used these styles solely
for working out; their use of form-fitting active wear tended to cross over a wide range of social
settings. For example:
I: Okay. And so in what circumstances do you tend to wear yoga pants or leggings or
active wear styles?
P: Any time I can (laughs). Yeah. As… whenever I have a pair of yoga pants or leggings
that are clean I’ll wear it.
I: So [are] there any like circumstances or like social settings where you wouldn’t wear
them?
P: Maybe to like a wedding? (mutual laughter) Or […] actually maybe you could wear it
to a wedding. I think it all depends. I think […] you can dress them up, you can dress
them down, you can do anything with them. […] So no! I change my answer, no, I don’t,
I think you can wear it, I think you can wear it all the time. (Meghan, age 20, white,
But yeah I like wearing them to school, I like wearing them everywhere, and I mean it
doesn’t… I feel like it’s a trend now, you know, it’s like if you’re wearing leggings with a
normal outfit and going out it doesn’t look bad. (Kristen, age 22, Vietnamese and white,
Form-fitting active wear in this sense has transcended the boundaries of workout wear and is
now common in almost any social setting. These women saw virtually no circumstances in
which form-fitting active wear was not a socially appropriate style of clothing. As it was seen as
a trend to wear form-fitting active wear, these women felt comfortable wearing it outside of the
fitness realm. This offered them any easy go-to clothing choice; one that would allow them to fit
in with the dominant culture of clothing validated by their peers.
Constructing a Fitness Identity

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Some women admitted to wearing form-fitting active wear to give the impression to others that
they were working out that day. Alyssa, a 21-year-old Mexican upper-middle class college
student, describes this:
Sometimes if I like, if I’m lazy that day I wear like workout clothes, just so I look like
I’m gonna go do work out. But really it’s because I don’t wanna like go to school in
sweatpants and look like a slob, so I wear like… I wear workout clothes.
Other girls suggested that they wore form-fitting active wear to school and other social realms as
a possible motivation strategy to work out that day. For example:
Like if, especially if I’m really late to class or something, it’s like well, I’m late to class
and I’d rather just wear my workout clothes and look like I’m gonna work out, maybe
it’ll motivate me to work out like after class than like try to put some outfit together and
get to class late or something. (Alyssa, age 21, Mexican, upper-middle class, a college
student)
[…] when I was in high school, when I was trying to like motivate myself to work out I’d
like dress like... when I got out of the shower that night I’d put on a sports bra and be
like, “kay tomorrow when I wake up I’m gonna work out,” you know? And I’d wear that
sports bra all day but I would never work out. So it would look like I was working out but
I didn’t. (Meghan, age 20, white, middle class, a college student)
For these women, wearing form-fitting active wear helped them manage others impressions of
them. In a society that favors health and fitness and looks down on laziness and lack of fitness,
wearing form-fitting active wear styles made them appear to others as acting in line with the
fitness ideal. At the same time, it was used as a technique to motivate them to work out, thus
internalizing this ideal and helping shape their own fitness identity.
Other women did not directly admit to wearing form-fitting active wear for this purpose, yet
understood that form-fitting active wear could be used to achieve an impression of fitness. For
example:

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It’s something that I think people are finding a lot more attractive now in girls and it
shows like “oh, you may not work out but it looks like you do!” (Anna, age 21, white,
And I think that this active wear [is] showing guys that you know, here are the girls
curves, kind of leading them on that they are going to the gym and working towards these
bodies. So it’s kind of giving them the idea that, “oh hey, these girls care about what they
look like and they’re confident and they wanna show it off.” (Anna, age 21, white, middle
class, a college student)
Reflecting on female body ideals popularized in the media, Kristen, a 22-year-old college student
noted:
Like I would say the ideal body is like a Victoria’s Secret like model. […] and maybe that
does have an effect on why girls wear workout clothes. I wear it because it’s comfortable
for me. But it’s like promoting working out, you know, is super in right now. Eating
healthy is in. So it’s like people want other people to like, you know, see them as that.
You know in a way? Because it’s like, “oh I want people to think I work out, I want
people to think I’m fit, you know, I want people to think I’m trying,” because that’s I
guess attractive? You know? (Kristen, age 22, Vietnamese and white, upper-middle class,
a college student)
Women acknowledged the pressures that they faced to find confidence in a culture that deems fit
bodies as attractive. Though women may not have outwardly fit in with the female body ideal,
their use of form-fitting active wear helped give the impression to others that they were at least
trying to reach this ideal.
Many girls expressed that it was difficult to know whether or not girls were wearing active wear
to actually work out that day. My conversation with Andrea, a 19-year-old college student,
highlighted this difficulty:
I: Okay. And what about girls that wear like active wear styles, like yoga pants or
leggings to school?
P:I think that means a lot of the time they’re either going to work out or wanna look like
they have been. […] My friend who lives over here she wears them cuz she works at a

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store like that. […] so I think maybe she just wears them cuz she’s going to work that day
or she just bought them and wants to wear them, I don’t know.
Others mentioned that they wore form-fitting active wear to school on days they weren’t working
out, making it more difficult to know if girls were actually wearing these styles for working out:
I: And do you think when girls are wearing it they’re wearing it for working out or
something else?
P: No! (laughs) Well sometimes, like if a girl is like wearing […] a workout outfit with
her hair up and like workout shoes then yes, she probably went to work out. But it’s like
for me like I do, I do wear workout clothes before I work… or after I work out. So I’ll go
to school and then if I’m about to work out then I, I’ll just wear it to school […] But I feel
like [I] definitely wear like leggings and workout clothes to school when I don’t work
out. (Kristen, age 22, Vietnamese and white, upper-middle class, a college student)
I: [...] Is there a way to tell if girls are working out that day or if they’re not?
P: I honestly don’t think so. Me personally, I look like I’m going to work out all the time
and I never… I like I work out, but I don’t use our school gym so like I have… I go
somewhere else. But like yeah I literally […] would not be able to tell. (Schway, age 20,
white, middle class, a college student)
With the increased popularity of active wear in nearly all social settings, it was difficult for these
women to understand if girls were using these clothes for working out that day or simply to give
off the impression that they were.
In other instances, girls identified ways of knowing whether a girl was working out that day or
just trying to portray that she was. Makeup was among the key indicators that girls were not in
fact working out that day. Kaitlyn, a 21-year-old college student, illustrates this point:
I think in my experience the… I don’t know if this is stereotypical, but I’m just calling it
how I see it with Sonoma State specifically, a lot of like the sorority girls wear like
leggings and stuff to class and I don’t know if that’s cuz they’re trying to make it look
like they go to the gym or if they actually are because it’s kinda funny because I see a lot
of them wearing like full on makeup with their gym shoes and yoga pants and I’m like,
when I come to school in my yoga pants, or my leggings I should say, I don’t know what
the difference is, but I don’t have makeup you know, I don’t have makeup done and stuff

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like that. So I feel like maybe they’re trying to make it seem like they do go to the gym or
something […]
Women were critical of other women who they saw as wearing form-fitting active wear to give
the impression that they were working out when they were not. Through their surveillance
strategies, they were able to police other women and identify false impressions.
Fitted Versus Baggy Clothing
The woman I spoke to all expressed preferences for form-fitting active wear compared to looser-
fitting clothing, such as sweat pants or sweatshirts, in their everyday clothing choices. Many of
the women equated baggier clothing with a lack of self-care and even laziness, while form-fitting
active wear represented a more put together look. When asked why she did not like wearing
sweats, Beatrice remarked, “it just reminds me of a slob” (Beatrice, age 22, white, upper-middle
class, a college student). Many other women held this critical approach to looser-fitting clothing.
Kaitlyn, a 21-year-old college student, explained:
Cuz like to me there’s a difference between like baggy wear and stuff, like baggy as in
just like frumpy or like, torn up or something like that. […] But there’s a difference
between that and wearing like, leggings, and you know, and your tennis shoes or your
gym shoes or something like, to me there’s a difference […] because you just don’t look
as careless, I don’t know.
Kaitlyn also explained her perceptions of girls at school who wore sweatpants, stating:
Maybe I don’t wanna go to school when my alarms going off in the morning but overall
like, I do wanna go to a school. […] so it’s like, maybe if you didn’t care that much to
prepare 20 minutes you know, you know it takes 3, like literally 2-3 minutes to throw on
some sweats you know? So it’s like, you know, like I understand if you’re running behind
and you’re running late but I know that that’s like just a lot of peoples just everyday wear

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and stuff, so it’s kinda the vibe I get like maybe like, just doesn’t wanna be there, doesn’t
really care kinda thing. (Kaitlyn, age 21, white, upper-middle class, a college student)
When asked what her perceptions would be of a girl who wore sweats to school every day,
Kaitlyn remarked:
I mean, […] not that they’re intellectually like, I don’t know. Not that they’re dumb or
anything, like it’s nothing like that, it’s just like I feel like when you care about yourself
like… how can you care about, that much about you know, your education and things like
that when you can’t even care about your own like, health, and your own like well-being?
[…] I mean not that dressing nice is your health but it kind of in a way is your well-being
because it’s like, you know, it shows like your reflection of your self kinda thing and how
you perceive yourself and how you want to present yourself (Kaitlyn, age 21, white,
For many women, sweatpants and other forms of baggy clothing were equated with a lack of
self-care and were seen as a negative reflection of ones self in a social setting. Wearing
sweatpants was also equated with a lack of beauty work, or time spent to get ready in the
morning, and gave an impression to others of laziness and lack of effort. Wearing form-fitting
active wear allowed women a similar amount of comfort that sweatpants would provide, yet
represented a more socially acceptable presentation of self.
Other women equated sweats with a lack of confidence in ones body, whereas form-fitting active
wear was equated with a high lever of confidence in ones body. When asked what she thought of
girls who wore sweats to school, Sophie explicitly stated, “I think that it might be a signal that
they’re not as comfortable with their bodies” (Sophie, age 21, white, working class, a college
student). Rachel echoed this sentiment, stating:
And you can wear sweats and sweatshirts once in a while but I feel like if you’re doing
that all the time you know, there’s gotta be something wrong with how you feel about

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yourself, so. So I wanna portray that I care about what I look like because I think that’s
important. (Rachel, age 20, white, working class)
For these women, the very clothing they wore gave subtle cues to others about their personality
and body image. By looking at visual cues regarding how individuals presented themselves with
clothing, they could infer certain characteristics that could be applied to that person.
Other women saw sweats as a less feminine, even masculine, style of clothing compared to form-
fitting active wear. Beatrice took this approach in describing why she preferred wearing leggings
to sweats, offering:
I just feel better because I feel like I look more like I didn’t roll out of bed and like
they’re feminine, […] I mean I just, I like fitted clothing and I think that’s probably
because it shows your body more and that is kind of that’s what makes you feminine or
not feminine. So I feel like if I’m covering like my entire body up with a sweatshirt and
sweats I just don’t feel feminine and I feel like, like I also feel like a slob because it’s just
like that reminds me of just rolling out of bed in the morning. (Beatrice, age 22, white,
She also stated:
I feel like I’m a dude if I wear like sweats and a sweatshirt. Like, cuz it… I mean it’s
probably because you can’t see like my body at all. And like it’s just completely covered
up, which is why I feel feminine when I’m not completely covered up. But it’s just like, I
just don’t like sweats at all. (Beatrice, age 22, white, upper-middle class, a college
student)
Wearing sweats for these women was as a lack of care or effort to get ready, underscoring the
feminized beauty work ritual. As sweats and sweatshirts covered the body with loose-fitting
material, they served to conceal the very things that women saw made them feminine.

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Many other women further attested to the femininity of form-fitting active wear. Some saw form-
fitting active wear as feminine because it showed off women’s curves and parts of the body that
were seen as attractive to the opposite sex. Anna, a 21-year-old college student, remarked:
I honestly I like it because it does show off my curves, it hugs me in the right places. […]
it basically accentuates what you want people to see, and it makes you feel more
confident I think as woman. That you do have these curves that are considered to be
feminine and it’s something that, it’s not like you’re exposing everything so it’s kind of a
different feminine I think. It’s like, it’s showing what you want to be shown without
showing everything. (Anna, age 21, white, middle class, a college student)
When asked if she thought form-fitting active wear was feminine, Alyssa explained:
Yes, […] But because it’s like girls that wear them and because guys always make
comments about like, “oh that girl in her yoga pants like her, her ass like blah, blah, blah
looked so good, I always look down that way when I see girls.” Like because of like
those comments that guys make, like I associate yoga pants with girls and like their butts
and how good they look in them. But I mean like, like that’s… but I mean it’s mostly I
guess yeah because of how society like is towards those, towards them is like why I
consider them like more feminine than like, like masculine […] (Alyssa, age 21,
Mexican, upper-middle class, a college student)
These women understood yoga pants and leggings to be a sexualized form of clothing, one that
showed off parts of a woman’s body that were deemed as sexually attractive to men. It was this
very form-fitting, sexualized aspect of active wear that made these styles feminine for them.
Sexualization and Objectification
Many of the women I interviewed acknowledged that the kinds of form-fitting active wear they
wore were well known to show off women’s figures, specifically their behinds and legs. Some
suggested that they wore these styles in order to show off these parts of their bodies that were
deemed attractive by men. In doing this, they presented themselves as a sexualized object of
male desire. My conversation with Beatrice helps illustrate this point:

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I: And how do you think people see you, guys or girls, when you’re wearing them?
P: Well I mean, if I guess if I think about it and I think about how I’m being perceived
like some people probably perceive it as like, doing that to like get guys attentions and
stuff like that. But when I’m wearing it like on a day-to-day basis I kind of don’t really
think about what I’m putting on and like what it can do. Like it’s not like I don’t
consciously be like, “okay well I wanna get this person’s attention today so I’m gonna
make sure to wear yoga pants.” But I mean that’s probably a part of it is like in general
like people, girls who wear this style of clothing are probab… like I just, I mean I don’t
have statistics on it obviously. […] But like I feel like they attract more guys. Or maybe
not more guys but like the […] type of guys that I talk to. So I think that probably it’s a
part of it but […] it’s not like I think about that’s a reason why I wear like leggings and
yoga pants. But like, kind of underneath it, like underlying I’m sure that’s like an
underlying reason about it. (Beatrice, age 22, white, upper-middle class, a college
student)
Rachel, a 20-year-old white working class woman, expressed a similar statement regarding the
sexualization and objectification involved in wearing form-fitting active wear, offering:
P: Well, I mean they make girls look good, bottom line. They make your butt look good;
they make your legs look good. And when you’re wearing yoga pants you’re showing off
your body bottom line. And guys, guys are drawn to that no matter what. I’m sure they
appreciate it. […]
I: So the parts of the body that you mentioned that yoga pants show off was the legs and
the butt, do you think those are things that guys typically are attracted to?
P: Yeah. I mean hopefully it’s not the first thing that they’re attracted to but I would
definitely say that it’s… you’re drawing attention to that area so they’re definitely gonna
be looking […]
Women understood that leggings and yoga pants showed off a woman’s assets, leaving little to
the imagination for men. They recognized the presence of the male gaze, and understood that
males would look at their bodies sexually when they wore such clothing. The assets they had,
deemed sexually attractive by men became what they desired to draw attention to through this
kind of clothing, thus casting them in an objectifying light.
DISCUSSION

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Women’s use of clothing serves as an important tool in their impression management
strategies. Clothing has an intimate quality due to its role in preparing the body for the social
world. As clothing styles influence how one is perceived in the social world, clothing becomes
integral to women’s sense of identity. The styles of clothing women wear are inscribed by a
socially constructed ideal of femininity. By surveilling themselves as well as one another
alongside these feminine ideals, women in effect discipline themselves and each other into
gender conformity. This supports Bartky’s research built off of Foucault’s theory of surveillance,
suggesting that, “The disciplinary power that inscribes femininity in the female body is
everywhere and it is nowhere; the disciplinarian is everyone and yet no one in
particular” (Bartky 2008:24). Through their anticipation of the surveillance of others, women’s
clothing choices represent an effort to present themselves in line with cultural ideals of
femininity, and as such their sense of feminine identity is very much constructed.
The disciplinary power of surveillance creates the notion among women that their bodies
are constantly being looked at and evaluated. Coinciding with Prichard and Tiggemann’s
(2005:19) findings, as women internalize the sense of surveillance of others, they in turn
objectify themselves, constantly monitoring their outward appearance along socially acceptable
or desirable body ideals. Contemporary feminine body ideals popularized in the media further
this objectifying end, serving as a method for women to evaluate their own bodies and construct
their feminine identity. Such ideals tend to favor fit yet curvaceous bodies, a largely unrealistic
expectation for many women.
Despite understanding the unrealistic, nearly impossible to attain nature of feminine body
ideals, women continued to compare themselves alongside these ideals. Their sense of control

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over their outward appearance through body discipline coincides with a neoliberal culture of
consumption described by Featherstone (1991) and Laverance and Lozanski (2014) that allows
the government to control from a distance, linking physical fitness with consumption and
ideologies of self-care and body discipline. Women’s discipline of their bodies offered a way that
they could manage their outward appearance as well as other’s perceptions of them in a positive
light. Women held that through enough effort and body discipline in the forms of healthy eating
habits and increased exercise, they could better achieve the feminine body ideal. Women were
fearful of becoming overweight, as weight gain represented a lack of discipline and a negative
feminine identity. This reflects Kaiser’s (2007:136) research, which suggests that, “obesity
represents a violation of what it means to be a female. That is, an overweight woman is regarded
in American society as being unfeminine, unattractive, and ‘out of the running,’ sexually
speaking.” Understanding the pressure to fit in with the dominant feminine body ideal, women
disciplined their bodies to avoid stigmatization and construct a socially acceptable feminine
identity.
Women’s preference for form-fitting active wear compared to looser styles of clothing,
such as sweatpants, may have been a response to the social stigmatization of overweight women.
This assumption is supported by Kaitlyn’s statements, in which she equated wearing sweatpants
with a lack of care in one’s health and well-being. As baggier clothing styles tend to conceal the
shape of the body, they obscure women’s ability to present their bodies as physically fit. With
physical fitness being linked to feminine body ideals, baggier styles of clothing that concealed
the body were reviled as inherently unfeminine. Coinciding with the neoliberal culture of
consumption discussed by Featherstone (1991) and Laverance and Lozanski (2014), women saw

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this lack of beauty work as a sign of laziness, reflecting a lack of self-discipline and moral virtue
as well as a negative presentation of one self in a social setting.
Form-fitting active wear, such as yoga pants and leggings, offered women an opportunity
to manage others perceptions of them in line with the fitness-orientation stressed in
contemporary feminine body ideals. In support of Crane and Bovone’s (2006) research, form-
fitting active wear held a symbolic value for women, as it allowed them to present to others their
sense of values in regards to their physical fitness. Advertising and marketing campaigns by
active wear retailers perpetuate this sense of symbolic value attributed to clothing. Lululemon, a
brand of form-fitting active wear held in high esteem among women, effectively links the
consumption of their clothing with ideologies of self-care and body discipline, as well as the
construction of an adequately feminine body identity. As Laverance and Lozanski (2014:85)
suggest, “The Lululemon brand capitalizes on this ‘new ethic of self-conduct’ (Rose 1999:87) in
its implicit suggestions that the consumption of athletic wear reflects an ethic of personal
commitment”. Through appropriating these active wear styles, women were able to construct a
fitness-oriented feminine identity in a society that increasingly favors fit bodies as attractive.
My findings that women less often wore the yoga pants popularized by Lululemon for
exercise, and more often for leisure, exemplify the transvaluation of use-value evident in
Lululemon’s products and advertising campaigns. This supports Featherstone’s (1991) analysis
of the “floating signifier effect,” in which advertising for consumer products effectively broadens
the types of uses attributed to a cultural product. Lululemon’s neoliberal marketing strategy that
identifies their pants as “lifestyle pants,” allows women to wear these pants in nearly all social

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settings while maintaining the symbolic fitness, self-empowerment ethic reflected in
Lululemon’s brand.
The appropriation of form-fitting active wear represented a clothing trend among young
women, and these styles can now be seen across all social settings. The most popular,
fashionable active wear styles worn by women were the form-fitting leggings and yoga pants.
These styles offered women positive rewards from peers as they conformed to the fitness-
orientation stressed in feminine body ideals, yet they also served a self-objectifying end. The
form-fitting nature of these styles combined with the feminine body ideals that favor fit,
curvaceous bodies promoted women to compare their bodies with this ideal. Women strove to
highlight the assets deemed sexually attractive by the opposite sex, and these assets became what
they wanted to present to the social world. Women’s internalization of the surveillance of others
as well as the male gaze shaped their clothing choices, prompting their use of form-fitting active
wear to showcase their bodies and present themselves as desirable to others.
My research builds on previous research in that it shows how women’s clothing is
carefully chosen to achieve desired impressions from others. It adds to previous research in that
it takes a qualitative approach to women’s use of form-fitting active wear for constructing a
feminine identity that coincides with contemporary feminine body ideals. More research could
be done through utilizing content analysis along with surveys and qualitative interviews in order
to gain a more complete analysis on this topic. Due to the limitations of my sampling frame, I do
not wish to suggest that the results of my research may be generalizable to all women. Further
research in this field utilizing a probability sampling procedure would likely produce greater
diversity in participants and responses and would yield more generalizable results.

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