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I have been going to the gym since my college days at the University of Michigan in the
late 70s. I lifted books in classes during the day and lifted iron in the weight room at
night. The weight room was seldom crowded (the athletic teams had their own state-of-the-art
facilities), and rarely did you see women work out with the York barbells or Universal
multi-purpose machines. It wasn’t as if there was a sign over the door that said “No Woman
Allowed.” Muscles on women weren’t fashionable at the time.
Women Migrate to the Weight Room
Then came Title IX, Jane Fonda and her workout tapes, Madonna and her exercise regime, and
best-selling books with tantalizing titles such as Buns of Iron (or was it “steel”?).
In any case, women soon began migrating to the weight room-this was still before our modern
era of health clubs on every corner that wasn’t already home to a Starbucks or Gap, and
weight room was the preferred term used here, not gym or health club.
When I was in graduate school at the University of California at Berkeley in the early
1980s, I continued to do time in the weight room. The ratio of men to women in this rather
unsanitary weight-lifting hell-hole was about 100 to 1. Women who dared to venture into
this lair of muscular iniquity were treated to secret stares, silent contempt, plain
indifference or rapt attention.
I can’t pinpoint exactly when the seismic gender shift began to occur in the weight room,
which became taxonomically softened by calling it the gym or health club, nor would I be
surprised if there is a higher percentage of women now regularly working out than men.
Did this trend get kick-started by a migration from aerobics to Spinning classes?
The Terminator II Phenomenon
I believe that there was one event in American culture that sparked this phenomenon. That
event was the movie Terminator II. Ostensibly a futuristic fable about an indestructible
cyborg killing machine starring the buffed, boffo box-office star Arnold Schwarzeneggar,
the movie proved popular among Hollywood’s favorite demographic: teenage boys and guys.
But the movie had a certain crossover appeal among women—almost clandestinely—since
it starred Linda Hamilton as the heroine who is locked away in a mental hospital. At the
start of the movie, we see a very fit Linda Hamilton doing pull-ups on the doorjamb of her
locked room. Her knock-out biceps and triceps are taut, developed, and muscular.
Women who saw Terminator II visually ogled her arms in the same way men and boys ogled
Arnold Schwarzeneggar’s biceps and chest. “I want those arms,” said women. And that they
did; they started pumping iron just like the guys. They started doing pull-ups. They
started going to the gym.
And Linda’s arms were much easier for women to acquire than were Arnold’s pecs were for men.
The phrase “Linda Hamilton arms” became a metaphor for female fitness (the actress actually w
orked with a personal trainer to get in shape for the movie). Mention “Linda Hamilton arms”
to fit, active women and they seem to know precisely what you are referring to. In fact, I
did just that, as a test to four women friends—a runner, a dancer and triathlete, a
trainer, and an adventure racer. They all knew. While this sample polling is certainly not
representative of the nation as a whole, my point was validated.
When women’s bodybuilding came into vogue, the gender revolution in the gym was made
complete. It was now an equal playing field. Guys were now asking women for “a spot” on
the bench press. You were what you benched, pushed, or lifted. What sex you happened to be
was deemed irrelevant.
The gender infiltration into other macho jock pastimes continues, with sports such as
women’s boxing receiving increasing air time, prize purses, and participatory attention
from women themselves. Muhammed Ali’s daughter recently tossed her gloves in the ring. I
don’t know what to make of this because I am opposed to boxing as a sport anyway. (Also,
on my enemies list is bullfighting, though I recently read somewhere that there are now
women matadors. Oh well. Or, ole´.)
It Goes Both Ways
Now that women’s basketball and soccer have successfully and commercially demonstrated that
they have legs, as it were, what is interesting to note is that men have also taken a keen
interest in following these activities as spectators.
On the flip side of this gender about-face is the true story about a male synchronized
swimmer, one of the best in the country, a shoo-in to be part of the U.S. Olympic team,
and the only male synchronized swimmer in the country, if not the world. The USOC has
prohibited him from competing; he was heartbroken; his female teammates were also saddened
by this news. Call it gender politics with a contemporary twist.
The gym, the track, the pool are microcosms of the world at large, peopled by fit and
athletically-minded enthusiasts who are not immune from the shifting societal sands of
gender issues, performance issues, and competition issues. But there will always be
differences between men and women. If “men are from Mars and women are from Venus,” then
perhaps we will have to wait a while before a new planet emerges where equality reigns.
Maybe that planet already exists. It’s called the gym.
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