Straining Under the Weight: Implementation of Gender-Inclusive Initiatives in a University Recreational Center

• In Event: Navigating Change Across Institutional Contexts From Different Perspectives

Abstract

While university administrators view campus recreation centers as an important part of encouraging healthy fitness behaviors and building a diverse campus community, highly gendered expectations about gyms can hinder progress in making recreational centers fully inclusive. Using ethnographic methods, we examine the implementation and effect of progressive policies in a university recreation center, with an emphasis on the attempt to make the traditionally masculinized weight room more welcoming to women. We find that top-down inclusive policies can meet with resistance from ground-level staff and prevailing gym norms as enacted by students, leading to a disconnect in how different stakeholders view the recreation center space and community. We seek to understand more deeply how these initiatives can be improved for inclusivity.

Authors

• Erica Caasi, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Michelle Doughty, University of Colorado - Boulder