Exercising Moral Authority: The Power of Guilt in Health and Fitness Discourses

In this article, I discuss the presence and power of guilt in health and fitness discourses. As an intangible force, guilt has material—often negative—effects on women’s lives; it is an active ingredient in gendered societal messages celebrating and moralizing an idealized fit feminine body. I invoke “the imperative pathway” to illustrate how discourses around women’s exercise, health, and bodies create an impasse fraught with guilt feelings: complex social forces impose a nexus of competing responsibilities and expectations, even while bodies impose physical limitations. Ultimately, I question the ethical sensitivity of health and fitness promoters who induce guilt feelings.