Core Workout: A Feminist Critique of Definitions, Hyperfemininity, and the Medicalization of Fitness

In this essay, we distinguish between fitness and sport and provide a feminist account of fitness to set the stage for analysis of the conflict between norms of femininity, heteronormativity, and fitness. We examine the medicalization of fitness to show that women’s participation in it is contested terrain and involves traditional sexist ideals of women’s body capabilities. In order for women to achieve bodily agency, we propose that fitness activities should involve a do-it-yourself ethos. Addressing these issues contributes to the bioethics literature concerning the philosophy of sport, feminism, and fitness.