Looking at Bodywork

Abstract

The concepts of the subject-at-work and the subject-in-discourse form the basis for an examination of the implications that appearance has for physically active women and their self-presentation. Excerpts from interviews with three physically active groups (ballet dancers, bodybuilders, and weightlifters) of Australian women are used to illustrate the ensuing discussion of the “gaze.” When the subject-at-work becomes the subject-in-discourse, as a result of the presentation of the body to an audience, differences in the extent to which each group exercised ownership of their physical mastery became evident. Activities that invite others to look and to judge the appearance of women’s bodies appeared to disempower through the effect of the “gaze,” which a more instrumental approach seemed to resist. The implication is that to transcend the status of being an object, women may benefit from pursuing their bodywork instrumentally, not on the basis of appearance.