Ethnography Observations

Observations at the Goldstein Fitness Center (GFC) were extremely helpful in finding the main themes of my research. After attending the GFC several times to take notes I found many reoccurring themes in this setting, and the one that caught my attention the most was masculinity. From the minute I stepped into the gym I could sense the amount of testosterone in the air. From bodybuilders and athletes loading the bar with 45 lb. plates to vigorous grunts during sets, I knew what my research was going to consist of. My time in this setting was the farthest thing from brief, but three observations that really got me going was how masculinity was being displayed, the way smaller males acted around larger males, and the fact that men would constantly stare at themselves in the mirror.

When observing masculinity in the gym there were a variety of different acts from the athletes that were reoccurring and really caught my attention. The behavior observed consisted of grunting, lifting heavy, and overall being loud as a team when in a session. When observing the athletes during their session I couldn’t help but notice the reaction from the non-athletes in the gym. These non-athletes looked as if they were intimidated as I noticed constant looks from the non-athletes towards the athletic teams in session.

While at the GFC I also recall seeing a dramatic change in behavior among the smaller males when working out around the larger males. It seemed as if the larger males intimidated the smaller males because they weren’t able to lift the weight the larger males were capable of. This is problematic to many non-athletes that are constantly working out around athletes because for the most part, many non-athletes on campus aren’t of the same size as individuals apart of athletic teams on campus. 

The last observation that really caught my attention and was something I saw the most of was males gazing at themselves in the mirror. I’m sure when you see this in the gym the first thing you think is “wow, what a tool”. Although I can’t really explain to you the reasoning for this I think I have a good idea why men do this so often. With masculinity comes this idea of muscularity, therefore leading many men trying to demonstrate their dominance among other men, and one way to do that is clearly by trying to show your muscles. From this observation I noticed many of the guys looking at the people gazing at themselves, as they were clearly distracted, but in an uncomfortable way. Surely this may sound strange to many, but from a man’s perspective in the gym, this is a common act among many.