The aim of this qualitative case study is to examine the phenomenon of female students' disproportionate representation in senior level Physical Health Education (PHE) classes. The subject for this teacher's Masters level project arose from the first author's personal observations while teaching across several schools in British Columbia, Canada.…

In the 2016 International Olympic Committee Consensus Statement on harassment and abuse, it was outlined that psychological abuse in sport research has been heavily focused on the coach--athlete relationship resulting in a lack of research on other members of the athletes' support system such as their 'entourage.' Researchers of abuse have further…

Bodywork describes the work people perform on their own and other people's bodies. Often, this work is performed in an effort to meet cultural, symbolic body norms. The aims of bodywork in fitness for older exercisers are said to serve as a means of controlling and resisting the aging process. Given the popularity of group exercise for older…

Based on a set of two, semi-structured, individual interviews with 21 Japanese men aged between 25 and 57, from Tokyo and Osaka, this paper explores the rationale underneath their eating habits and engagement in physical exercise. Ten and 11 of the men identified themselves as 'beefy' and 'slim-muscular man', respectively. The analysis of…

This paper draws on data generated within and resulting from a pedagogical encounter between four Black and Latinx youth, two fitness professionals, and myself -- the researcher -- in an urban after-school setting. I draw on Tinning's (2010) concept of pedagogy and affect theory (Hickey-Moody, 2013; Seigworth & Gregg, 2010) to explore how…

Bodily knowledge has attracted significant attention within the humanities and other related fields over the last two decades. Although theoretical discussion on bodily knowledge in the context of physical education has been active over the past 10 years, these discussions lack clear conceptual analyses of bodily knowledge. Using a…

Fears of an 'obesity epidemic' in New Zealand and elsewhere have led to a growing focus on children's weight, diet and activities. The aim of this research project was to highlight children's voices, stepping back from obesity interventions to explore how health and obesity discourses are taken up by young primary school children. Nine 6 and…

Coaches and athletes have been increasingly inundated with power related "truths" about their bodies, health and performance as they construct their subjectivities. Over the last couple of decades in New Zealand, schools have initiated elite athlete programmes (EAPs) for a select few students based primarily on their athletic ability and…

The purpose of this study was to critically analyse the perspectives of physical trainers and fitness instructors in relation to their body image, professional practice, and the consumer culture. Fourteen fitness professionals (8 personal trainers, 6 fitness instructors), between 28-37 years of age, volunteered to participate in the study. The…

In posing the question in our title, we have set ourselves the task of trying to understand why so little scholarly scrutiny and questioning of "Fitnessgram"--a product designed to assist in the school-based physical fitness testing of young people--exists in the country of its origin and then consider the implications of this silence.…

Current concerns about a childhood obesity crisis and children's physical activity levels have combined to justify fitness lessons as a physical education practice in New Zealand primary (elementary) schools. Researchers focused on children's understandings of fitness lessons argue that they construct fitness as a quest for an "ideal"…

In contemporary obesity discourse, physical activity is routinely portrayed as essential regarding weight regulation. This axiom tends to neglect that health-enhancing exercise may involve categorically different sets of corporeal experiences for obese individuals than for people of other weight categories. Rather, obese people are seen as…

In the social transition between childhood and adolescence, boys draw on discourses of masculinity that address the male body in constituting themselves as adolescents. They make themselves as no longer children and acquire a sense of themselves as adolescents by performing bodily practices that position them within some of these discourses.…

The purpose of this paper was to recognize factors that contribute to Black female college students adoption of physically active behaviors. In addition, this paper acknowledges the prevalence of obesity in the United States for Black women, and examines the relationship between body mass index, physical activity and use of campus recreation…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of girls and boys about the effects that body-based harassment would have on girls' eating habits and engagement in physical activity. Five scenarios were read to focus groups comprised of 12- to 14-year-old students in grades 7 and 8. Each scenario represented behaviours that fall…