Men & Masculinity in Pilates

So our topic today is on men and masculinity in Pilates.

And I want to confess, I'm a little nervous about diving into this topic.

And let me tell you why.

on social now, the topic of masculinity is huge.

And I feel like I don't even have a good solid grasp on where it's going and how that conversation shapes how we would look at men coming into the Pilates space.

So if I were to say like, how would you define masculinity?

So again, I'm not a gender studies professor or anything, so I'm just going to kind of give my thoughts on it.

And my thoughts on masculinity is one that you can't talk about it with also talking about femininity and that really both of them are constructs that we as both a society and a culture have.

have placed certain attributes to.

So, you know, typically here where we are in the U.S., we think of masculinity.

Immediately, you might think of like strong leadership, powerful, that kind of vibe versus femininity.

You may think of more caring, emotional, that kind of thing.

But to me personally, there is no difference.

They're kind of a made up and every individual has portions of both.

What they express may be more one side or the other, but it's not to say that a woman couldn't be more assertive leadership type thing.

That certainly fits many women I know.

It fits many women in my family.

Same thing with masculinity of, you know, being emotional.

We have grown up, unfortunately, in a society that tends to say, boys, you're not allowed to cry.

You're not allowed to show emotion.

And I think that has hindered us as a society because there's nothing more strong than being able to show your vulnerabilities and your weaknesses.

That's what makes us human and makes us strong.

three-dimensional characters, not just this 2D image of a man.

Well, that's some of the leadership research that's coming out is that you actually engender more trust if you are open and vulnerable.

But we've not often ascribed, you're right, we've not often ascribed those or taught those skills, particularly to young boys, for example.