Speaker
Description
As Korean culture embraces and encourages males to produce and reinforce their masculinity from daily activities to professional occupations, males entering “female-zones” can be viewed as unnatural. However, there has recently been an increase in the participation of males as practitioners and instructors in female-oriented exercises such as yoga, Pilates and pole dance. Therefore, this study explores the experiences of male instructors whom engage in exercises that have been socially recognized as female-appropriate. In-depth interviews were conducted in collecting data with eight Korean male instructors in their 30’s, all of whom were teaching female-oriented exercises. When they first began participating in the exercises as practitioners, the male participants faced several barriers such as neglect from studio owners to take classes and distrust from other female practitioners about their intentions of participation. They were questioned about their motives to learn the exercises as well as their sexuality by other female participants. As the male participants became seriously involved in the exercises, they formed their own concepts about the exercises, as being “not only equip for women”. They began harmonizing themselves with other female practitioners during classes during their early participation phase. When they became instructors, they gradually reinforced their “hidden masculinity” by believing that these female-deemed exercises can be offered to women, yet considers them to be physical difficult even for men. Furthermore, male participants were hoping to break the barriers and expand participation of female-centered exercises to a wider population.
