Case Study: Men and The Gym.

Okay, spring has begun! Yes! Now, for those that enjoy observing "Men's behaviour" cough! cough! This is the period to get out that notebook, go out there and observe, observe, observe.

My first anthropological field (is that the word guerriana?) is the gym.

Now, the gym is a place of pain where you go to train your muscles, loose that weight, tone that body. For those who believe they are sexy, fine and fly (yes, there is nothing wrong with believing and walking like you know it), the gym is normally the place to be. As summer (the period of intense nakedness for many women in the states) comes around - it is not strange to find many women packing themselves in the gym (you know you don't want any rolls showing when you wear that halter top). Yes, I rejoined the gym.

Men's behavior in gymlike environment!

1) Roving eyes and Pointy ears: Immediately, you step into the gym - the first thing you notice is that many men's ears seem to point upwards. The way a little dog's will when it hears a strange sound. Then, there is a period of silence lasting between 10 seconds to twenty seconds. They look you up and down assess your worth and then wait for you to change and get back to the main gym.
You change and get back in.

2) Strange Sounds: So you get back in. You sit down on one of those funny sounding machines and you start doing your presses. Suddenly, you start hearing sounds. Ugh! AAh! Ugh! clanging sounds off the weights being dropped and picked by men around you. It seems they are working harder. Those that are slightly over weight and do not want to be left out of the competition decide that they are going to prove that there is muscle behind all that fat. They add more weights to what they have. You notice some of their faces turning red but they keep on going. I have to digress a bit and ask the men - "why is it necessary to make all those sounds?"

3) The wolves come closer: Okay, this is the period not for the faint at heart. The men have made their sounds signaling their strength, some have almost gotten heart attacks as they show that though they might be over weight, they have enough muscle to hold you while others on the other hand have walked past where you are like twenty times. But, only the strong will step forward and introduce himself. He is the chosen one. He comes over. Sits on the machine next to you. Looks you up and down one more time. Finds something that he feels you guys can talk about and then asks you out!



Men! Men! Men! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh??