TY - JOUR

T1 - The Civilized Bodies of Middle-Aged Women

T2 - A Qualitative Study of Participation in an Exercise Intervention in Denmark

AU - Hybholt, Maria

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - The present paper explores how aging bodies of middle-aged women can enable and constrain participation in physical activity. The study is inspired by the process sociology of Norbert Elias and builds on qualitative empirical material from passive observations (N = 57), focus groups (N = 51), and individual follow-up interviews (N = 21) with middle-aged Danish women who participated in a 3-month research project with exercise intervention. The qualitative study found that awareness of bodily aging enabled the taking up of exercise in the intervention. Additionally, taking up regular exercise in midlife can be understood as a highly rationalized leisure-time activity in relation to societal moral norms of self-responsibility for own physiological health. Furthermore, the qualitative material indicates that participation enabled a self-realization among the middle-aged women, as strong and capable bodies counter to the biomedical view of decline in the aging body.

AB - The present paper explores how aging bodies of middle-aged women can enable and constrain participation in physical activity. The study is inspired by the process sociology of Norbert Elias and builds on qualitative empirical material from passive observations (N = 57), focus groups (N = 51), and individual follow-up interviews (N = 21) with middle-aged Danish women who participated in a 3-month research project with exercise intervention. The qualitative study found that awareness of bodily aging enabled the taking up of exercise in the intervention. Additionally, taking up regular exercise in midlife can be understood as a highly rationalized leisure-time activity in relation to societal moral norms of self-responsibility for own physiological health. Furthermore, the qualitative material indicates that participation enabled a self-realization among the middle-aged women, as strong and capable bodies counter to the biomedical view of decline in the aging body.

U2 - 10.1123/japa.2023-0203

DO - 10.1123/japa.2023-0203

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 38262399

VL - 32

SP - 387

EP - 396

JO - Journal of Aging and Physical Activity

JF - Journal of Aging and Physical Activity

SN - 1063-8652

IS - 3

ER -