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The Weighty Conspiracy

Project Space: Field Report
The Weighty Conspiracy
Ivan J. Martinez
University of Texas at El Paso







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The Weighty Conspiracy

Abstract
This research looks at the space, the Fort Bliss Weight Room in El Paso Texas. The goal is to
show how my various observations along with one outside source provide information on how
gender plays a role in his area and how women belong in this space just as much as men. The
observations that I have done of this space include a detailed non bias description of the space or
Observation 1: Word Picture, as well as, an analysis on the people in the space and how they
interact with each other and the environment or Observation 2: Ethnography. I also did multiple
interviews with people within the weight room community in order to further gauge genders
role in the space and its effects or Observation 3: Interviews. Lastly included supporting facts
from an article from USA Today to help improve my argument than women belong in this male
dominated space. These observations and research took place over the course of 3 to 4 weeks in
order to make my analysis and argument.








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Weight rooms are the pinnacle of masculinity in the U.S. When you hear the words
weight room, images of men with finely defined thick arms, legs the size of a strong beast, and
ripped pectorals come to mind. A weight room can be found at every gym where men begin a
journey to muscular prowess and achieve great feats of strength. Certainly this is no place for
women and is obviously oriented towards men, and Fort Bliss should more than any other place
fit this image more than any other gym, right? Men obviously own this one sacred place of
masculinity? What this space says at first glance is that the weight room and building up muscles
is a mans game but if you look deeper you can begin to see that the weight room is just as much
a space women can enjoy as men.
Just like in any other typical weight room, Fort Bliss Gym has a blackish color with
speckles of varying colors embedded in it in order to prevent floor damage when weights are
dropped. The free weights are located at both ends of the gym, next to them are multiple weight
benches that vary from normal benches to ones that can be made into inclined chairs. As you
come towards the middle of the weight room you begin to have the shoulder and chest weight
areas. These vary from the standard bench press varieties, to machines for working out the chest.
Also there are 4 machines/areas that you can work your legs out on, as well as 2 machines for
your chest. There are also multiple HD televisions placed throughout the weight room. In
addition, multiple posters of a rugged man with a censor bar on his lips saying keep it clean
reminding gym goers there is no profanity in the gym. The majority of this part of the gym is
filled with men and only a handful of women; most of the days there are no women. The walls
are a dull white color with black rubber trimming. I also noticed that during the time I was there,
the men all seemed to be relatively young.
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The Weighty Conspiracy

Before entering the space people must have a military I.D gained by either being in the
U.S military, being a spouse of a member of the U.S military, or a dependent of a U.S military
member. This first requirement is what sets this space as a male dominated because of the fact
that the large majority of the U.S military is made up of men. Secondly, after conducting a
survey of 10 people, I found women that go here prefer to do cardio rather than weights and if
they do, any weight lifting it is on the weight machines upstairs alongside the treadmills. These
two facts alone already put women at a disadvantage for being on equal footing with men in the
weight room. Even with these obstacles of being a minority serving in the military and
predisposition to focusing mainly on cardio rather than weights, women still manage to keep a
presence on the weight room floor, however small.
Based on my observations from the ethnography portion I found that women who do
come to the weight room are extremely defined and can even compete with some of the men on
weight lifting standards. When I first came in to this space, I came in with the assumption that of
course, women would go to the weight room just to do a leg work out many women admire
having strong toned legs and a bit of muscularity. In the weight room women could never
compare to men when it come to the overall weight lifting. These common thoughts are, in this
space, proven terribly wrong, why you may ask? While observing this space I noticed one
woman who seemed to always be at the gym. Her arm muscles incredibly thick, leg muscles that
could match a male body builder, and such a defined torso region which is rarely even seen in
men. When working out, she could bench just over 200 pounds, lift over 210 when working on
legs, and nearly dominated the free weight section. When asked how she felt about having such a
physique in this space and how it affects her, she answered: It certainly does affect me a great
deal outside the gym due to the fact that I probably have just as much muscle as most of the men
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The Weighty Conspiracy

in there. In the gym where men are normally envisioned as having killer muscles I like the fact
that Im just as ripped. Though the men here actually compliment me and ask what my workout
routine is often. In a male dominated space such as the gym where many would think men
would look down on her for not having a more feminine body, men here actually praise it,
further solidifying the place women have in the weight room in this space. Where they are
praised rather than looked down upon.
This event got me thinking on why other women did not go to the weight room as much,
especially since the men here did not have any problem with women weight lifting alongside
them. With this in mind, I asked a soldiers wife why women do not come here as much as men
and what could be improved to allow more women to be in this women or entice them here. To
this she responded: I believe a better color scheme could help invite more women, possibly
brighter colors rather than the dark and depressing black I see everywhere and the bland white
wall. Id suggest an area to leave kids in, or maybe have a daycare area so that when I take
care of my child I dont have to be upstairs with only the running machines to work with. There
is a room on the second floor that has an area where you can put your kids and watch them while
you run but this area has no weights limiting the work outs you can do should you have children.
I was surprised to hear that women would go to the weight room more if the gym had a daycare
to take care of children. I believe now that if a daycare was put into place in this space the gym
could see an influx of women coming to the weight room at Fort Bliss and this influx could
cause changes to the weight room to suit womans needs like the one that were listed in the
interview.
Lastly, after observing the gym, I researched more on the topic of women in the military
to see if the gym would always be so barren of women. To my surprise I found in an article
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The Weighty Conspiracy

published by USA Today that said, The new order, signed Thursday by Defense Secretary Leon
Panetta, will open as many as 237,000 new jobs to women. Women comprise about 14% of the
1.4 million active military personnel. Military officials who briefed reporters on background said
occupations such as infantry and artillery have exacting physical requirements and appropriate
standards will be maintained. The officials declined to be named because they are not authorized
to speak publicly. This first and foremost shows how much of a minority women are in the
military showing why they have such a lake of presence in the weight room, but also shows that
the government are taking steps to incorporate women into more physically demanding jobs in
the military. What this means for women is that when originally they had no need to really go to
the weight room since they couldnt do these jobs, now women have even more incentive to join
the men in the weight room.
What is more is that the article also stated, Surveys of soldiers indicate they are willing
to give women a chance in their fields, provided standards are not lowered. This shows how the
men of the military are already willing to accept woman as equals on the battle field as long as
they can handle the same physical tasks men do. This gives further encouragement to women to
come to this male dominated space and possibly work side by side in equal numbers with men at
times trying to accomplish the same goals. As well, this may have more women going to the gym
to maintain these standards the military has for these positions, which can also lead to an influx
of women at the weight room who are equally as strong as the men there.
Even though society might not see much of a place for women in the weight room, here
at the Fort Bliss Gym weight room it is clear that women can most definitely make a place for
themselves if given the means. No matter what preconceptions people may have of women
working out, there are those who most definitely do not fit such things and compete on a level
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equal to men. In order to make the weight room a more female friendly those who control the
gyms should try to help woman who take care of children and women who detest the drab male
dominated aura of the gym. By doing this, I believe at least in this space I could see more women
feeling more comfortable lifting weights alongside men in a more accepting space.















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Citations
Jennifer L. (Weight Lifter) Personal Interview. 4 October 2014.
Alexis P. (Wife of Soldier) Personal Interview. 4 October 2014.
Jim Michaels and Tom Vanden Brook (2013). Women, men must meet same combat standards
in military. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/01/24/women-in-
combat-briefing/1861887/