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Paper short abstract:

The aim of this presentation is to inquire into how women 'act their age' in the context of fitness culture. I conceptualize age and aging as something that women 'do'. I discuss how the idea of active ageing is accomplished and materialised through female body in the practice of movement.

Paper long abstract:

The notion of ageing is constantly (re)used (in both productive and destructive ways) by the fitness industry for its legitimization and promotion. In spite of the fact that active ageing policies and discourses lie at the center of sport industry, at the level of kinaesthetic practices and embodied experiences of female participants of fitness culture the notion of ageing is constantly negotiated, positioned and reconsidered also in a different way.

Recognizing age as a social construct, I agrue that age and active ageing can be profitably understood as something that is continually accomplished and performed within fitness culture. It means that I conceptualize age and aging as something that female fitness participants 'do', both consciously and unconsciously.

The aim of this presentation is to inquire into how women 'act their age' in the context of female fitness culture. As I am a fitness instructor myself, I am going to focus on performing age 'through the body in motion'. I discuss how the idea of active ageing is accomplished and materialised through the female body in the practice of movement.

This presentation is based on anthropological fieldwork conducted in fitness clubs in Poland. Different research methods include not only in-depth interviews with female fitness culture participants, but also methods of working with the body and personal experience of the researcher herself.