Vigorous Ladies: Female Physical Culture and the Transformation of Sexuality in America, 1895-1915

Abstract

This thesis explores the changing relationship between women and physical culture - exercise, dieting, body image, etc. – in America from 1900-1940. This is based on the depictions of, and instructions to, women through magazines and other publications, and on the writings of female athletes. It follows the path of gendered body images and aesthetics, and their politicization, through the increase of women in the workforce and higher education. Through female physical culture and the development of the “New Woman,” Woo examines the physical, spiritual, social and sexual ideals and fears of womanhood in the media of this period, and how increased awareness of female physicality brought female sexuality forward as an issue. As the connection between physical culture and sexuality grew, women increasingly took control of their bodies and used physical culture to gain acceptance for female heterosexuality