This article was originally published on The Conversation.

With the development of fashion trends, the trend of sportswear entering the mainstream society from gyms and fitness rooms can no longer be ignored. Whether you like it or not, we all live in the world of Lycra.

Tight leggings, yoga pants, sports bras and crop tops can be seen everywhere, from catwalks to cafes. COVID-19 has accelerated this trend, and working from home has driven the recent surge in sales.

But the sportswear industry has grown exponentially in the past decade. Although clothing is designed for men and women, it is the female market that is driving this amazing growth.

In a society obsessed with conspicuous consumption, this trend has been widely celebrated, criticized, parodyed, and sometimes even considered the latest fashion trend.

However, on closer inspection, sportswear plays a fascinating role in the 21st century gender definition, strengthening and resisting popular ideas about femininity.

The rise of "fit for femininity"

When you walk through any sportswear store, you will be bombarded with empowerment and self-help speech, emphasizing the importance of achieving a fit and healthy lifestyle through the right clothing and a positive attitude.

Many scholars have shown how large sportswear companies use this type of language-"Get active" and "This is not your practical life"-to reinforce women's concept of responsibility for their own body care, regardless of any social or Personal obstacles.

Others showed how the marketing methods of sportswear companies encourage women to use sports as a means of self-transformation and a way to a more fulfilling life.

This is a femininity based on women's consumption and ability to maintain their own health and appearance. As feminist scholars have shown, society praises women who "control" their bodies and actively pursue femininity and health.

In our own research, we believe that wearing sportswear in public is a way of expressing "I am responsible for my health" and conforms to the society's acceptable understanding of femininity.

In this sense, sportswear (not to be confused with its less athletic "sports and leisure" branch) has become the uniform we might call "socially responsible 21st century women".

Part of the appeal of sportswear is that it is both comfortable and practical. But it is also designed to shape the body into the ideal hourglass female form of the society.

The high-waisted leggings just above the belly button are advertised as having a slimming effect. They are also often promoted as "hip sculptures", creating ideal "trophies" that have been valued (with some problems) in mainstream culture.

As some people have said, this is another example of the misappropriation of black and Hispanic culture for corporate profits.

Using new materials designed to highlight (not just support) specific aspects of a woman's body, sportswear helps promote an ideal female body shape that is curvy but fat-free.

Although this idealized form has changed in recent decades-from skinny to thin and fit, to fitness hourglass-the current ideal is still out of reach for most women.

But this phenomenon has another side. We want to explore women’s own experiences of wearing sportswear. Interviewees of different ages, sizes, races and cultures talked about sportswear not only comfortable, practical, but also liberating.

From the Victorian corsets and long skirts to the high heels of the "housewives" of the 1950s, the latest beauty and clothing trends often restrict women's bodies and movements.

But the women in our research group talked about the freedom they experience in being able to move comfortably throughout the day, from work to school transfers, from gyms to cafes.

Even so, not all bodies covered by sportswear are considered acceptable. Some, especially larger bodies, will be stigmatized and criticized when they do not meet the ideals of women.

Some people even suffer physical abuse or verbal harassment because of wearing "wrong" clothes in public. This is part of the long history of society trying to regulate the female body.

Until recently, sportswear marketing focused on young, thin, and wealthy white women. In 2013, chip Wilson, the founder of lululemon, publicly stated that his brand's leggings are "not suitable" for larger body types.

In response to these limited definitions continued in the sportswear industry, some women have established their own brands. In Aotearoa, New Zealand, these include the increasingly popular Hine series.

The brand was founded by a Maori woman who was frustrated with the limited size of sportswear. The brand launched larger models to cater to women of different body types and cultures.

In public places such as schools, churches, and shops, people even wear sportswear to protest the supervision of women's bodies. In these places, wearing tights is considered indecent and too distracting for men.

In 2018, young track and field athletes in New Jersey were told that they could not wear sports bras to train outdoors when the men's football team was training, which caused anger.

Other protests and writings have made leggings and sports bras a symbol of pride, posing a challenge to those who try to dominate women's body choices.

However, most women choose sportswear simply because it allows them to move purposefully and comfortably throughout the day. Although this may not be an obvious political act, it is still a subtle statement that women will not be controlled or materialized. They are proud of their moving bodies.

Sportswear is far from ordinary clothing choices. Rather, it helps us define and understand femininity and gender in the 21st century.

Julie E. Brice, PhD student in Sports Sociology, University of Waikato, Holly Thorpe, Professor of Sports and Sports Sociology, University of Waikato

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original text.

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