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Pilates is a great time.
But for better or for worse? It depends on who you ask.
“Pilates” and specifically the term “Pilates Girl” have entered the cultural zeitgeist. A perennial celebrity favorite dating back 100 years, this workout was declared dead in 2015, but has made a huge comeback a few years later with boutique fitness studios like BodyRok, Club Pilates, and Solidcore. Some of them aren’t even traditional Pilates, but rather “lagree” or hybrid “body sculpt” workouts. But the conversation about Pilates right now is less about the workout itself and more about the people who participate in it.
“If your daughter goes to Pilates, leave your wife immediately,” social media influencer Christian Bonnier said in a video that has been viewed more than 1 million times.
“Pilates is one of the healthiest things you’ll ever do. If your daughter goes to Pilates, she’ll probably stay home on the weekends,” he continued. “She went with her friends and got a great workout without being attacked by creepy guys.”
Although Bonnier was not the first to express this view, his post sparked much discussion online. On the March 26 episode of the podcast “Call Her Daddy,” “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star Jesse Draper said that before she filed for divorce, her husband told her to “start doing Pilates every day.” A few weeks earlier, a clip from the popular dating reality show Love Is Blind went viral after contestant Chris Fusco, 33, told his new fiancée, infectious disease doctor Jessica Barrett, 38, that he lacked physical attraction. His usual type of work is “I do Pilates every day.”
For many in the Pilates community, the recent obsession with Pilates is strange. Experts say the workout is entangled in gender expectations and online misogyny. But some yogis, researchers, and Pilates enthusiasts argue that the recent attention doesn’t reflect what’s actually happening within the fitness community.
Who can become a “Pilates Girl”?
Part of Pilates’ promotion is tied to the Manosphere, a digital collection of websites, videos, and social media that promote male dominance and defend traditional gender roles.
The manosphere has a history of championing the “ideal type of woman,” said Marielle Burns, a public relations professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies gender equality and the manosphere.
Many men in these communities claim that their ideal woman fits certain criteria. Barnes describes her as attractive, slender, and unlikely to date or have sex with multiple men, preferably under 30.
The stereotype of a “Pilates girl” is not far from the image above. The “Pilates girl” or “Pilates princess” is healthy, presumably thin, wearing a matching Lululemon or Alo set, and waking up early for her morning class. Perhaps she also champions a “pretty girl aesthetic”, “soft living”, and neutral makeup.
Burns explains that this combination of stereotypes makes “Pilates girl” an apt term for the type of woman the manosphere is looking for. And when a term starts popping up in pop culture, it’s likely already circulating in the manosphere of Reddit and Discord message boards, she added. Terms like “alpha male,” “sigma,” and “lookmax” are all notable examples of manosphere terms that have become so mainstream that their Internet roots are unknown to most users.
“They use it as a dog whistle or a code word, because if you say what you actually want from a woman, you’ll be made to look like a bad person,” she says.
When Burns first began studying the manosphere in 2014, it was largely isolated to dedicated blogs and remote corners of the internet. People who wanted to engage with that content had to actively seek it out, she says. But now, with the proliferation of social media and podcasters, these ideas can reach a more general audience. Burns says people who perpetuate ideas rooted in the manosphere, such as asking their partner to do Pilates every day, may not even realize the misogyny behind that sentiment.
“It’s not that they have any malicious intent,” she says. “It’s just become part of the zeitgeist, and that’s not great.”
Jessica Starr, founder of Sage Hot Yoga + Pilates in Cincinnati, says that while women aren’t the only ones who do Pilates, classes are mostly geared toward them. In her studio, she estimates there are probably two male students for every 60 females.
“It’s definitely marketed gender-specifically,” she says. “Fitness goals for men and women can also be different. It’s not used for strength building or strength training, because that’s not the traditional purpose.”
Pilates focuses on traditionally female-focused fitness goals such as posture, core strength, pelvic floor health, flexibility, and muscle tone, but it’s not about building muscle.
Understanding the evolution of Pilates
In the 2000s, Pilates was primarily offered in private sessions, particularly using traditional reformer equipment. Culturally, people still confused Pilates with yoga or had no idea what Pilates was.
By the early 2010s, group fitness classes began to boom in major cities. ClassPass, a popular group fitness booking platform, was founded in 2013. That same year, married couple Heather Anderson and Brion Isaacs co-founded New York Pilates. Their goal was simple: lower the cost barrier, transform Pilates from a solitary practice to a collaborative practice, and offer classes that focus on traditional toning and mobility Pilates exercises. They promoted the studio on Instagram and gathered friends, DJs, creators, and bloggers to spread the word.
Isaacs says she’s seen the fitness economy bust and boom, with studios closing and fitness hubs moving across the city.
Isaacs hopes the current increased attention to Pilates will be good for the sport as a whole.
“Our prediction is that you’re going to meet people who really love it, not people who are here because it’s a trend,” he says. “But the great thing is that everyone will learn what Pilates was like (at this moment), and more people will be able to decide whether they want to do Pilates or not.”
The stereotype of “Pilates girls” is wrong
Instructors say that stereotypes about Pilates girls, such as dating preferences and femininity, reflect assumptions from outsiders and are not a reality lived within the studio.
“Ironically, Pilates is very inclusive in nature because it is modifiable,” says Anderson. “Some people have this idea that Pilates is about growing you, but in reality Pilates is warm and welcoming and transforms you no matter where you are…and that’s the complete opposite of the idea that it’s about being skinny.”
For women, Burns says, this discourse can move them toward or away from the Pilates lifestyle, depending on their desires and values. There are some typical “Pilates princesses” at Starr’s studio, but none interested in the trad wife aesthetic, she says.
“We’re not trying to attract those kinds of people,” she explains. “But next to the person wearing $200 clothes rushing to the line of cars to pick up their kids, there might be a transgender person or a medical student doing Pilates in a crop tank top, nipple piercings, and booty shorts.”
When it comes to Pilates, people within the community want to shut down unnecessary discussions.
“I just hope that the comments on social media and the things that are portrayed there don’t diminish the positive impact that social media can have,” Starr said. “I don’t think that’s reflective of what’s going on in the community at all.”
