It’s not uncommon for women to post carefully crafted exercise photos on social media to foster a culture of empowerment. But could this be causing more harm than good?

In this episode, Amelia is joined by Dr Madison Magladry and Professor Cecilie Thøgersen-Ntoumani to discuss how we can build a more positive fitness culture that better supports women’s physical and mental health.

• Women’s fitness culture on Instagram [0:54]
• Why women exercise less than men [04.09]
• Fostering a more inclusive social media environment [09:43]
• Main factors affecting motivation [14:55]
• Fitness influencers becoming a source of authority [18:18]
• Broadening the discussion – experiences of non-binary people, older people and gay men in the gym [24:14]
• How COVID-19 has impacted fitness [31:40]
• Promoting a healthier fitness culture [36:37]

Our experts

Dr Madison Magladry: Twitter – @MagladryMadison

Professor Cecilie Thøgersen-Ntoumani: Twitter – @ecthogersen, Web –pawresearchgroup.com

Learn more

ABC: Tayla Harris AFLW photo could become landmark moment in Australian sport

ABC News: When the pursuit of fitness and exercise is a slog, how do we stay motivated?

Broad Agenda: How feminist is fitness culture
Decolonizing Fitness

Guardian: Man runs marathon on 7-metre balcony during French lockdown

Susanna Barkataki

Got any questions, or suggestions for future topics?

Email [email protected].

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Music: OKAY by 13ounce Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Music promoted by Audio Library

You can read the full transcript for the episode here.