Challenging and Remodeling the Gendered Body: Reflections on Body Practice of Women in the Field of Fitness Exercises

In-depth interviews and non-participatory observations are conducted with 20 female practitioners participating in yoga and boxing. Within the framework of Bourdieu's field-habitus theory and the experience as well as the angle from the female exercisers, the overlap, dislocation and conflict between female physical activities and the gender norms in the two different kinds of fitness exercises are discussed. It is believed that body experience in sports practice can motivate female practitioners to shift their focus from "object body" to "subject body", and to allow some female participants to constantly reflect on their past gender experiences and redefine the significance of fitness activities for themselves. To this extent, the gender dual structure could be loosened at the individual level.