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The Pleasure Principle: Women, Exercise and Motivation
December 12, 2000
Michelle Segar described cultural barriers that keep women from exercising regularly and outlined a program to address those barriers.
Barriers:
- Maintaining a relationship can take over “self care.” Free time is dedicated to taking care of others’ needs.
- Before Title IX was enacted in 1972, girls and young women generally were not encouraged to participate in sports or physical activities and had few opportunities to do so.
- Media images of very thin women may spur women to take up exercise but actually hinder them from continuing to exercise when they don’t achieve the “perfect” figure as a result.
Solution:
- Create a personalized meaning for exercise, one you enjoy, feel motivate to do, and is all about giving in to yourself.
- Become aware of the beliefs and expectations about exercise that prevent you from deriving pleasure and/or from doing it.
- Give yourself permission to change beliefs that hinder your enjoyment of physical activity and to make self-care activities a high priority.
- Experiment with new activities and “try on” new attitudes. Learn new skills for activities that will be fun.
After 5-14 months, Ms. Segar found that participants in this exercise program had increased their amounts of light exercise over a long period.
Speaker: Michelle Segar, MS, MPH, President, The National Center for Women and Wellness
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