[jothefanbeing]

Gender of person in the workout images

Hi! I am curious as to the method by which the gender of the person in the workout images is chosen. I've noticed that every yoga workout is modeled by a woman. In the advanced workouts, men outnumber women by about a factor of three, whereas with light workouts about the reverse is true. In workouts that call for weapons, it's 21 men to 4 women. The Men's Fitness collection has workouts modeled by both men and women, but the Girl Power collection has workouts modeled by only women. I guess I just wonder about the implication regarding the difference of ability between men and women. It makes me sad to think of women being discouraged from pushing themselves by not seeing themselves represented in more difficult workout, or from trying out a weapon by not seeing themselves there. I feel similarly about men feeling shamed for having a lower level of fitness by not seeing themselves reflected in light workouts, or from trying yoga by not seeing themselves there.

 

[neilarey]

@jothefanbeing hi!
That's a really thoughtful question. The answer is much less deep than you might expect: it comes down to theme and, mostly, to the illustrations we actually have.

Every illustration on DAREBEE was drawn individually, one by one, over many years, and all of them were modeled on real people in real poses. Which figure appears in a workout depends on what we have available for those specific exercises. For yoga, for example, almost all of our images are female because only women volunteered to pose for those - no men did. So that's what we use.

We also try not to mix genders within the same poster or program. Most workouts are circuits meant to illustrate one person moving through a sequence, and switching figures mid-circuit simply looks wrong. So once a workout starts with one figure, it stays with that figure throughout.

In some areas we happen to have better and more varied male illustrations, in others female. In the very beginning, DAREBEE only had male figures at all, because that's what we drew first. The library has grown and diversified over the years, and it keeps growing.

So there's no statement about ability behind any of it, and definitely no intent to discourage anyone. We have genuinely brutal workouts modeled by women and gentle ones modeled by men. It's all design and availability, nothing more. But your point about representation is a fair one, and it's something we keep in mind as we add new illustrations.

 

[jothefanbeing]

You know, if I had thought about it I might have realized that the drawings have to come from somewhere haha!! Kudos to your artist(s). Thank you for the answer. I appreciate the complexity of getting models & the time drawings take. I hope this did not come off as accusatory!! I appreciate all you & your team do to keep the project going.