At almost any yoga studio in the United States, you can find rooms filled with yogis in unimaginable poses, but hardly any are men. Why aren’t there more men in yoga? A 2012 survey by Yoga Journal found that of the 20.4 million people who practice yoga in the U.S., only 17.8 percent of them are men.
Carolyn Gregoire, a senior writer at Huffington Post, argues the reason for the feminization of yoga rests on the yoga industry’s marketing tactics. Companies like Lululemon and Athleta use images of thin, statuesque, often white women to sell their products. People who shop there have disposable income to spend on fancy yoga wear, classes, retreats and festivals, so it’s successful.
As a result, the media and the yoga industry focus on those women in their imagery and coverage. It’s no surprise our wellness-obsessed culture now associates yoga with a certain ideal of feminine perfection.
Gregoire suggests, “A more inclusive media portrayal of yoga — one that better represents both genders, as well as a greater variety of body types and races — would be a step in the right direction towards diversifying the practice.”
In 2009, founders of Broga Yoga Robert Sidoti and Adam O’Neill responded that Broga Yoga is “a fervent advocate for incorporating yoga into your regular routine workout, especially if you’re a man.”
Broga and the other styles of yoga are designed to offer the physical benefits of yoga without the spiritual undertones that some men find uncomfortable. Broga’s goal is to make yoga more enticing and accessible to American men.
While this is great, what’s wrong with a man doing plain yoga instead of broga? According to the gender norms we still have today, there are things men do, and there are things women do. Yoga is something men don’t do, unless it’s repackaged in another way to offend fragile masculinity a little less. My subtle sexism sense is tingling.
American sensationalism strikes yet again and this time with sexist implications. Despite their “progressive” values and ideals, Americans still hold people to centuries-old gender binaries for normativity’s sake.
Yoga is not gender specific. When it came to the U.S., it was mostly women who took yoga and ran with it. This doesn’t mean a man performing yoga makes you “less of a man,” whatever that means.
Some men are so insecure about their “manliness,” they feel regular yoga is emasculating and embarrassing. It’s amazing how much a simple rhetorical modification can make a difference. Somehow adding “bro” magically makes it better.
This is another deplorable and disillusioned attempt to make men believe caring about health and spirituality is innately feminine unless there is a specific male product to make it less so.
Broga is a pile of marketing garbage to further separate the sexes and confuse men as to what is “acceptable.” Have fun in your broga class, brohammer. I’m going to go practice with the ladies now.
Eli Minor is a 19-year-old philosophy junior from New Orleans. You can reach him on Twitter @eliminor_TDR.