Bodily Text and the Written Word of Pilates:

Pilates instructors, educators, and students while well intentioned, may not understand the troubling rhetoric they unintentionally perpetuate when working with clients. This article suggests that the myth of the ideal body, and the stereotypical gender norms therein, is perpetuated by the Pilates due in part because of its close relationship to the culture of ballet. Pilates contributes to the pursuit and inevitable failure of an unobtainable body. Pilates «(re)produces» the myth of the ideal body through the universal aspect of its “healthy” rhetoric. As a consequence, this article suggests, the exercise practice perpetuates a culture of inadequacy; since many times, abled and differentlyabled women who practice Pilates are healthy. This article reveals that the seemingly benign practice of Pilates simultaneously promotes rhetoric of privilege and coercion. It concludes that the teaching practice inadvertently values and perpetuates stereotypical, unrealistic, and unobtainable ideologies of health and well-being.