Gender and the Gym

So, today I tackle a topic that I have been thinking about for a really long time:  men in aerobics classes.  Every day I walk down the stairs to the lower level of my gym.  I do it at pretty much the same time, and there is always this high-energy aerobics class going on (zumba, or rumba, or la bamba or something like that).  The class is filled with women of all shapes and sizes, some larger, some smaller.  There is also one man in the class.  The ladies all look like they are having a grand time, but the man just doesn't seem to have his heart in it.  For example, yesterday, all the women had their hands high in the sky shaking them around (honestly, they kind of looked like a bunch of Holy Rollers in spandex), and there is this guy, right in the middle of it.

So, why does he do it?  Perhaps some think he is doing it to break the "glass ceiling" of the aerobics world.  Perhaps he, like so many before him, is trying to knock down the walls of gender inequality to liberate men so they can feel comfortable in ultra-tight clothes dancing around with their arms waving.  I don't think so.

As the only male in my household, I have learned to endure many things that, in my youth, I probably would have never thought possible.  For example, the other day, I made myself some tuna salad for lunch, but when I went to get some Tupperware to put it in, I couldn't find anything but a pink princess container (It actually said "I am a Princess" on it).  Did I fear using it?  Are you kidding, it was between using that or cleaning out a dirty container, so the decision was easy.  Sure, my delighted coworkers ridiculed me for days afterwards, but I didn't care.  I am secure.  This security has caused me to endured pink ties as presents, my wife's 900 throw pillows, pink bread, pink lemonade, I even wore tights for a Halloween costume one year.

Anyway, all of this is beside the point.  The big question is if I don't think he is doing this for gender equality, why do I think he is doing it?  The answer:  He is trying to meet the ladies!  I guess the even bigger question, if this is really why he is in the class, is this:  does it work?  That is a question I do not have the answer to, but he has been going to the class for quite a while, so it must work out pretty well for him.