The Manchester Military Academy Weight Room: A Cult within a Cult

Abstract

Through analysis of behavioral patterns such as language and social norms, this ethnographic study explores the role of masculinity in a unique culture, the weight room, within an exclusive environment: a military school. The findings come from numerous interviews, both formal and informal, hours of observation, and the use of a double-entry journal. This study reveals a masculine, military cultural group’s attitudes about gender as it relates to exercise. These attitudes significantly relate to broader cultural themes at the military institution and offer a revealing look at how a cult of masculinity undergirds day-to day life there.