I absolutely love to run. Even when I suck at it. However, one thing troubles me about this sport or hobby or obsession or whatever you want to call it: it is really white and really heteronormative.
The December issue of Runner's World dealt to some extent with this issue. According to statistics reported in this issue, 69% of Runner's World readers are married, 82% are employed, the average reader age is 42 and almost 90% of readers of RW identify as white. The issue reported no stats about how readers might or might not identify as anything other than cisgendered. However, since very few states recognize gay marriage in the US, I would extrapolate that the vast majority of those 69% of readers who are married identify as straight or are at least in gender normative marriages. (I suppose I more or less fall into that latter category if not into the former.)
In many ways, I fit the profile of the average Runner's World reader. I am white, I am educated, I am married, I am employed. Like 50% of readers, I am a female. I mostly read running blogs by other white females. Most of them are married or in long term relationships with men. Many of them have children. Let me state that there is nothing wrong with that.
But neither is there is anything wrong with being a transgendered runner, a bisexual Jewish runner, or a black runner. I do know some gay runners who don't have blogs. The problem is that I can't seem to find many runners who fit those descriptions in the running blogging community. Cursory google searches for black women running bloggers, vegetarian chicana bloggers, radical feminist runners, and gay running bloggers turn up very few hits. (Sadly, Queer Vegan Runner's blog went private at some point several months.) And while I love the bloggers I read, I would certainly not mind seeing more people of color and other kinds of diversity in my Google Reader.
A couple of decades ago women would not have made up 50% of Runner's World readers. Women did not make up 50% of runners, and I know many women whose loved ones still suggest that running long distances will make their uteruses fall out or impair their ability to have children (and probably in some people's minds their very ability to be women and to contribute to society (which pisses me off beyond belief)). So I have hope that in another couple of decades, women will have run so many miles that people will stop making comments about their reproductive abilities as if their bodies are public. I also hope that there will be more black, hispanic, and lgbt runners and that they will be visible in this great online community. I hope that there comes a day soon when children who are different are not bullied, and when there is no fear that one's sexuality might result in discrimination, harassment, or assault. Maybe even running won't be such a marker (even an accidental one) of white and cisgendered privilege.... In the meantime, I will pin my hopes on George Takei.
Why do you think the running blogging community in the US is overwhelming white and straight? European and Latin American readers, I would love to hear your thoughts on this? I know I don't need to tell ya'll this, but please be respectful in the comments. I have zero tolerance for racism or gay bashing.
Hmmm, interesting. I'll be watching this space to see the conversation unfold. Personally, I'm edging away from the demographic as being considerably older than the average. . . my small contribution.
ReplyDeleteInteresting but not entirely surprising statistics. Most of the blogs I read, the runners come from a similar demographic. Not a while lot of diversity in any area. (like many, I read very few "boy" blogs, just a handful...men tend to write dofferently than women...) A lot of them are much younger than me. Of course, those my age tend to be married with kids, like most of my IRL friends.
ReplyDeleteLike Frances, I'll be checking back to read the comments as they come in!
Hmm, I'm not sure where I fall in this spectrum! I am white, but I identify as single and childless. I'm in a relationship, but it's not conventional, so I kinda identify as queer (meaning that I don't conform to heteronormative practices). As I have grown older, I've become a more vocal feminist and supporter of gay and transgender rights.
ReplyDeleteBut honestly, it's my "not married/not planning to get married" status that sets me apart from most women my age.
Well, the majority of the population in the United States is white, straight, and female so I suppose that with an increase in the popularity of running, runners as a subset of the population are going to verge towards the mean. Plus the majority of women get married and have kids, even though that trend is shifting at the margins. Add to that trend the association between ethnicity and poverty, and it's even more likely a population of runners with time and money to spend blogging will be white and straight. And I bet an even bigger subset of running blogs run by women are run by those not working full-time, though I could be wrong about that. You work full time (and some), you blog about running. I work the same amount, I blog about swimming. But then again, we don't have kids. Sorry, I've been writing all day and apparently am still thinking through my social science lens! So many interactions...
ReplyDeleteYes yes yes. Read that article as well and nodded my head a long the whole time. Same with all the "big" healthy living blogs. They are all white, slim/slender, married or have long-term partners and in their 20's or 30's for the most part. I fall into the demographic myself.
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing with this is you don't really think of it or notice it UNTIL it's pointed out to you. I sure didn't.
Very interested to hear what others have to say about this subject!
I fit all the demographics as well and read the article as well. My only thoughts are the majority of runners I know fall into two categories - people who have run all their lives from high school on or people who started running to get back in shape. Perhaps us straight, white girls make up a decent percentage of the latter category!
ReplyDeleteMy running group has some diversity to it. We have people of other races, men and women, old and young, dating, married, and single, and straight and gay. The majority probably fit the "white, straight" label, though. Not sure why that is, it might be a geographical thing. I mean, the sport in general is dominated by Kenyans, but I don't know any casual runners that are Kenya, you know?
ReplyDeleteInteresting! I think a lot of it has to do with position and privilege. Generally speaking, the people in the majority here (white, educated, married, employed, female) are the ones most likely to have the time and opportunity to run as a hobby and blog about it when they're done. I am sure that people who fall outside those parameters run, but they might not have the time, etc, to blog about it. Also, something I have noticed now that I'm living off a grad school stipend: race fees are really expensive! I've pretty much given up on entering races, and I'm sure there are a lot of people who are unemployed, younger, and/or broke who feel the same way.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting about this! It's important to question these things and I appreciate you bringing it up.
Interesting. I am educated, white, female, single, and half Hispanic. So, for the most part I am in the group. I was brought up in NYC but now live in the south, in Mississippi the state that owns many of the worst records, like obesity, diabetes, you name it we own it. There is a very large black (I learned the hard way never to assume anyone is African American) population in my town but I see very few folks running. After having a chat with some of the many school kids I meet along my route I realize it also is a cultural issue. These kids think I am crazy and wonder why they see so may crazy white people out running? One kid wanted to know why I wouldn't want to be home in my easy chair watching TV.
ReplyDeleteExcellent topic. Of the 100+ blogs I follow, I've found maybe 5% that crack the white, hetero mold. The top three (in no particular order) that come to mind are: http://www.determinedtobefit.com/ and http://5ksandcabernets.com/ and http://runwithkate.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteBut your commentary does make me wonder if there are more out there (particularly in the lgbt community) who hide their partner status for fear of cyber-bullying? Plenty of hetero runners mention running with their husband or wife, but that's not going to get that person flamed on message boards...
Hmm... you've given me food for thought on this topic.
No need to apologize for your social science lens! I think there is a lot of sense to what you are saying. Many of the bloggers I read (mostly running and style) either work part-time or work from home some days. I know that we work full time and then some, but I'm sure I would probably work less (and blog less) if I had kids because I would want to spend those hours with them. I just find it interesting that probably over 90% of the blogs that I read are by white, straight women, especially because other parts of my reality don't skew in quite the same way.
ReplyDeleteThe class issue is also important. For a sport that is supposed to be so cheap, it really does add up quickly. I haven't been a grad student for a while now, but race fees still often seem way too steep for me.
ReplyDeleteMy running group has some diversity, but it is overwhelmingly white, married, and straight. I don't know any casual runners who are Kenyan, though I do know one who is Indian (she doesn't blog) and several of my friends in various places who are runners are black, gay, bisexual, etc. They just don't blog about running.
ReplyDeleteOne of my students this past semester is from Chicago and he remarked to me how it freaked him out when he first moved here because he had never seen so many white people before. Location no doubt plays a big part in the demographics of our running clubs.
Yah that is so true. It is interesting about the lack of diverse bloggers. It seems like, even outside of running, it is sort of dominated by whites straight people. But maybe that is just my perception!
ReplyDeleteI came from the least diverse place possible it seems. In north Dakota, there are so few of other races. Or other religious denominations! I didn't meet a Jewish person until I worked in colorado for a summer. Kind of sad!
It's funny you wrote about this; I just read that issue yesterday and have a post in the works tomorrow about a different article.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure why we are so white and straight. Maybe because it is a stigma that runners are skinny, white, certain aged people. But really, who always wins the marathons? Africans. Right?
As for bloggers, I think most bloggers that I read are definitely women, whether they are runners or not. Also they are probably white and probably between 20 and 50.
Nice post. I'm one of the black bloggers/runners that http://i-run-like-a-girl.blogspot.com/ mentioned in her comment. (And I was one of the guys quoted in the Runners World article).
ReplyDeleteFunny thing is this, I didn't start running til my mid 30s. I was in an interracial marriage and my (ex)wife ran from time to time. And so I'd go out on runs with her and it felt so good to be outside running, and then I got a little competitive and it just went from there.
Before that, though, I was more into weightlifting - and the only cardio I did was "fast-walking" on the treadmill to stay in the appropriate heart-rate zone for fat burning. I just never thought running was for me, never thought about it, never cared for it. and its not because of any kind of neighborhood I lived in or anything like that. In fact, since graduating from college, all the neighborhoods I lived in were white, and I'd see "you guys" out there running, but it just didn't interest me. Now, 8 marathons and about a dozen half marathons later, I can safely say the running bug has bitten me. Alas, it has yet to strike many other blacks. Perhaps it will one day.
I'm the average RW profile reader with the exception that I am black. :) Thanks for dropping by BTW!
ReplyDeleteI didn't really do much exercise at all for a long time. Then I got into step aerobics and weight lifting. There was a serious intimidation factor surrounding running for me. I actually knew a few other (black) people who were runners but I was hesitant to make the leap. It must have stemmed from sucking so bad at running in middle school! Oh and the hair issue mentioned in the article also came into play. It seriously did.
As someone mentioned below, the "healthy living blogosphere" is short on people of color anyway. I went to FitBloggin last year and there were maybe 10 total people who were not white. Most of the black bloggers that I know of who are runners tend to bleed over into the Mommybloggershpere too...or they run but don't write exclusively about running. I wouldn't even characterize myself as a full on running blogger. I'm just as likely to talk about CrossFit. I just have a serious running bug right now! :)
My list of diverse blogs: Run Wifey Run, Renee J. Ross, Bodhi Bear, Fit And Hungry, Beautiful Athlete, Finishing Firsts, Running With Attitude, Average Woman's Running Blog, A Life Changing Journey. Not too shabby: 7 black people, 1 Latina, 1 LGTB. I read Kevin's blog too. There is diversity out there, just maybe not with superhuman traffic numbers. :)
Very interesting. I didn't read the article, but definitely noticed when I went to Healthy Living Summit that about 95% of the few hundred attendees/bloggers were white, females in their 20s and 30s. In some ways, it felt awkward. I thought "Surely there are other diverse bloggers out there telling their stories." But then again, I read mostly female, white blogs, but not by intention, simply because that's what I've found. Hopefully, those stats begin to change. I know that we all benefit from a more diverse, broad view of life - whether it be running, fashion, baking, cooking, designing, etc.
ReplyDelete