Pilates craze and why the manosphere likes it
In his last season love is blindcontestant Chris Fusco tries to explain to his fiancée Jessica Barrett that he doesn’t like her because her body type doesn’t resemble “someone who does Pilates every day.”
I was stunned as I watched the scene unfold, taken aback by the extreme specificity of his pout. Apparently being a skinny, “hot doctor” — as contestant Amber Morrisson put it — wasn’t enough. To be good enough for this man, Jessica also had to do Pilates specifically every day.
I soon heard The Secret Lives of Mormon Women star Jessi Draper appears Call His Father Her ex-husband Jordan Ngatikaura often pressured her to “start doing Pilates every day” amid demands that she be more “feminine” and embrace more “traditional gender roles”.
It once seemed strange to hear such a request. Hearing that twice felt like something else was going on.
I decided to do some research and soon realized that it wasn’t actually a coincidence that both of these guys focused on the idea of daily Pilates. While the “Pilates girl” is just one of many social media-driven wellness trends in recent years, it turns out that it’s been embraced, particularly by the manosphere and the men influenced by it, as an ideal that comes with a whole lot of regressive, coded baggage.
Professor Steven Roberts, a sociologist at Monash University who focuses on masculinity and the manosphere, says demands for “Pilates every day” from men like Fusco and Ngatikaura say less about Pilates itself and more about what it represents.
“This signals a certain body type that is lean, in control, and conventionally attractive,” says Roberts. “But it’s also a certain way of life: disciplined, self-directed, and aligned with a very specific ideal of femininity.”
In the world of the manosphere, a woman who does Pilates every day is a woman who does not have time for much else, including her own career. He’s fit, sure, but in a lean, non-threatening way with muscles.
And much like the adjacent “clean girl” aesthetic, the Pilates girl works hard on her look without breaking a sweat, staying in the predominantly feminine spaces where she “belongs.”
“Do Pilates every day” has become the 2026 version of “get back in the kitchen.”
“These symbols are powerful because they package gender expectations in a way that is aspirational rather than restrictive,” Roberts says.
Of course, this is very different from what Joseph Pilates had in mind when he developed what he called “Controlgy” while in a British concentration camp as a prisoner of war in World War I. Pilates is traditionally about mobility, strength and mind-body connection; not with weight loss or a specific body type. Pilates Association Australia president Robyn Rix says focusing on the latter “completely misses the point”.
She adds that the stereotype that Pilates is primarily for affluent women with “tall and lean” physiques does not reflect the truth about who actually does Pilates or the reasons for it.
“Pilates builds strength and function; people tend to develop physically for their body type,” says Rix, adding that the narrow “Pilates girl” aesthetic creates unnecessary pressure and expectations.
“Clips love is blind and the discussion about it Call His Father It’s concerning because women frame their exercise choices in terms of control or desirability rather than health, Rix says.
As Roberts explains, this is precisely the point when it comes to the manosphere, where women are valued for appearance, youthfulness, and obedience and are positioned as subservient to men’s authority rather than equal partners.
“Relationships [in the manosphere] By emphasizing male dominance, control, status and meeting certain criteria, it is framed as something that needs to be managed more and less mutually,” Roberts says. “This reduces women to a set of characteristics rather than recognizing them as full human beings.”
There’s nothing wrong with doing Pilates every day or any day, if it’s something you choose to do and especially if you enjoy it. The problem is that this practice has been adopted and distorted to become the latest in a long line of fitness trends that have become tools of a patriarchal diet culture that requires women to diminish themselves both literally and spiritually.
One thing’s for sure: If you hear a man say women should do Pilates every day, consider it a sign to try another form of exercise and run as much as you can in the opposite direction.
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Jenna Guillaume is an entertainment and lifestyle journalist and author of What I Like About Me.
