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On the latest season of Love is Blind, contestant Chris Fusco tries to explain to his fiancee, Jessica Barrett, that he\u2019s not attracted to her because her body type isn\u2019t that of \u201csomebody who f—ing does Pilates every day\u201d.<\/p>\n
Watching the scene unfold, I was gobsmacked, struck by the hyper-specificity of his sulk. Apparently being a slim, \u201chot doctor\u201d \u2013 as fellow contestant Amber Morrisson put it \u2013 wasn\u2019t enough. To be good enough for this guy, Jessica also needed to specifically do Pilates every day.<\/p>\n
Not long after, I heard The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Jessi Draper reveal on the Call Her Daddy podcast that among demands she be more \u201cfeminine\u201d and embrace more \u201ctraditional gender roles\u201d, her ex-husband Jordan Ngatikaura often pressured her to \u201cstart doing Pilates every single day\u201d.<\/p>\n
Hearing this kind of demand once felt weird. Hearing it twice felt like something else was going on.<\/p>\n
![\"Pilates](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1034dd48ef416889393b93ddd6e75dbe6de6e09f.jpeg\")
Pilates has captured the attention of the manosphere, and not just because it\u2019s a good workout.Getty Images<\/p>\n
I decided to do some digging and soon realised it is indeed no coincidence that both of these men fixated on the idea of daily Pilates. While the \u201cPilates girl\u201d is just one of many social media-driven wellness trends in recent years, it turns out it\u2019s been seized upon particularly by the manosphere \u2013 and the men who are influenced by it \u2013 as an ideal that comes with a bunch of regressive, coded baggage.<\/p>\n
Editor’s pick Professor Steven Roberts, a sociologist at Monash University with a focus on masculinity and the manosphere, says the \u201cPilates every day\u201d requests from men like Fusco and Ngatikaura say less about Pilates itself and more about what it has come to represent.<\/p>\n \u201cIt signals a particular kind of body that is lean, controlled, and conventionally attractive,\u201d Roberts says. \u201cBut also a certain lifestyle: disciplined, self-managing and aligned with a very specific ideal of femininity.\u201d<\/p>\n In the world of the manosphere, a woman who does Pilates every day is a woman who doesn\u2019t have time for much else, including her own career. She\u2019s fit, of course, but in a lean way, with muscles that are non-threatening.<\/p>\n And much like the adjacent \u201cclean girl\u201d aesthetic, a Pilates girl works hard on her appearance without ever seeming to break a sweat, and she stays in predominantly feminine spaces where she \u201cbelongs\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cDo Pilates every day\u201d has become the 2026 version of \u201cget back in the kitchen\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThese symbols are powerful because they package gender expectations in a way that feels aspirational rather than restrictive,\u201d says Roberts.<\/p>\n Of course, it\u2019s all a far cry from what Joseph Pilates had in mind as he developed what he called \u201cContrology\u201d while in a British internment camp as a prisoner of war in World War I. Pilates, traditionally, is about mobility, strength, and a mind-body connection \u2013 not weight loss or a particular body type. The focus on the latter, says Pilates Association Australia president Robyn Rix, \u201cmisses the point entirely\u201d.<\/p>\n She adds that the stereotype of Pilates being primarily for affluent women with \u201clong and lean\u201d physiques doesn\u2019t reflect the reality of who actually does Pilates or the reasons why.<\/p>\n \u201cPilates builds strength and function \u2013 people tend to develop physically according to their own body type,\u201d Rix says, adding that the narrow \u201cPilates girl\u201d aesthetic creates unnecessary pressure and expectations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe clips from Love Is Blind and the discussion on Call Her Daddy are concerning because they frame women\u2019s exercise choices in terms of control or desirability, rather than health,\u201d Rix says.<\/p>\n This is exactly the point when it comes to the manosphere where, as Roberts explains, women are valued for appearance, youth and compliance, and positioned as subordinate to men\u2019s authority rather than as equal partners.<\/p>\n Editor’s pick \u201cRelationships [in the manosphere] are framed less as mutual and more as something to be managed, with an emphasis on men\u2019s dominance, control, status and meeting specific criteria,\u201d Roberts says. \u201cThat reduces women to a set of traits rather than recognising them as full people.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s nothing wrong with doing Pilates every day \u2013 or any day \u2013 if it\u2019s something you choose to do, and especially if you enjoy it. The problem lies in the way the practice has been co-opted and twisted to become just the latest in a long line of fitness trends-turned-tools of patriarchal diet culture, which require women to make themselves smaller both literally and spiritually.<\/p>\n Only one thing seems certain: if you ever hear a man suggest that women should be doing Pilates every day, consider it a sign to try another form of exercise and run as far as you can in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n Make the most of your health, relationships, fitness and nutrition with our Live Well newsletter. Get it in your inbox<\/a> every Monday.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Louis](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0ea474d79fccf493943e6172ba8d0b7b0b691625.jpeg\")
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Joseph Pilates, inventor of Pilates, exercising in his New York City studio, circa 1960.Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Experts](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774007171_601_509dc47aecab091bf91c83be08911dd73781eccd.jpeg\")
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