Lucille Roberts… The Study of Women in Astoria and

Forest Hillsby: Lisseth Ramirez

My

Obje

ctiv

e(s

)…

I would like to study how the

people in the communities of

Astoria and Forest Hills can

affect the establishment and

the service provided back to the

community by the employees.

BUT… with the progress of my

fieldwork my point of interest

changed and so did my

objective. It turned out to be that my

objective was to study the

similarities and motivations of

women in both establishment

for going to the gym.

Main

Q

uest

ions?

?

How does the establishment impact or benefit the community? What are some of the challenges of being an employee?How does the community benefit the establishment?What kinds of people are considered regular customers? >> There are more questions BUT they became too broad….

Well, my main questions evolved with the project and became less superficial…

These questions adjusted from a focus on physical aspects and appearances of the gym to details about motivations of clients to become involved in a health club!

I was looking to compare differences in the effects of socio-economic status from one location to the next. But as I continued to observe what I noted were similarities in motivation and I decided to switch my focus to that key factor.

How did I do

this?!

aka picture

time!!!

Welc

om

e t

o

Ast

ori

a!!

!

Welc

om

e t

o

Fore

st H

ills

!!!

I used participant-observation and informal interviews

Interviewed employees from both locations who have worked for more than two years

Interviewed clients who have been there for over five years from both locations

And I over heard a conversation here and there.. Shhhh!!!!!!

More

Tact

ics…

I conducted a total of

six informal interviews. I spent approximately

one and a half hours,

two or three times per

week observing depending on my availability with work

and school schedule. I tried to vary my time

frame of observation.

Resu

lts

My research questions allowed

me to learn a lot from the

employees and the customers

in the community as a whole.

(ex: self-esteem) I believe my methods were

suitable for my research

because the interviews

allowed me to get closer to the

customers. The participant-observations

allowed me to sit and be a

passive observer and

understand the undercurrents

of the environment

Som

e o

f M

y O

bse

rvati

ons

At the beginning of my

fieldwork I observed that the

members would act different

around me. Women were simply talking,

laughing, telling stories,

talking about their families

and friends, and this didn’t

vary from race to race or

social status. Then the idea and interest to

compare and contrast two

different neighborhoods

according to an establishment

went downhill !!

Ups

and D

ow

ns

I was not too sure about

what the employees might

say to me because they

would probably avoid

hurting the image of the

company. Being bilingual allowed me

to ease-drop on conversations allowing me

to gather information about

the customers. Listening to conversations

led me to changing the

topic of my project.

Field

work

and

Cla

ssro

om

conve

rsati

ons…

hm

m

According to Freud, many

people store painful memories deep into their

unconscious mind to try and

forget those things but

regardless they will always

be there. In Lucille Roberts a lot of the

members store painful

memories deep into the

recesses of their minds and

use the establishment to

help make them less

apparent and less of a

burden on their daily life.

Freud a

nd

Tere

sa…

Teresa had a son who at the

age of 27 committed suicide

a few days before Christmas.

I learned that due to her

depression she became

obese and one day she

passed the establishment

and decided to join. She doesn’t miss a day since

then and she is able to cope

with her circumstance by

having something to look

forward to.

Freud a

nd B

ok…

Bok is a 70-year-old Chinese woman who

has no contact with her immediate

family. Bok has attended the gym daily for the

past five years. She caught my attention

because I would see her come in at 8AM

and not leave until 2PM and then later I

would see her return in the evening for

approximately two hours.

Bok’s children all married and made

their lives and do not even contact her...

She presents as an aggressive person

and is difficult to interact with. I feel that

it may be a defense mechanism to avoid

having to deal with inquiries regarding

her family and her personal life.

Cla

ssro

om

readin

gs

and m

y field

work

!

The course readings, discussions,

concepts and theories helped me

by giving me the skills to make

connections between the

information presented in class to

real-life applications.

“The Woman in the Body” by

Emily Martin. Emily Martin was deeply

engrossed in her research because

she was also part of the

population she concentrated on.

Similarly, prior to becoming an

employee at Lucille Roberts I was

a customer, which I thought would

alter the results but it didn’t.

“The Gift” by Marcel Mauss

The author posits an interesting

theory of reciprocity. In essence an

act of kindness is not without its expectations.

In Lucille Roberts, you join and I give you FREE guest passes so that you can bring your friends to workout. In essence my actions are tainted by my own underlying agenda, I aim to obtain more memberships through your advertisement.

Eve

ry s

ituati

on

has

its

pro

ble

ms…

A significant challenge I faced

during this study was the fact

that I am an employee.

A secondary challenge can be

found in the act of obtaining

information as the main source

of my information came from

informal interviews. Under the guise of a member, I

would go to the gym in order

to observe the occurrences at

the gym. However because my

identity as an employee was

known, this guise was

compromised.

For

futu

re

refe

rence

…

In the future I would have

a third-party conduct the

observations in order to

eliminate some of the

biases I may have encountered as a result of

being an employee. I think this would be more

successful than the alternative possibility of

informing members that I

am conducting research

because this secondary

option may yield non-

genuine results as well.

At

last

…

This ethnography project allowed me

to integrate with the people that I

work with, as well as with the

customers that I deal with in a daily

basis. The most interesting thing out of this

field work was my own enthusiasm. I

seemed to enjoy the field work

because it was unpredictable the way

these women had something in

common besides wanting to fit in a

pair of jeans. I truly enjoyed sharing words and

conversations with the members and

I feel that I learned from them as well

as they learned about me.

I am very glad that I learned to see

women in these communities as if it

was the same place.