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Why Trad Men Love Pilates Girls: The Creepy New Fitness Trend
For those who enjoy a solid workout, there is unsettling news: Trad men have officially claimed the “Pilates girl” as their latest obsession.
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Pilates—a low-impact, total-body conditioning method centered on core power, alignment, and controlled breathing—has exploded in popularity recently, particularly among women. This celebrity-endorsed workout utilizes floor mats or specialized reformers equipped with springs for resistance. Dedicated practitioners praise its unique ability to sculpt a toned physique while significantly lowering stress levels.
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However, Pilates carries a persistent social reputation: many view it as an exclusive hobby for wealthy women. Much like yoga before it, this “It” girl fitness movement isn’t restricted by design, yet its marketing often spotlights a very specific body type and high income bracket. A standard 60-minute session typically ranges from $30 to $65.
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Then there is the physical “aesthetic” it produces. Rather than building bulk, consistent Pilates practice results in a lean, elongated, and highly toned frame. It focuses on functional strength rather than massive muscle volume.
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These specific traits have made the practice a magnet for a certain demographic of men who, as recently reported by The 19th, expect their partners to dedicate significant time to the reformer.
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“If your girl goes to Pilates, wife her up immediately,” entrepreneur Christian Bonnier claimed in a viral Instagram Reel. He labeled the workout “wholesome” and described it as “the biggest green flag ever for a girl.”
@christianb.23
“If your girl goes to Pilates, she’s likely staying in on weekends so she can wake up early for a Solidcore or BodyRok session,” he explains in the video. “She’ll return in an amazing mood because she was with her friends, avoided creepy guys at the gym, and got a great workout.”
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In a separate clip that garnered over 564,000 views, Bonnier advocated for the return of “stay-at-home Pilates wives.” He argued against the idea that women find fulfillment in corporate careers, suggesting instead that if they do work, it should be a flexible role that allows them to “tan by the pool, go to Pilates, visit farmers markets in sundresses, and raise a family.”
@christianb.23 / Via Instagram
The obsession extends to reality TV stars as well. On the latest season of Netflix’s Love is Blind, contestant Chris Fusco was criticized for ending things with fiancée Jessica Barrett, citing her lack of interest in daily Pilates as a factor. The Atlantic even satirized the situation with the headline, “Love Is Blind, as Long as Love Does Pilates,” mocking the rift between Barrett, a doctor, and Fusco, a veteran and account executive.
Netflix
Last month, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Jessi Draper revealed that her estranged husband, Jordan Ngatikaura, pressured her to do Pilates daily to satisfy his desire for a traditional marriage. “He said he believed in traditional gender roles and wanted to be in his masculine while I stayed in my feminine,” Draper shared on the Call Her Daddy podcast.
Call Her Daddy / Via youtube.com
How did a fitness system from the 1920s become a status symbol for gym bros with a trad wife fetish? Professional instructors have a few ideas.
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“Pilates uses a visual language of long lines and softness that some men misinterpret as ‘feminine’ or ‘submissive.’ They see it as a ‘green flag,’ but that’s just a projection,” explains Sabrina Seymore, owner of Prevailing Pilates, the first Black-owned studio in North Carolina.
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Seymore told HuffPost that this trend is a “bizarre mix of aesthetic culture and old-school gender roles.” She notes the irony in this appropriation, as Pilates was never intended to be a measure of a woman’s “values” or desirability. “It is a system for rehabilitation, strength, and body awareness for everyone,” she noted.
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Joseph Pilates, a German physical trainer, created the “Contrology” system while in a British internment camp during WWI. He used bedsprings to create resistance for bedridden patients, which became the blueprint for the modern reformer. Later, Black classical dancer Kathleen Stanford Grant was instrumental in bringing the practice to the mainstream in the United States.
I C Rapoport / Getty Images, Susan Schiff Faludi / Getty Images
Seymore finds it disturbing to see a restorative practice turned into a dating filter for “trad” men. She believes it reduces women to a lifestyle aesthetic and uses wellness as a tool for control. “I feel protective of the practice,” she said. “Pilates is about feeling capable and strong in your own body, not performing femininity for a man’s approval.”
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Philadelphia-based instructor Zhane Dadson, known as Coach Zha, agrees. “The women in my classes are focused on rebuilding themselves,” she told HuffPost. “It’s about choosing yourself, not being chosen by someone else.”
Galina Zhigalova / Getty Images
The Deeper Reason Trad Men Are Into Pilates Girls Who Want The ‘Soft Life’
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Mariel Barnes, a professor at the University of Wisconsin who studies the manosphere, isn’t shocked by this trend. She understands why these men gravitate toward the “Pilates girl” image.
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“Manosphere followers want partners who are fit, slim, young, and often white. It’s why they obsess over women hitting ‘the wall,’” Barnes explained. (“The wall” is a derogatory term used to describe the age when they believe a woman’s dating value drops.)
Olga Rolenko / Getty Images
The manosphere frequently claims feminism has made women too assertive. This is why many seek out specific archetypes they perceive as more compliant.
Kseniya Ovchinnikova / Getty Images
“There’s a belief that Pilates girls are ‘softer’ or into the ‘soft life,’” Barnes added. The “soft life” movement on TikTok encourages women to reject corporate hustle culture in favor of a life of leisure funded by a husband.
Galina Zhigalova / Getty Images
One popular influencer video shows a woman grocery shopping with a caption about waking up as a “Whole Foods-shopping, Pilates-going wife.”
@overnightsupermodel / TikTok
This influencer niche complements the trad husband ideology perfectly, as it encourages women to let men lead while they manage the domestic “aesthetic.” Pilates has simply become the latest backdrop for drawing women into the trad wife pipeline.
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However, instructors of color aren’t letting the manosphere take over their industry. “The Pilates I teach is intuitive and adaptive,” says Tay Milburn, owner of Fringe Pilates in Brooklyn.
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Milburn believes that those focusing solely on the “lean” look don’t actually understand the method.
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“They are looking at it through the male gaze, not as a wellness journey,” she said. “This conversation is about marketing, not the movement itself. At its core, Pilates is about connection and healing.” These experts are also working to make the space more inclusive.
Tatiana Maksimova / Getty Images
“It has had a reputation for being exclusive,” said Sonja R. Price Herbert, founder of Black Girl Pilates. Since starting her organization in 2017, she has worked to eliminate the intimidation felt by many. “Thanks to Black instructors and dedicated advocacy, there are now safe spaces for everyone to practice.”
Sabrina Bracher / Getty Images, Galina Zhigalova / Getty Images
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday tried to blame what she called a “left-wing cult of hatred” against President Donald Trump for political violence in the nation, including the shooting at Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
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But one of her complaints caught the eyes and ears of critics. “Those who constantly falsely label and slander the president as a fascist, as a threat to democracy, and compare him to Hitler to score political points are fueling this kind of violence,” she declared.
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As many were quick to point out, one of the most prominent examples of someone comparing Trump to Hitler is already in the White House: Vice President JD Vance. In 2016, when Trump was running for president for the first time, Vance told a friend via private message that he wasn’t sure if Trump was “a cynical asshole like Nixon” or if he could be “America’s Hitler.”
Brendan Smialowski / Getty Images
Vance has since said he was wrong about Trump. But many are reminding Leavitt of what he said in the past:
In 2016, JD Vance suggested that Trump could be “America’s Hitler” https://t.co/gLmhUE4aDe pic.twitter.com/tRANtT2hYq
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) April 27, 2026
@patriottakes / Via x.com
https://t.co/aGNbxrAXTY pic.twitter.com/Ej6ftvLfYW
— aly кішка! ✙ (@mexic0la_) April 27, 2026
@mexic0la_ / Via x.com
https://t.co/yfsx5c0bTX pic.twitter.com/lwkyD9kQAq
— Turnbull (@cturnbull1968) April 27, 2026
@cturnbull1968 / Via x.com
His current VP is on record calling him America’s hitler in the past https://t.co/aHa0JUeah7
— Jason Bell 🇺🇸🦅 (@JBellSATX) April 27, 2026
@JBellSATX / Via x.com
Hmph. JD Vance compared Trump to Hitler https://t.co/z8DUkZLmjY pic.twitter.com/leTi8kQmWQ
— Fly Sistah 🪷 (@Fly_Sistah) April 27, 2026
@Fly_Sistah / Via x.com
so trump can call dems radicals and enemies of america and demonic and markists and say we hate god and america and his supporters can call for dems to be killed but mean old dems are the problem https://t.co/FVJkMD7dak
— Chris Roberts (@Robbins17Chris) April 27, 2026
@Robbins17Chris / Via x.com
He compares democrats to literal demons. Why is that okay? https://t.co/w1JjThnijX
— DancinInTheDownPour (@melknepp) April 27, 2026
@melknepp / Via x.com
Maybe he should stop acting like Hitler if he doesn’t like the comparisons. https://t.co/bwu6sxwJAn
— Jamarrius (@YungxJayy) April 27, 2026
@YungxJayy / Via x.com
Taylor Swift has officially earned her spot on the New York Times list of the 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters, joining the ranks of icons like Mariah Carey, Nile Rodgers, and Jay-Z.
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As Taylor’s massive discography has expanded, her dedicated fanbase has made it their mission to analyze every single lyric, hunting for secret clues about the singer’s private life.
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Take her iconic hit “All Too Well,” for instance. The lyrics, “I left my scarf there at your sister’s house, and you’ve still got it in your drawer even now,” sparked a viral investigation. Fans quickly deduced the scarf was left at Maggie Gyllenhaal’s house during Taylor’s relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal. The internet then collectively demanded the actor return the infamous accessory.
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The scarf saga became so legendary that music royalty Dionne Warwick even weighed in on Twitter with a hilarious offer to help:
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“If that young man has Taylor’s scarf he should return it.”
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“It does not belong to you. Box it up and I will pay the cost of postage, Jake.”
@dionnewarwick / Via x.com
In a recent interview with the New York Times, Taylor finally addressed the constant decoding of her work, confessing that the obsession with her personal life “can be a little bit weird.”
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“There’s corners of my fanbase who are gonna take things to a really extreme place,” Swift admitted. “There’s nothing I can do about that. There’s people who are gonna try to, like, do detective work, figure out the details — who is that about? What is this?”
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“When it gets a little bit weird for me is when people act like it’s a paternity test,” she added. “Like, ‘This song’s about that person.’ Because I’m like, ‘That dude didn’t write the song, I did.’ But that’s part of it.”
Robert Gauthier / Getty Images
Fans are currently split on Taylor’s take regarding these lyrical Easter egg hunts. For the most part, many listeners are backing her up:
“i think it’s very stupid when people waste their time trying to find out who a particular song is about.. like just enjoy the song”
@vesperamyst / Via x.com
“maylors, joewives, and travwives all are gonna hate reading this”
@geokonic / Via x.com
“Thank you for calling us out”
@jadedmaroon / Via x.com
“Like how she owns it, the end of the day, she wrote the song, not the guesses.”
@LyfAcrosBorders / Via x.com
“Those people are the Swifties. And I am guilty I am one of that people”
@Filmfanatick / Via x.com
“People focus on the muse but ignore the creator… she clocked that”
@BIZBoost / Via x.com
“She’s so right. People get so caught up in the ‘who’ that they forget to appreciate the ‘how.’ The songwriting stands on its own regardless of whose name is in the headlines.”
@Me_dot_c0m02 / Via x.com
“Taylor writes from her own heart and experiences yet fans turn every line into a guessing game. Let her keep the magic instead of treating songs like detective puzzles. Shes right.”
@PrasVector / Via x.com
“Taylor Swift really said it perfectly People love playing detective , but turning songs into a ‘paternity test’ is kinda missing the point At the end of the day, the story, the emotions, the art — it all comes from her Let the music be felt, not dissected”
@HypeTime01 / Via x.com
“Taylor calling it a paternity test is the most accurate description of Twitter/X whenever she drops an album. People are out here with whiteboards and red string trying to prove a song is about a guy she dated for three weeks in 2014.”
@Reika675 / Via x.com
“Not Taylor calling us detectives with fake badges We out here with red string and conspiracy boards like All Too Well 10 Min Version was about my situationship too. But she’s righ the pen belongs to her”
@SegodiTlour / Via x.com
“I know some people in this fandom will be so mad…,lmao”
@DeborahYeboah16 / Via x.com
However, a different segment of the internet argues that Taylor herself encouraged this sleuthing behavior for years:
“I find this a little odd of her to say… she’s the one who taught us to do that. She capitalized letters in her lyric books in the cds for us to decode… now she doesn’t want us dissecting things?”
@JenelleLubig / Via x.com
“Taylor Swift needs to take her ego down a notch. Maybe her fanatic ‘swifties’ are all up in her business but the general public doesn’t care. Plus, songs and poems have always held a mysterious origin curiosity. Some are easy to figure out or the author says it. Others are secretive leaving the public to wonder. That’s the beauty of songs and poems.”
@moraltreason / Via x.com
“She literally leaves easter eggs everywhere and than says this girl, you trained them that way!”
@Claire8502 / Via x.com
“She trained detectives for years and now wants peace. Fair enough”
@WpFactory1 / Via x.com
Throughout her storied career, Taylor’s high-profile romances have been under a microscope. She has previously been linked to stars like Harry Styles, Joe Jonas, Matty Healy, and Joe Alwyn. During those eras, fans meticulously dissected her lyrics like a team of forensic experts to find any scrap of romantic tea.
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She is now happily engaged to NFL champion Travis Kelce and is in the midst of wedding planning. With fans affectionately calling them the “English teacher” and the “gym teacher,” it’s certain that their upcoming nuptials will be the most analyzed event in pop culture history.
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What do you think about Taylor’s thoughts on fans hunting for relationship clues in her music? Share your opinion in the comments below!
CNN anchor Dana Bash found herself at the center of a social media firestorm Sunday following an interview where she questioned Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin regarding the left’s “heated rhetoric” toward President Donald Trump. The tense moment occurred in the wake of a security incident outside the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
CNN
“Do you think twice about that when something like this happens?” the State of the Union host asked. Raskin immediately pushed back, asking, “What rhetoric do you have in mind?”
CNN
“I understand that that’s your democratic right, but overall, do you have a responsibility—,” Bash began, before the Representative interjected. Raskin clarified that he maintains no “personal problem” with Trump himself. Instead, he argued his focus remains strictly on the administration’s controversial policies, citing the “authoritarianism” witnessed during recent immigration crackdowns in Minneapolis. “I’m talking about policies. I don’t personalize it, and I certainly have never called the press ‘the enemy of the people,’” Raskin retorted.
CNN
The viral exchange took place after Bash implied that divisive political language has contributed to a documented spike in political violence over the last several years. Raskin countered by reminding the host that Trump frequently labels the media the “enemy of the people” and has pursued legal action against various news outlets. He added that he had hoped the dinner—attended by Trump and high-ranking administration officials—would have been a “wonderful opportunity to try to reclaim the basic values of the country.”
CNN
“I’m talking about policies. I don’t personalize it, and I certainly have never called the press ‘the enemy of the people,’” Raskin emphasized during the segment.
BASH: You and your fellow Democrats have used some heated rhetoric against the president. Do you think twice about that when something like that happens?
RASKIN: What rhetoric do you have in mind?
BASH: That he’s terrible for this country and so on and so forth pic.twitter.com/J8RHUgIodF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2026
CNN / Via x.com
Critics across social media platforms were quick to condemn Bash’s line of questioning. One vocal X user labeled the veteran journalist a “complete disgrace,” while another critic argued that this specific brand of media framing is the “kind of bullshit that helped usher Trump right back into office.”
BASH: You and your fellow Democrats have used some heated rhetoric against the president. Do you think twice about that when something like that happens?
RASKIN: What rhetoric do you have in mind?
BASH: That he’s terrible for this country and so on and so forth pic.twitter.com/J8RHUgIodF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2026
@KyleKulinski / Via x.com
Fuck you, Dana. It’s this kind of bullshit that helped usher Trump right back into office — even though he says things ten times worse.
Remember January 6th, Dana? https://t.co/kEe4m7ogxK
— Polly Sigh (@dcpoll) April 26, 2026
@dcpoll / Via x.com
BASH: You and your fellow Democrats have used some heated rhetoric against the president. Do you think twice about that when something like that happens?
RASKIN: What rhetoric do you have in mind?
BASH: That he’s terrible for this country and so on and so forth pic.twitter.com/J8RHUgIodF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2026
@JoJoFromJerz / Via x.com
BASH: You and your fellow Democrats have used some heated rhetoric against the president. Do you think twice about that when something like that happens?
RASKIN: What rhetoric do you have in mind?
BASH: That he’s terrible for this country and so on and so forth pic.twitter.com/J8RHUgIodF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2026
@hasanthehun / Via x.com
BASH: You and your fellow Democrats have used some heated rhetoric against the president. Do you think twice about that when something like that happens?
RASKIN: What rhetoric do you have in mind?
BASH: That he’s terrible for this country and so on and so forth pic.twitter.com/J8RHUgIodF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2026
@adamjohnsonCHI / Via x.com
BASH: You and your fellow Democrats have used some heated rhetoric against the president. Do you think twice about that when something like that happens?
RASKIN: What rhetoric do you have in mind?
BASH: That he’s terrible for this country and so on and so forth pic.twitter.com/J8RHUgIodF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2026
@keithedwards / Via x.com
BASH: You and your fellow Democrats have used some heated rhetoric against the president. Do you think twice about that when something like that happens?
RASKIN: What rhetoric do you have in mind?
BASH: That he’s terrible for this country and so on and so forth pic.twitter.com/J8RHUgIodF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2026
@jamesetta_w / Via x.com
BASH: You and your fellow Democrats have used some heated rhetoric against the president. Do you think twice about that when something like that happens?
RASKIN: What rhetoric do you have in mind?
BASH: That he’s terrible for this country and so on and so forth pic.twitter.com/J8RHUgIodF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2026
@Timodc / Via x.com
BASH: You and your fellow Democrats have used some heated rhetoric against the president. Do you think twice about that when something like that happens?
RASKIN: What rhetoric do you have in mind?
BASH: That he’s terrible for this country and so on and so forth pic.twitter.com/J8RHUgIodF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2026
@JenniferEValent / Via x.com
BASH: You and your fellow Democrats have used some heated rhetoric against the president. Do you think twice about that when something like that happens?
RASKIN: What rhetoric do you have in mind?
BASH: That he’s terrible for this country and so on and so forth pic.twitter.com/J8RHUgIodF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2026
@NikkiMcR / Via x.com
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