“Me Man Me have muscles. You….Woman. You look thin and pretty. Say Nothi
Sometimes, I think we are still living in the stone age. Its 2008, and I’d say the majority of people still have these old school, preconceived notions that muscles on anyone else but a guy is unnatural and strays away from femininity. I just don’t get the backwards thinking. Case in point, the receptionist at my job has recently joined a gym because she would like to lose weight. She’s not really overweight or anything but I think she would like to just tone her body up and wants to look and feel more healthy. That`s not a bad thing to aspire for, if you ask me. She had been doing alot of cardio but she hadn’t really noticed any changes so, she knows that I workout regularly and asked me for a few tips. I asked her about her diet and it sounded like she was mostly doing the right things My next question was if she did any weight training. She said no, because she "didn’t want to get big". I tried to explain to her that the notion of her getting big from doing a little weight training was silly and that in order to really change your body shape, you need to incorporate some weight training. I had come across this great article in BB.com writtine by BuffMother that really explained why weight training was essential. I figured hearing it from another woman who obviously knows her stuff would help. I sent her the link and as she began to read the first thing she said was," Yuck, she looks like a man! I don’t want to look like that!" Now, I know most of you have seen BuffMother’s profile and she obviously looks nothing like a man. It was solely the fact that she had a body that was defined with visible muscle that caused that comment. I tried to explain to the receptionist that that is what an athletic, healthy body looks like. She wasn’t buying it so I pretty much gave up, but that is not the first time I have heard such ludicrous statements coming out of people’s mouths. It seems people have been so indoctrinated with the notion that men are supposed to have muscles and woman are supposed to be soft and delicate. I had thought that perhaps because woman have shown to be just as capable and in some cases better than men at doing many things that maybe the notion would evolve but it hasn’t. I wonder if it ever will change or will woman that strive to get the absolute best out of their bodies forever be looked upon as un-feminine.
July 2, 2008 at 7:09 am
I think part of people’s reaction comes from seeing muscular healthy women in magazines flexed. When I was in college I did storts hung out with alot of female gymnasts. I would go to the meets with girls who would say "she looks like a boy" At a party she would see the same girl dancing in a dress and say "I want to have a body like hers" So I think it’s just how they see the women displayed…and of course a little ignorance.
July 2, 2008 at 8:02 am
I agree with you. But being a woman and "old school bodybuilder" I am disappointed with what our sport has come to. Women’s bodybuilding used to be beautiful( Carla Dunlap, Rahel Mclish, Cory Everson) These women kicked off there heels and showed the world a truley athletic women. What happened …it got out of hand ,professional women bodybuilders began to look like freaks. And that is because men who ran the sport was inconsistent with judging , telling the women they needed to get bigger and harder to rival thier male counterparts. We all see how that worked! Women’s bodybulding became negative and not marketable and not main stream. So these men in all there ulimate wisdom said lets have a fitness and figure division…on comes the T&A and hooker heels.Don’t get me wrong have nothing against fitness and figure I just don’t think such contests should be in BB contests. I would love to see women’s BB go back to true women athletes of yester-year .Or maybe I am just old! Anyway thank-you for appreciating the beauty of a muscular women.