Beauty?I'll Take Muscles, Please!
February 4th 2007 13:02
As I turn the corner into the gym parking lot I reflexively gasp. It is full of cars and the years have taught me that where there are cars there are people using the equipment I want to use and many of them have failed kindergarten and do not know how to share. That rant, however, for another day.
When I pass the desk and survey the gym scene I am instantly relieved. The weight area is nearly empty. Its the cardio area and the aerobics floor that are bearing the brunt of the crowd. Looking over that crowd I note that the greatest majority of the cardio enthusiasts are female; it goes without saying that men are a rarity in the aerobics class. I am happy because I can train in peace.
This week there was more news about emaciated runway models and the groundswell to put a stop to their portrayal by the fashion industry as somehow ideal. To the extent that that industry puts its tacit approval on thinness at any cost it is as morally wrong as you can get. Annorexia is a real and baffling syndrome that takes the lives of young women and is viewed by an obese society like we have in the US with skepticism, I am afraid. I take it very seriously.
What I do not take seriously is the portrayal of a skinny looking little wretch as in any way idealized femininity. I see them strutting down their runways on tv once in awhile and that is not beauty as far as I am concerned.Yet, the obsession with thin is incontestable in our culture. There is no doubt about it.
That brings me back to the gym. Thin is on the minds of most people there, I hazard to say. I would also say that it is more on the minds of the women than the men. So I am not surprised that the purveyors of exercise have found a fertile market for cardio and aerobic equipment. In the US ,at least, women have bought the line of the cardio people almost 100%. That is: women are concerned primarily about being thin and they believe that treadmills and aerobics is the way to get it. I would say that thehealthfanatic over at her blog has it right, however. I would like to see some muscle on women!
When I take a look across the weight area of my gym I see a few women. Some are being marched around by the trainers(who know the value of weight training for women.). Some have boyfriends with whom they are training or who are nearby. There are a few women over in the corner on the weight machines where the owner has coyly placed them so that women can do their obligatory weight lifting away from the men and the free weights(which would do them so much real good!).
Then I see amidst the men and their benches a couple of women who are working out together and are ,lo and behold, attractive, because they have some muscle on them! They are not natural "beauties" with large breasts or hour class figures that piggish men would get all Pavlovian about. They are attractive because they have just enough muscle to make their bodies attractive and athletic looking. They are working right along side the men- a kind of welcome anomaly in the gym. That is this man's idea of feminine beauty.
Women are an unfortunate repository of misinformation about fitness. Rather than strip the muscles they have off their frames by too much cardio, which is what it will actually take to keep thin, they would be better served in terms of beauty and health to be shoving men aside to train with the heaviest weights they can handle and going home to discover eating habits which complement this. They will not get too big nor will they be too thin. They will be as attractive as they can be. The weight area will be too crowded, though. Your servant, as always.
This week there was more news about emaciated runway models and the groundswell to put a stop to their portrayal by the fashion industry as somehow ideal. To the extent that that industry puts its tacit approval on thinness at any cost it is as morally wrong as you can get. Annorexia is a real and baffling syndrome that takes the lives of young women and is viewed by an obese society like we have in the US with skepticism, I am afraid. I take it very seriously.
What I do not take seriously is the portrayal of a skinny looking little wretch as in any way idealized femininity. I see them strutting down their runways on tv once in awhile and that is not beauty as far as I am concerned.Yet, the obsession with thin is incontestable in our culture. There is no doubt about it.
That brings me back to the gym. Thin is on the minds of most people there, I hazard to say. I would also say that it is more on the minds of the women than the men. So I am not surprised that the purveyors of exercise have found a fertile market for cardio and aerobic equipment. In the US ,at least, women have bought the line of the cardio people almost 100%. That is: women are concerned primarily about being thin and they believe that treadmills and aerobics is the way to get it. I would say that thehealthfanatic over at her blog has it right, however. I would like to see some muscle on women!
When I take a look across the weight area of my gym I see a few women. Some are being marched around by the trainers(who know the value of weight training for women.). Some have boyfriends with whom they are training or who are nearby. There are a few women over in the corner on the weight machines where the owner has coyly placed them so that women can do their obligatory weight lifting away from the men and the free weights(which would do them so much real good!).
Then I see amidst the men and their benches a couple of women who are working out together and are ,lo and behold, attractive, because they have some muscle on them! They are not natural "beauties" with large breasts or hour class figures that piggish men would get all Pavlovian about. They are attractive because they have just enough muscle to make their bodies attractive and athletic looking. They are working right along side the men- a kind of welcome anomaly in the gym. That is this man's idea of feminine beauty.
Women are an unfortunate repository of misinformation about fitness. Rather than strip the muscles they have off their frames by too much cardio, which is what it will actually take to keep thin, they would be better served in terms of beauty and health to be shoving men aside to train with the heaviest weights they can handle and going home to discover eating habits which complement this. They will not get too big nor will they be too thin. They will be as attractive as they can be. The weight area will be too crowded, though. Your servant, as always.
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