Adlington, a 5 foot 11 Olympic champ (video of one of her wins, here), tells the Daily Mail:

Do you know why I like shoes? They make me feel feminine. My shoulders stand out and people always say, "Aren't they broad?" And I think, "Thanks! You are really making me feel better about myself." I don't hate them, but I'd like to be more petite.

Without them, though, I know I wouldn't have the power I have – they are what makes me go so fast in the water – but out of the water, they definitely look better with a nice pair of shoes.

How heartbreaking is it, that in this era of "dainty" size 0 celebs, a strong, amazing woman — who is tapping into the potential of her (female) body — thinks of herself as unfeminine? What does "feminine" mean, anyway?

Here's the Merriam-Webster definition:

1: female
2: characteristic of or appropriate or unique to women {feminine beauty} {a feminine perspective}

But in our culture, it seems like "feminine" means dolled up, ruffled, manicured, wearing Louboutins. It doesn't mean getting dirty, or exerting yourself, or getting sweaty. Adlington says:

"I think there is a problem in that girls don't think it's cool to be sporty. I had that feeling when I used to trudge into school after training with my hair wet, smelling of chlorine, with no make-up on and thinking, 'Oh God, all the other girls look fantastic.' We need to change the view that you can't be a sportswoman and be feminine. I am certainly feminine outside the pool.'"

Of course, to prove that she is most certainly female, the paper shot Adlington by the pool in heels and a frilly dress. But she seems to have some sort of peer-induced ideal in her mind that she just can't shake: The reporter suggests she is bringing glamour to swimming, and Adlington responds, "Me? Bring glamour to the sport? I don't think so. I looked dreadful at the end of my 800 meters when I pulled my hat off and the wet hair was flopping in a face bare of make-up. Awful!" That is how she describes the moment in Beijing when she won the gold medal. Why?

Olympic Champion Rebecca Adlington: 'Girls Don't Think It's Cool To Be Sporty' [Daily Mail]

Earlier: British Swimmer Rebecca Adlington Has World Record, Good Friends

On Feministe, blogger Lauren has a post in which she links to Martin Schoeller's amazing photographs of female bodybuilders. She writes:

Women are so deeply conditioned to seeing feminine beauty as something fragile that doesn’t take up space, which is why I love seeing representations of femininity that isn’t that of a delicate orchid. It’s interesting to me that many female body builders who work on attaining what are considered masculine traits play up their feminine characteristics, perhaps to counteract the kind of physique that is usually culturally marked male, sometimes to an extreme that appears to be a conscious genderfuck.

It is interesting to see how these women — the bodybuilders — have bikini tops, earrings, lipstick, eyeshadow — all the trappings of "femininity," yet none of them are what the average person would think of feminine.


The truth is, although the Photoshopped images and the bodybuilder photos are extreme examples of muscle development, the human body is capable of such things, whether it be male or female. (And yes, perhaps steroids were involved.) But still: We don't believe that "female" is equivalent to "weak." So why do we think that muscles are "masculine"? These ladies certainly don't think so.

Celebrity Steroids [Worth 1000, via Yeeeah]
Beauty And Power [Feministe]
Женский бодибилдинг в книге Мартина Шоллера \ Photography (Martin Schoeller's Femal Bodybuilders) [eToday]