Jezebel 
Enter your username and password.
-
posts about #worth1000 more → 
Muscles: Strong Enough For A Man, But Made For A Woman?
New York, 7:13 AM
Mon Nov 30
18 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip your editors:
tips@jezebel.com
Editor-in-Chief:
Anna Holmes
Email | Twitter
Deputy Editor:
Dodai Stewart
Email | Twitter
Senior Contributing Editor:
Tracie Egan
Email | Twitter
Contributing Editors:
Anna North
Email | Twitter
Sadie Stein
Email | Twitter
Reporter:
Irin Carmon
Email | Twitter
Editorial Assistant:
Margaret Hartmann
Email | Twitter
Contributors:
Rich Juzwiak
Email | Twitter
Latoya Peterson
Email
Jenna Sauers
Email
Lizzie Skurnick
Email
Interns:
Katy Kelleher
Twitter
| posts about #worth1000 more → |
Muscles: Strong Enough For A Man, But Made For A Woman? |
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
11/26/08
11/26/08
11/26/08
11/26/08
11/26/08
11/26/08
[www.heathercassils.com]
11/26/08
11/26/08
Why is this "unfeminine"? Because at the level the body builders' musculature approaches, women are no longer capable of menstruation. Evolutionarily speaking, if you're trying to find a female mate and you pick a woman who is too muscular (i.e. lacks the percentage body fat) to menstruate, you fail. Only men who have a preference for woman who are not too muscular to reproduce make good on the evolution deal.
I know it's a crappy reason for a gender-normative appearance bias (more muscles = more masculine), but it's not based solely on a social or cultural construct. It does make perfect sense from an evolutionary standpoint.
11/26/08
the kind of muscle tone that comes with physical work (or non-bodybuilder workouts) is achievable by both men and women. just not on the same bulging level, because of the hormones involved. and i'm sure back in the day say of pioneers when women had to carry water from outside (those buckets are heavy!) and carry firewood, etc., it wasn't weird to see muscle tone on a woman.
11/26/08
11/26/08
Maybe this woman is a "she-hulk" next to the
11/26/08
11/26/08
11/26/08
11/26/08
Erm, also - what happens to your boobs?
11/26/08
Also, professional weight lifting is really detrimental to your health. In order for the muscles to stand out they must have no fat, and thin skin. To do this they go on really dangerous diets, and completely dehydrate themselves before a competition. They look incredibly strong but they are really sick and weak during those things. Sometimes they collapse the second they get off stage.
11/26/08
11/26/08
11/26/08
11/26/08
11/26/08
It's detrimental for women to think physical strength has to trade off with beauty and femininity. Huge muscles on a guy doesn't do anything for me, but a little bit of muscular bulge is good for anyone if you can get it. If a guy was turned off by my muscles, I'd get suspicious because only someone who wants to overpower you sees your strength as a bad thing.
11/26/08
I went to a male bodybuilder competition years ago because my then-uncle was in it, and it was terrible. I just held myself from laughing because the men looked absolutely ridiculous.
@swashbuckling: I always cringed at that whenever I heard a woman, famous or not, saying she doesn't want to "bulk up."
11/26/08
I'm toned, especially in my legs and arms, but not at all "bulky." My trainer says women generally don't get that way until they go above 20 pound weights.
11/26/08
Unless there is a medical reason (cardiac, orthopedic, etc.) that prevents it, your trainer is doing you a disservice by not getting you to lift heavier (over time).
11/26/08
11/26/08
I see a few women like that at my gym. They have HUGE upper bodies, yet they lift FAR lighter than I do, and I don't have bulging, hulk-like muscles.
Except for those with serious hormonal issues, women just don't have the testosterone to build those kind of muscles.
11/26/08
11/26/08
11/26/08
11/26/08
11/26/08
11/26/08
11/26/08
11/26/08
And I agree with the original comment here that a natural-looking muscular body--one that looks like it comes from doing an activity, rather than devoting one's life to body building--is attractive. On a man or on a woman.