Tomboy
Men who have been to hard-core gyms will know. They'll know that it is a very scary place. Scary not because of the muscle bounded Arny wanna-bes, but women who lift bench press more than you do. These women will kick your ass in every single physical way. They’ve got better six-pack than you have, they’ve got better toned muscles than you have. They will literally kick your ass, if they want to. And how about those female athletes? They will out run you on track by a far far far distance, while you dying out of breath. They call them, tomboys. But are they? Tomboys we used to see were not that scary? Were they? They were not muscular like our Bev Francis from Geelong (pictured above in B&W) or any other ladies from the movie ‘Pumping Iron II’. They were simply girls in men’s cloth (mainly jeans)acting like boys. Were they simply a sexulised version of women that we see as masculine today? How do they differ from our current more muscular tomboys? Are they no longer sexualised anymore? Is ‘masculinity’ in treat, due to these ‘muscular’ women?
Some interesting articles about female body building and its implication on gender structure in society.
'Female Bodybuilders and the Feminine Mystique - Where Bev Francis meets Betty Friedan' - by Lisa Bavington
'FROM ABJECT TO OBJECT: WOMEN'S BODYBUILDING' - by MARCIA IAN
posted by Anonymous at 1:27 AM
5 Comments:
I find it interesting that you talk of a 'loss of masculinity'
For me when I see overtly muscular women I find myself thinking:
Are these body building women an example of a loss of feminity? or a disregard of the perceptions expected of females and how they look?
It doesn't register that their physique equates with a decline of male masculinity. But Hey, this is a female point of view here.
Well, I talk of a 'loss of masculinity' not because I'm a male and it's not a point of view. I talk of a 'loss of masculinity' because it's what starts to surface to people's attention in the society. I only gave the example of threat to the masculinity through females' invasion towards masculinity because that's ONE way of looking at THREAT or CHALLENGE (not loss) to the masculinity. Thanks for the opinion though. I was dying to get some comment on the posts here...hehe...
I was intrigued by what you had to say in class, so I thoughtI'd check out what you had been doing.
Challenge of masculinity, that makes more sense.
One of those horrible baloney 'news/affairs' shows had something about the decline of the aussie bloke. They blamed it on marketing. The Archetypal blue clollar bloke was not spending enough on cologne, hair and beauty products etc. SO marketing stepped in to Make them think that's what they need, inturn creating the idea of the metrosexual.
Yes.... the whole marketing and money driven social constructs... that's the driving force of the current metrosexual movement... But how far does the boundary of that metrosexuality goes? Buying a product of Clinique for Men is ok? while buying (just) a Clinique is not? hmm..... I think the whole marketing thing can push the boundary further and further... The Campari ad is an example. I find the ad very intriguing... First you don't notice that the person in the dress is a man but when I watched it for a second time I started to see features that show 'male-ness'... It definitely pushes my perceptional boundary of a metrosexuality.
Oh my goodness !
What a typical stupid blog....
I count....
3 times the word "scary"
2 times the expressing "kick your ass"
1 time "treat"
...apart from all other words that put down the "miserable state of men in an environment with muscular woman"
WHY are (stupid) men talking like this ? If woman would write in exactly this way about the majority of men they meet, +- the WHOLE WORLD of men would be a treat, scary and "kicking your?? what??" for woman.
It is NOT, because this stupidity of illusionary treat is only existing in sick minds.
Muscular strenght, people of the earth, is NOT a synomym for aggression.
Muscle is a great feature of the body. Aggression is a miserable feature of the mind.
(I would ADORE to find, in the end, a true female friend, who is expliciety MUCH more muscular and taller, and much stronger, and much faster,... then I am. OKI !?? Because having a big, muscular girlfriend is heaven on earth, for ME. Any candidates ? ;) )
Post a Comment
<< Home