Body Image

[ysabetwordsmith]

Olympic weightlifter Zoe Smith discusses body image and her indifference to the opinions of men who are wankers.

Me, I think she looks hot, but I'm more attracted by the strength and personality.  I'd love to see more art of women shaped like her.  I think she'd make an excellent model for a superhera: muscled without looking like a caricature.

Comments

[tassosss]

Thanks for these links!

[paka.livejournal.com]

Man that bugs me. This is one of the best athletes in the world! How can anyone diss that?

Well...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

A lot of people just actively resent strong women and undercut them at every opportunity. The strongest woman in America lives in poverty. That's not an accident. The work doesn't pay much, and people deny her the kind of sponsorship deals that "attractive" athletes get. That just basically makes me think people are dicks, and that men often think with their dicks.

Re: Well...

[paka.livejournal.com]

Damn it. This gets right back into the whole "what the hell is wrong with this country" discussion of class stuff. I mean, okay, yeah, I can sort of see someone being amazing and not appreciated financially for it (teachers come to mind) but why does being not appreciated financially always have to teeter so close to complete ruin?

Re: Well...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

The part that pisses me off is this: if she were sexually pleasing to men, she'd be rolling in money. If you're not sexually pleasing, the American public doesn't care and will let you starve and die. Which is just EVIL.

Re: Well...

[paka.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I guess what bugs me is that it's stacking; this idea that someone has to be valuable at a level beyond just being human and having hopes, dreams, history and aspirations, to be allowed to actually survive in this society. The way being allowed to thrive, beyond just surviving, is pretty much out of reach if you're not one of the "good" people. And then the idea that what women have to do to be valuable is be nice to look at, which is usually a crap standard, but it's even a crappier standard when you apply it to someone who literally is one of the best people in the world at what she does. (I'm kinda cranky about how people view the Olympics in general, but that's a different rant.)

[fayanora.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, a body builder that IS actually hot to me. What a rarity!