So said a (male) business associate of mine, let’s call him Alphonse, during a meeting towards the end of the London 2012 games. Now, this is something that guys (and girls) like us have known for a long time. Athletics is a sport you can happily watch with friends and family guilt-free. Turn on a female bodybuilding show and they will all call you a freak. Watch the Diamond League and you can sit and gaze at the women’s pole vault to your heart’s content.
Alphonse is a man who, by his own admission, has never been a great watcher of athletics or female sport in general, yet here he was expressing the same view as I’ve always had about female athletes and the pleasures of the Olympic Games.
A week or so later, a national newspaper asked female readers who at the Games had the physique they admired most.
Overall, they wanted the legs and arms of the Russian tennis players, and the bums of the volleyball players, but the all-round winner was gold medallist Jessica Ennis. The reasons given for admiring Jessica’s bod were her low body-fat and visible abs, her toned arms, defined legs and her tight bum.
And then, the article went on to explain, without pulling any punches, exactly what getting Jessica’s body involved, and what it doesn’t involve:
Jessica doesn't go to the gym and then decide what she will do. She doesn't do her cardio training sitting on a bike reading a magazine and she doesn't have a slice a cake with a coffee to reward herself afterwards.
It went on to pooh-pooh the myth that lifting heavy weights means getting big and bulky, and also took a big dump on the celebrity fitness myth: Do not follow the advice of 'gurus' like Jillian Michael who want you to lift weights below 2.5kg, or reality TV trainers who get you to lift water bottles. Lifting heavy weights is what will help you get a lean and toned body.
Is everyone finally getting it? Do you feel that you were a little ahead of the game on this one? Years and years of admiring strong women as a minority and all it takes is one Olympic Games and suddenly they’re all at it. It’s rather a strange feeling to suddenly be ‘mainstream’.
Then, after the Games had finished, another national newspaper ran a piece entitled: Bye bye, Kardashians: Olympic athletes give women new, strong role models, which claimed that Skinny models, actresses and reality TV stars are no match for our powerful female athletes.
In the article, the writer mentioned that a 22-year-old acquaintance admits that, although she's usually worried about her ‘stocky’ legs, she has noticed a change: ‘I caught sight of myself in a shop window and I thought, “No, you know what? My legs are strong, they can do things” and for once I'm proud of that.’ Apparently, this was an example of how the Games had nurtured a sense, among ordinary women, that we have a new generation of role models to aspire to, whose bodies are revered for their physical abilities and not just their aesthetic qualities.
All very very good, although I will have to take exception with the implication that the physiques that go with athletic excellence are somehow lacking in aesthetic quality.
Elsewhere, countless articles have been appearing, the vast majority of them written by women, that echo the ones mentioned above and point out things that readers of this blog have known for a long time.
The fundamental – and incorrect – assumption is that muscular women are not attractive, therefore for women to be attractive they cannot look strong.
Or from another article:
[Since] the Olympics has been broadcasting, I've noticed my appreciation for my own muscles growing. I feel more attractive and proud of my own physical strength.
We are suddenly constantly being told that strong is the new sexy. So is this it? Are we admirers of female muscle about to be congratulated for our foresight by one and all and patted on the back for our pioneering work?
Anecdotal evidence suggests that more and more women are getting off the stationary bike and into the weights room. Media reports suggest that membership of athletics clubs and other sporting organisations has risen.
But perhaps, like the fact that your local tennis courts are always packed during Wimbledon, this is just a temporary blip. Let’s not get too carried away. Change is happening, but like most changes in society as a whole, it’s not going to be an overnight one. And that’s not all bad. As I said before, I don’t feel that comfortable being in the mainstream, and we’ve been on the margins for so long that staying there a little longer won’t be too hard!
So, an Olympic legacy then? The catchphrase of the Games was Inspire A Generation. So it’s appropriate to give the last word to that generation, a 14-year-old girl from London: I don't think there'll be a lasting legacy – there's still too much negative media about women's bodies. But I think it will be in people's heads, they will be looking at what people are doing with healthy bodies and perhaps there will be a certain changeover in the way we think of ourselves.
Sources include articles from The Irish Independent, The Guardian, mnn.com, and sosogay.co.uk
Great piece.
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