No Woman’s Land? Women and the Weight(s) Crisis

                      

Bulking up, shredding and women may seem like three words thrown together begging for the odd one to be kicked out for good. Guess which? Women, of course!

Progress is truly progress only if it is universal, which is hardly ever the case. Feminism since its conception has empowered women and shifted ideologies, and will continue to do so. However, the direct influences of feminism or any gender equality movement, notion or ideology aimed at empowering women or liberating the genders, are perhaps visible only in few of the world’s societies. Others are still on the shores of understanding what women’s freedom and autonomy truly are, and some others still quite far from boarding the ships of the turbulent sea of gender equality in its truest sense, which perhaps, will always be defeated by the need to define and specify its meanings, as has quite often been the aim of many an intellectual and political undertaking, only to dilute its initial fervour in the conflicts of definition and appropriation.

Let’s get back to the opening statement of this article. Female weight gain, bodybuilding or hypertrophy weigh rather heavily on the social scales of women’s appropriate body types. Often incorrectly, health for women in commercially motivated mainstream fitness culture is defined by slimness, the narrowness of waists, the thigh-gaps and their ability to fit into skinny jeans or smallest sizes on the clothes-racks, while fit, ripped, stacked women are often quoted bulky or fat, masculine, non-feminine, and sadly, even ugly in societies driven by media cultures and constructed conventions that dictate the appearance of human bodies. It is ironic that in this age of gender equality struggle, women’s success, happiness, and value are still associated with shampoos, creams, skin-hair-nails supplements, soaps, cleaning detergents and insect repellents. Thus, the muscle-conscious woman, pumping iron or always ready to drop to the floor for a set of push-ups can  never become the ideal models of beauty, health or success because their constitution is regarded ill-fitting to  sport glittering, fluttering tresses, soft, glowing skins or the latest trends in fashion.

                   

It is not a question of impossibility deemed by the performer, but rather the alarms and shocks coursing through those people, societies and ideologies watching such women, forever associating and disassociating one thing with another. Can calloused hands, vein popping arms and rippling lats market soap that will make a woman baby-soft to the touch? I think the baby-softness better be left for babies, one innocent pleasure for parents to sink their faces into after a long day. But can it not, ever? Are calloused, vein popping arms not a woman’s own body, perhaps more functional, better equipped to carry her loads, to pack a hefty punch? Need that arm be baby-soft for the woman to succeed, to care, to nourish? Whose pride will it hurt, or who will lose, if she, the strong, ripped woman can lift a gas-cylinder into her kitchen without breaking sweat, without worrying if her nails will break, or if her hands will carry that odour of iron, than lavender and rose? And what exactly is shocking, awful or inappropriate if the same woman, dons a gorgeous saree, or dress, an updo, makeup and heels and glams up for a day out? Association of beauty with all that is fragile, all that is visual, with numbers and letters on a label, the ultimate association of success with that beauty speaks only of a success that will be as fragile as something that will definitely, inevitably be lost with age and time. But hard muscles? Strong, healthy bones? Sturdy tendons? Flexible joints? Intelligence and skill? What of these? Always free to achieve, and forever lasting, forever real.

                 

The issues lies in the conversion of the concept of health and fitness into quantifiable entities, specific numbers on the scale, on various machines. Recently, a fitness professional, a graduate from the university, informed me that the BMI scale and various other numerical scales are only guides and never 100%, universally true measurements for health and fitness, and my martial arts coach too confirmed that an amount of fat is absolutely vital for the functioning of the human body. Aiming for zero percent fat is unnecessary, impossible and could also be detrimental in the long run for healthy metabolism. I was also informed that the values when calculated for different body types based on only two inputs, hardly represent details about the individual’s level of activity, lifestyle and other physical or physiological factors that may determine health and fitness. For example, a sumo wrestler or bodybuilder of average height in a given population may exceed the BMI value for obesity if calculated based on the mere input of their weights and heights, and the resultant values do not indicate information about their levels of activity, strength, endurance and stamina on the basis of their sport and overall energy expenditure. Muscle mass and bone density often account for a greater percentage of their weight than any unhealthy physical composition. Similarly, a swimmer or sprinter or high jumper will have a leaner body mass disproportionate to their height. Interestingly, this observation eliminates the need for women’s fitness to be classified within a specific range or few sizes on the clothes-racks, and urges the maintenance of a weight and body structure that is appropriate for them, not what media or conventions deem preferable or ‘right’.  

                    

But welcome to society, where, if you are a woman, weight gain and hypertrophy will bring you looks of disappointment, a questioning of your sexuality, opinions on your marriageability among a myriad other concerns. It gets bad: wear form fitting clothes that snugly hug the frame you’ve  worked hard to sculpt and be the subject of looks and calls and more than a handful of instances of being told you’re obscene or putting yourself on show; looking for a dress? A blouse? Don’t you think it will rip, at some point? Sorry Miss, but skinny jeans aren’t for you.  And it gets worse: being a ripped and strong woman means you are seen as a being who never tires. Hey, how can you feel tired? You’re not the average girl right, like, you pump iron and all that? Your moment of weakness, of tiredness, of needing to take it slow, of needing to rest becomes a joke.

                    

The other side, perhaps, has it nice and sunny for the greater part: looks of awe, affirmation of your heterosexuality, unquestionable marriage material. It gets better: muscle shirts to bring out those pecs and lats and biceps. Or the privilege in public to lift your shirt a little on the sly to scratch at your belly and ‘accidentally’ flash those six packs. It gets way cooler with the constant camaraderie of like-minded muscle-mates, sharing recovery tips, food hacks and spotting for each other. If you are a strong man, you are watched to be praised. If you are a strong woman, you are watched too, to be laughed at when you need to take a breather, because women can’t go on doing that, right? Her body isn’t made for that, right?

                  

In this age of capitalism and consumer culture, women’s bodies are business material, no matter how you look at it. Shape up teas and slimming pills and rip-off gym deals, treadmills and latest fashions are telling, ‘lose your damn weight woman!’ Correct me if I’m wrong but I’ve never seen an ad on television promoting weight gain for women. Ads for formulas against osteoporosis in your late thirties, yes, but had they advertised ads for a cool set of dumbbells and bars for women to lift and curl at home, and a good dose of sunlight instead of scaring the hell out of women with UV rays in cream ads, there wouldn’t be any need for bone formulas in the first place! For all intents and purposes, just as there is a faction trying to lose weight, there is another faction struggling to gain weight and a community of anorexics, bulimics, liposuction and cosmetic surgery addicts and voluntary gastric banding patients all struggling to overcome the immense psychological pressures of body image compliance and acceptance in their societies, workplaces, and even homes. I remember my childhood and teenage days when I was quite thin, always tired, sick and often unable to do a lot of physical work. My health and outlook changed for the better when I began practising karate and weight training. With better understanding of my own body and its workings, I was, and still am able to face any illness that befalls me because I am better aware and equipped to respond to external and internal changes adequately.

                 

The pseudo-positive ideologies and campaigns for success based on products and services that claim to enhance a woman physically towards realizing her potential is a booming industry capitalizing on fitness, clothing, medical, cosmetics, food and much more by instilling the notion that something in the body must be changed if one is to achieve success and that change can only be facilitated by the products, services and ideologies they sell. The change, for whatever good, can start and be sustained only if it emerges within your own conscious through your own motivations, not because you will be granted something worthwhile only if you change yourself physically. Become a better version, a healthier you and simply what suits you best, for your own self.

              

 I’d like to end this post with a long time musing: Michelangelo, one of the famed masters of the Renaissance, painted his female figures after male models, as was the culture of his era. The women in the celebrated images of the Sistine Chapel and his other artworks were modelled after the male physique, often a site of controversy amongst critics debating deliberation or ignorance on the artist’s part. But that’s the mystery of beauty.  Sporting strong, rippling builds and fluid postures, his women are a breath-taking amalgamation of grace and strength. If the great masters saw beauty in such women centuries ago, whose works of art are eternal masterpieces, cannot the world, now, see beauty in same the celebrated human forms right before their eyes?

Nuzla Niyas