Politics of Muscle :: essays research papers

The Politics of Muscle by Gloria Steinem is an essay arguing the difference in strength amongst men and women. Steinem starts her essay by stating how she grew up in a generation where women didnt participate in a lot, if any, sport activities. She goes on to say that she believes this is the reason out why women of her generation believe that its not what the female body does, but how it looks. Steinem feels that women always seemed to be owned in some degree as the means of reproduction. She believes that women are made to feel ashamed of their strength and that only when women rebel against patriarchal standards does female muscle become more accepted. (pg 372)I recover that Steinems intended audience is primarily for all women. I feel she wrote this because she feels strongly about how the power of women is viewed versus the power of how men are viewed. I prize her primary purpose is to speak to women and to get them to realize how much of an impact increasing our physical s trength could have on our everyday lives. Steinem wants to let it be known that women are not objects and that having muscles and strength can in fact be feminine. I agree with the author that society does view women as the weaker sex. I also believe that it is true that some of the more athletic woman today are not always viewed as being as good-looking as the skinny models in the magazines. However, I dont agree with her thoughts regarding women being possessions and how she thinks womens bodies are symbols of mens status. That could very well be true in other cultures, as she does state in her essay that there are many cultural differences. But for myself, growing up in the environment that I did, that is not something that I had ever really heard about or was witness to.