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| Celia Cusick Class of 2020 |
Sweat is a great equalizer. There
is something about a shared sense of misery and the notion that for a moment
two people working out are both at the exact same place, enduring hard work
together that bonds individuals. A sense of camaraderie is fostered from the
shared sweat and exhaustion. In a moment two people who probably think
differently, vote differently, and behave differently, come together as equals.
No matter the athletic level of the two individuals when both endure the same
type of physical exertion, they understand exactly how big a high-five the
other person deserves. The two are able to leave their differences,
expectations, and pressures at the door and for a moment focus only on what
they each want to achieve and how to support one another in order to reach that
achievement. Sweat is a great equalizer… at
least it is supposed to be.
Sweat
is not able to overcome gender bias. Traditional beauty standards force women
to choose whether to be the beautiful or strong.
Women are typically expected to be soft, passive, demure, and sweat free. In
contrast, strength is typically a masculine attribute and thus being a strong
woman actually detracts from femininity. This idea is reinforced in the ideal
body that has become sensationalized in the media. The perfect body is nearly
impossible to achieve and often the result of hours of painstakingly air
brushing and editing a woman's body to fit within these standards. Typically
women who are high preforming athletes are labeled as manly, butch, or not
characterized as beautiful due to their display of physical strength. They are
no longer allowed to experience this sense of camaraderie because they are
either stuck between being trivialized or being stripped of their
femininity. Because of unrealistic
expectations that are applied to women and the juxtaposition of beauty and
strength the culture that surrounds gyms and working out is not always
conducive to creating an equal environment.
Within gym culture, women are typically characterized by doing a series of
cardio machines, wearing heavy makeup, and ogling at the men who were doing the
“real” work. In fact, often the
cardio machines are even placed directly overlooking the weights for this
reason. Women are told to stick to the elliptical, jump on the treadmill, and
skip the weights because you don't want to “bulk”. They are expected to be fit, but not too fit
because men are the only ones allowed to have muscle. Media representation of
the “ideal body” is
filled with advertisements with quick fixes to becoming trim and slim. What the
media isn’t telling you is that the perfect body is not real,
but rather a socially constructed idea. The only perfect body is one that you
can love and appreciate for what it can do - a body that leaves a woman
confident and ready to take on all that is going to be thrown at her.
Beauty
and Strength are not mutually exclusive. We should fight for our right to
sweat, and defy traditional beauty standards. Choosing to strengthen your body
empowers women to create their own image of the ideal body. Working out should
be a conscious decision to redefine beautiful in all of its different shapes
and sizes. Women are empowered when they push back on the standards they are
expected to fall within. Working out is not about trying to look
magazine-ready; it is about living a healthy life style and learning to
appreciate what you are capable of. In the gym, women belong right alongside
the men. Women, after all, are already strong. We just haven’t had anyone tell us that. We haven’t told ourselves that. So here I am telling you, all
the women who have never ventured to the “mens
section” of the gym: you are strong, you are capable.
So pick up the weight. Redefine how you see yourselves and make sweat your
great equalizer. Strengthen your body because you each time you pick the weight
up, run the extra mile, or swim one last lap, you control your definition of
beauty.