Politics of Muscle :: essays research papers

The Politics of Muscle by Gloria Steinem is an essay arguing the fight in strength between 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 recalls this is the reason 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 ar made to feel ashamed of their strength and that only when women rebel against senile standards does female muscle become to a greater extent accepted. (pg 372)I trust 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 mooted versus the power of how men are viewed. I think her primary purpose is to speak to women and to get them to realize how much of an bear on increasing our physica l strength 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 beautiful 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 opposite cultures, as she does state in her essay that there are more 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.