September 14, 2008

beauty and brawns?

What do men want? A girly-girl gilded in gold who sits on the sidelines in wide-eyed awe and who will fan over her man while feeding him grapes from her dainty fingers... or an independent woman with lean muscles and a fearless attitude?

As a rockgirl, I'm always encouraging other people (especially women) to try out the sport. There's nothing like the mental challenge that climbing presents and the exhilaration of completing a particularly tricky route. While most girls are willing to give it a go, surprisingly (or perhaps not so surprisingly) the biggest complaint from women is the fear that they'll become too buffed up, as if toning the body is something undesirable. Granted, since I started climbing, most of my jackets, shirts, and tops have gotten a wee bit tight in the shoulders, but why should the idea of physical strength be seen as diminishing to a girl's femininity?

Or phrased in another perspective, do men find physical strength unappealing in women?

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