Thoughts on strength

[flexagon]

This is part of a fundraising letter I got from LAVA (all-female acrobatic company in NYC, for those who don't know).

One day this summer I was wearing a tank top and a man said to me, "Wow, look at those arms. I wouldn't want to get into a fight with you."

It wasn't the first time I had heard this. I said, "I'm not a fighter, I've never been in a fight, and don't know that first thing about fighting. It couldn't be further from my mind." But isn't it interesting how unusual it is for most people to see upper-body strength in a woman -- the kind required by the work we do at LAVA -- and also how much people associate the amassing of strength with aggression or an intent to cause harm?

My strength, and the strength of other members of our growing LAVA community, is gained through practices that include balance, support and connection. Far from using my strength to hit or hurt someone, I use it to hold myself up and to hold others up. I like to imagine how our assumptions about the world might change if we were to stop associating strength with the powers of dominance and destruction and begin to associate strength with the powers of balance and support.

Slightly pretentious but quite thought-provoking. I don't think that I HAVE generally associated physical strength with aggression or the intent to cause harm, but people do -- I've gotten the same "hate to get in a fight with you" style of comment. Maybe it's not until you do acrobatics that you learn that physical strength can hold another person up and keep them safe and let them feel like they're flying.

Comments

[nahele-101.livejournal.com]

I love a woman with strong arms and upper body. Its flippin' sexy to see women throw away the concept that they must be "weak" and lack muscle.

I don't associate size and strength with aggression at all. Probably from my times being spent this lifetime both as a man and a lot of gym time. Large guys do not necessarily mean they want to beat people up.

Hell, most of the MMA guys I know are scrawny and lack large muscles. I'm more afraid of them then large, strong people.

*shrugs*

Keep on, keeping on!

[flexagon]

Same here -- due to all the gym time, and especially the acrobatic time, I guess. I've seen a lot of big, strong people who aren't fighters. And speaking as a flyer, the big strong bases are usually the safest ones to work with.

I posted this and then went to the gym. :-D

[nahele-101.livejournal.com]

My hamstrings are still so tight. flying someone takes serious strength and flexibility.

Work it!

[soong.livejournal.com]

Oh, I fall into that trap too. What's a perfectly good application of unusual strength and fitness? Superheroing!

[ellenclaire.livejournal.com]

I get comments like the one she mentions fairly regularly - sometimes from the dads of my under-18 aerial students, which is super weird, because they know *exactly* why I have muscular arms, and they still associate that strength with violence. Neat excerpt, thanks for sharing!

[elbren]

anthropological question: do the comments come only from men, or occasionally from women, or about equally from women?

the quote says "people associate", but I wonder how much of it is Just Men (possibly, challenged by their assumption that they could necessarily beat up any woman, should they so choose - that that is part of their Privilege they, consciously or not, like to maintain)

[ellenclaire.livejournal.com]

The comments I get from women are different - women say things like "Your arms look really toned." The comments about winning in a bar fight, and other things along those lines, have only come from men.