woman = beautiful + strong?

lolo62

When Katie Taylor won her medal during the summer I found it interesting (and infuriating) the amount of people who felt the need to point out 'and she's pretty like' as if the two can't go together; being physically strong and attractive

I'm doing a lot of energy work at the moment where it's all about aggression and the 'masculine' part of me
As I do and my body becomes stronger and sturdier I am finding it hard to tolerate anything like the above that suggests women being strong and/or aggressive is unattractive or wrong in any way

anyone else have thoughts on this?

frozenfrozen

It's like someone saying someone is pretty and clever, they can both be found in people separately and together, but it's worth mentioning when a person has both of these features

lolo62

frozenfrozen wrote: »

It's like someone saying someone is pretty and clever, they can both be found in people separately and together, but it's worth mentioning when a person has both of these features

no what I meant is that people seemed to find it abnormal or strange

Cian92

As a male, I'd find most physically strong women to be a turn-off, and alot of my peers would be the same.

It is possible to be a strong and attractive woman but kinda rare.

Anyway, ho do you define attractive? It will be different to everybody.

lolo62

Cian92 wrote: »

As a male, I'd find most physically strong women to be a turn-off, and alot of my peers would be the same.

It is possible to be a strong and attractive woman but kinda rare.

Anyway, ho do you define attractive? It will be different to everybody.

Do you mean if a woman has a beautiful face and a strong body that's still a turn off?

If you mean attractive in a woman...I think a woman that's in her power is always very attractive..by that I mean a woman that can be strong and aggressive and soft and feminine as and when she needs to be.

frozenfrozen

lolo62 wrote: »

no what I meant is that people seemed to find it abnormal or strange

"Pretty and masculine woman" is a bit of an oxymoron to me, because they are polar opposites in my mind. There can definitely still be attractive athletic women, but as soon as their physique starts to resemble a male, I, personally, find it very hard to find that woman attractive. I'm trying my hardest to be as sensitive about this as I can, but just I personally find this to be the case for me, and its not a general statement, just from my experience, this is what I've found.

Cian92

lolo62 wrote: »

Do you mean if a woman has a beautiful face and a strong body that's still a turn off?

If you mean attractive in a woman...I think a woman that's in her power is always very attractive..by that I mean a woman that can be strong and aggressive and soft and feminine as and when she needs to be.

Define a strong woman.

If a woman is more 'muscley' than me, I wouldn't find her attractive no matter what.

That's just me and what I'm into. I'm probably old fashioned in my view that a man should be able to protect and support "his woman" kind of a mindset.

There are plenty others who would find a muscley woman attractive, but it just isn't for me.

Stench Blossoms

To those who say that 'strong' women can't be attractive.

What do you think of these two?

Madam

Cian92 wrote: »

Define a strong woman.

If a woman is more 'muscley' than me, I wouldn't find her attractive no matter what.

That's just me and what I'm into. I'm probably old fashioned in my view that a man should be able to protect and support "his woman" kind of a mindset.

There are plenty others who would find a muscley woman attractive, but it just isn't for me.

You do know 'most' women feel the same about muscley guys?

KamiKazeKitten

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

To those who say that 'strong' women can't be attractive.

What do you think of these two?

To be fair I don't think they're saying strong women can't be attractive - just that they're not attractive to them. Which is fair enough, different strokes for different folks and all that.


As for the two women in the picture, they're both gorgeous facially I think, but personally I just wouldn't want that amount of muscle definition - so I wouldn't want to look like that. I do admire the amount of dedication it takes for them to get to that stage though.

Morgase

A strong woman isn't necessarily covered in massive muscles.

Cian92

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

To those who say that 'strong' women can't be attractive.

What do you think of these two?

I'm afraid I wouldn't be into either of those. I actually searched "strong sexy woman" on google images to see if there was any woman I thought was attractive. One came up, but I'm not sure I'd consider her strong.

To madam, I knew that some girls don't like muscley guys. Tbh I don't know too much about that side of things as I'm a guy and not into guys.

frozenfrozen

Those two are very good lucking and although they are muscular, they're a very a far ways away from what I thought the OP was talking about, I don't want to link a picture of the type of woman I don't find attractive because that would be quite wrong, but just the kind of woman that lifts weights in the olympics -- that's what kind of muscles i think would be very hard for me to be attracted to. As soon as their muscles start to become larger than mine there's a problem!

lolo62

frozenfrozen wrote: »

"Pretty and masculine woman" is a bit of an oxymoron to me, because they are polar opposites in my mind. There can definitely still be attractive athletic women, but as soon as their physique starts to resemble a male, I, personally, find it very hard to find that woman attractive. I'm trying my hardest to be as sensitive about this as I can, but just I personally find this to be the case for me, and its not a general statement, just from my experience, this is what I've found.

Would it be fair to say though that Katie Taylors body resembles what we think of as male because most women don't build that kind of upper body strength...? her body is very much still a womans body..

jaffacakesyum

lolo62 wrote: »

When Katie Taylor won her medal during the summer I found it interesting (and infuriating) the amount of people who felt the need to point out 'and she's pretty like' as if the two can't go together; being physically strong and attractive

I'm doing a lot of energy work at the moment where it's all about aggression and the 'masculine' part of me
As I do and my body becomes stronger and sturdier I am finding it hard to tolerate anything like the above that suggests women being strong and/or aggressive is unattractive or wrong in any way

anyone else have thoughts on this?

It's an interesting point because in any sport if a man was physically strong it wouldn't be pointed out in the same shock "and he's hot too".

jaffacakesyum

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

To those who say that 'strong' women can't be attractive.

What do you think of these two?

Also, who are these women? :eek:

Stheno

I read the title and didn't even think of physically strong women, though of women having strength mentally etc, and breaking barriers, which in fairness Katie Taylor e.g. has definitely done.

I'd count her achievement in that regard far more highly then her physical ability, she threatened to leave womens boxing if they brought in a skirt uniforn and was influential in having that not come through.

For me women being strong is not about physical ability, it's about having mental strength and acuity and challenging (albeit in a quiet way) stereotypes/perceived norms and progressing through them.

Being beautiful and strong might also be related to women who are not physically strong but extremely good looking who have succeeded e.g. in the world of IT or business, think of the current COO of facebook, or the head of Ultimo.

For those who aren't aware of whom I'm talking about the COO of facebook is Sheryl Sandberg, and who recently caused some controversy at Davos, by suggesting that women should talk to their companies and HR departments about their plans for children.



Michelle Mone is the head of Ultimo, a very successful underwear brand

Morag

Strong is not inherently a masculine trait.
Once you get over that silly assumption then it's easier to accept that
women & men are a whole range of shapes and sizes, and that one does not
need to look like a slab of beef or a pop sock full of wallnuts to be physically strong.

Stheno

Morag wrote: »

Strong is not inherently a masculine trait.
Once you get over that silly assumption then it's easier to accept that
women & men are a whole range of shapes and sizes, and that one does not
need to look like a slab of beef or a pop sock full of wallnuts to be physically strong.

Conversely, a lot of research has shown that people who are successful be they male or female, tend to have higher testosterone levels than most "normal" people.

Medu

I don't think those comments really had anything to do with her body, it was more her face and her chosen profession. Similar things were same about Kenneth Egan. Floyd Mayweather was nicknamed 'Pretty Boy' due to not having a battered face like most boxers.

Also, who are these women?

I can't believe it's 2013 and people still don't know how to use Google!!

jaffacakesyum

Medu wrote: »

I can't believe it's 2013 and people still don't know how to use Google!!

Cool your jets, I was saying it in a "wow they're hot" kind of way, opening up discussion etc. etc.

lolo62

Medu wrote: »

I don't think those comments really had anything to do with her body, it was more her face and her chosen profession. Similar things were same about Kenneth Egan. Floyd Mayweather was nicknamed 'Pretty Boy' due to not having a battered face like most boxers.

Thanks but you weren't there so if you are going to have to tell me what my experience was in order to input I'm not interested

Some great comments above about strength and how we view it...I don't tune into mainstream media too much,sounds cliched but it's when I hear comments like the ones about Katie Taylor I realise just how much of a hold it has on peoples perception

ashers22

lolo62 wrote: »

When Katie Taylor won her medal during the summer I found it interesting (and infuriating) the amount of people who felt the need to point out 'and she's pretty like' as if the two can't go together; being physically strong and attractive

I'm doing a lot of energy work at the moment where it's all about aggression and the 'masculine' part of me
As I do and my body becomes stronger and sturdier I am finding it hard to tolerate anything like the above that suggests women being strong and/or aggressive is unattractive or wrong in any way

anyone else have thoughts on this?

Maybe it's because it's a male definition of what is attractive in a woman. As a woman who is also strong physically I know plenty of other women who find it attractive. (Sorry if that sounds narcissistic) Granted, they're more often women lovers themselves but it's always been commented on in a positive light by women generally.

also, happy to see a thread with some very hot women in (I'd marry the blonde on the right)

Jerrica

ashers22 wrote:

Granted, they're more often women lovers themselves but it's always been commented on in a positive light by women generally.

Although not intentionally there's another stereotype that's been introduced. You find physically strong women attractive, most likely a lesbian.

Nothing wrong with saying some women find physically strong women attractive, period.

ashers22

Jerrica wrote: »

Although not intentionally there's another stereotype that's been introduced. You find physically strong women attractive, most likely a lesbian.

Nothing wrong with saying some women find physically strong women attractive, period.

True, it's often associated with physically strong women but I train with a lot of other physically strong straight women too, don't think they'd particularly care if they were considered lesbians though, most of them are married anyway

(actually a part of me didn't want to comment on my experiences with straight women finding it attractive because I didn't think it would be fair to them and didn't want to make them sound like they were gay, but yeah a lot straight women do find it attractive )


edit: apologise if I'm making you sound like a lesbian for finding strong women attractive, I only woke up.

Jerrica

I didn't bother me at all, I'm straight but find strength highly attractive - what kinda gets under my skin is that orientation even has to come into the equation!!

ashers22

Jerrica wrote: »

I didn't bother me at all, I'm straight but find strength highly attractive - what kinda gets under my skin is that orientation even has to come into the equation!!

I am sorry, I should have thought about it more before I posted. I was just extrapolating based on my own experiences!

lolo62

ashers22 wrote: »

True, it's often associated with physically strong women but I train with a lot of other physically strong straight women too, don't think they'd particularly care if they were considered lesbians though, most of them are married anyway

(actually a part of me didn't want to comment on my experiences with straight women finding it attractive because I didn't think it would be fair to them and didn't want to make them sound like they were gay, but yeah a lot straight women do find it attractive )


edit: apologise if I'm making you sound like a lesbian for finding strong women attractive, I only woke up.

I have found myself being attracted to the masculine energy in some women also even though I'm straight
I put it down to the fact there have been a lot of weak men in my life..
I also think it's a kind of immature attraction based on perceiving strength to be physical only

PS..there have also been a lot of weak women in my life too, not man hating here

Medu

lolo62 wrote: »

Thanks but you weren't there so if you are going to have to tell me what my experience was in order to input I'm not interested

Oh right, sorry. I wasn't there when Katie Taylor won her medal and I didn't hear the hear very similar comments to the ones that you mention in your post. It was all part of my vivid imagination, thanks for clearing that up!
I stand by my comments, I believe it is more to do with the fact she is a boxer than the fact that is 'strong'. To be a top sports person one needs to be strong and aggressive yet many top female athletes are viewed as been attractive- why is that if people don't view physically strong, aggressive women as attractive?

Cool your jets, I was saying it in a "wow they're hot" kind of way, opening up discussion etc. etc.

No offence intended... well maybe just a slight diss!

ashers22

lolo62 wrote: »

I have found myself being attracted to the masculine energy in some women also even though I'm straight

I know a lot of straight women who do, I don't mean in a sexual way. Maybe it's something they wish to emulate in themselves. The reason why maybe I brought orientation into it is because I get to be around women who can be open about what they find attractive in other women so it's not unfamiliar territory to me.

I put it down to the fact there have been a lot of weak men in my life..
I also think it's a kind of immature attraction based on perceiving strength to be physical only

PS..there have also been a lot of weak women in my life too, not man hating here

I don't really associate it with masculinity tbh, maybe I just like things that go against the grain a bit. Gender bending a bit maybe, like I find a woman in a power suit extremely hot..if that makes sense.
When I was young I used to compete in my field and was very strong, I hated my muscles as a teenage girl and was very embarrassed when going out so I wouldn't wear short sleeves in case someone commented on them. As I grew older I realised the comments were usually made by men who were probably threatened by my strength and I stopped caring whether they found me attractive, as it happened I discovered women found it very attractive indeed...

Morag

Women can be and some are Stong, Confident, Powerful and Dominant.
It's not un feminine or mimicing men, it's just how they are.

Assigning such traits to being the prevue of one gender is wrong and harmful to both genders.