British Olympic weightlifter Zoe Smith, that is. Sexist trolls expressed indignation and shock that she’s not dainty enough for their taste. She pointed out on her blog that their taste isn’t high on her list of concerns.
This may be shocking to you, but we actually would rather be attractive to people who aren’t closed-minded and ignorant. Crazy, eh?! We, as any women with an ounce of self-confidence would, prefer our men to be confident enough in themselves to not feel emasculated by the fact that we aren’t weak and feeble.
Which is much like what Ernest Adams said last week: good men are not threatened by strength and intelligence in women. What kind of men are threatened by women like that? I leave it to your wisdom to determine.
So this Zoe is just another kind of awesome, on top of being a world-class athlete…
Excellent!
Bravo to Zoe!
I saw the BBC documentary–pretty shallow, not much about the sport. I was struck by couple of things.
First: the three athletes if followed were from 17 to 22 years old. This is disturbingly young for weightlifters, the sport rewards physical maturity, and the require speed, skill and strength do not come quickly. (Weightlifters have been tested as the most completely ‘athetic’ of athletes. Before women were permitted to compete, male weightlifters were second in flexibility; only female gymnasts demonstrated more!)
Second: Zoe Smith was the only one of the three to make the Olympic team. She was also the only one who backed out of the irrationally gruelling regimen of the ‘official’ national training centre. The other two were both forced out by injuries that were probably avoidable by more rational training methods.
Oh, not even third because it was no surprise. All three women were notably good-looking. There is more than a whiff of creepy misogyny in the trolls Zoe slapped down.
This says it all:
“It’s two fingers up to them, basically,” she said. “‘What are you doing with your life? I’ve just competed at the Olympics!’”
Perfect.
End of discussion.
That is just all kinds of awesome.
Kinda frames it nicely, for me, too…
I mean, from henceforth, it seems to me, you may translate a troll saying ‘I’d never do you’ as: ‘I find you as intimidating as I would a record-setting Olympic power lifter, and as I am a small, pathetic creature, sadly utterly lacking the nerve for such a coupling, I guess our dating is right out.’
(/So… noted, dear. I’ll try not to let it break my heart.)
What’s strange is that she’s one of the most conventionally attractive of the women weight lifters. She’s beautiful by any standard that I know.
Women don’t get into weight lifting to make themselves attractive to others — they just like the sport. ((Maybe that’s what upsets idiot men the most.)
I like to watch weightlifting, particularly the women, and particularly those in the heavier divisions. They’re all very cool. I’m looking forward to seeing Sarah Robles. She is scary fantastic.
I can’t stop laughing at this.
She’s youthful, looks great, is practically gleaming with health.
She’s in the middle of one of the most thrilling experiences a person can have, especially her being on the team of the host country. Right now she is probably luminescent with joy, anticipation, and excitement, living in the Olympic village with several thousand others in exactly the same elevated state.
Attraction? It probably takes a conscious effort for them all not to fly into each other sticking like refrigerator magnets.
But troll boy from mucking-on-the-nowhere isn’t interested?
Gosh whatever shall she do?
(LOLs delightedly at #7)
This, too, doth rather put it in perspective.
I mean, oh dearie me. An internet troll claims not to wish to do me. I’m shattered. Shattered, ah tellz ya.
… but more generally, it seems to me you don’t even so much need to be an Olympian at the top of your game and immersed in and part of a virtual sea of insanely desirable bodies to be generally unimpressed with such dazzling repartee…
Beasties of this stripe, to borrow an observation from Zappa, seem to prefer to begin any engagement by forthrightly and helpfully calling attention to the least attractive parts of themselves. It doesn’t exactly inspire suicidal disappointment when they claim they’re not up for bumping nasties with you this Friday eve.
Well, right then. Please do tell whichever hand you use what a lucky girl she is, for me, I guess.
(*/While I’d like to claim coinage here, I’d be very surprised if we’ve got to 2012 without it already having been done, somewhere, somehow.)
I agree that she is stunning, and a superb athlete.
Just a minor correction…while it is true that males reach peak physical strength between the ages of 35 – 45, olympic lifting is a sport of speed, technique and strength. Lifters often begin very young (very safe if properly programmed) and peak in their late teens to mid twenties…usually posting their best lifting between 18 and mid to late 20’s. This is true even moreso in female athletes who reach peak strength between ages 25 – 35, so they often peak earlier.
Speed and reflexes begin to diminish, even in trained individuals, at age 25(ish). Olympic lifting is a speed and power sport…while powerlifting is more of a “strength” sport for example (much slower, where typically older lifters dominate).
Sorry to derail!
AP
From what is commonly known about sexual habits in the Olympic Village, Zoe will find a multitude of possibilities, all much more to her liking.
From Zoe’s Post:
Smart, articulate and funny. She’s actually managed to make me interested in the Olympics
Makes you wonder what these men would have said to/about the participants if the series had focused on the fighting sports competitors.
Judo, boxing, taekwondo. Women qualified as international level competitors in these sports would or would not be as attractive (is that the word?) as weightlifters?
Her blog post is great, but it’s frustrating that she says in comments: “I can also assure you that I am no sort of bra-burning feminist type myself…” and goes on to explain she’d never have a go at a man for ‘being a man’.
Anti-feminists have done their job well when a strong young woman, who can so articulately tell misogynist assholes to STFU, still doesn’t want to touch the word ‘feminist’ with a bargepole because she believes it represents man-hating and ‘bra-burning’ (a myth anyway, never actually happened!). Makes me sad.
I have always been puzzled by those sort of comments, both in real life, and online.
When you hear some guy say “I wouldn’t do her” as you walk past them, my initial response is to scratch my head and wonder when I made the offer.
Strangely, I have never heard these comments being made by anyone that I would consider spending some personal time with.
Amy Clare @13:
It’s like a script that we’ve been given. For men it’s “I would/n’t do her” and for women it’s “I’m not a feminist…”
She is a feminist and she is where she is because she stands on the shoulders of the feminists who came before her. And, perhaps best of all, she will make it easier for the next young woman in her position to achieve greatness in sport without having to hear “I would/n’t do her” or say “I’m not a feminist.”
I seriously wonder how intelligent someone is to watch a documentary on *weightlifters* and complain seriously that the subjects are too muscular.
@Riptide
About as intelligent as a potato would be mu guess 😉
“What kind of men are threatened by women like that?”
Let me give this a try. Those men who never made it mentally beyond the age of 11.
Attraction? It probably takes a conscious effort for them all not to fly into each other sticking like refrigerator magnets.
I’m pretty sure if I were there, I’d be, um, doing my best refrigerator magnet impression too. I’d wager it’s pretty unavoidable — a large concentration of young, extremely healthy people, lots of adrenaline flowing, renewing old acquaintances from other competitions…yep.
The more female athletes use rhetoric like “I’m not a feminist but,” I’m sure the more the old creepy dudes on the IOC feel justified in their decision not to allow female ski-jumping because our uteruses might shake loose. Seriously. *sigh*
I’m pretty sure that’s the case for most women in any sport. (I’m sure a few do it for their looks.)
I’m told the Olympic village ordered 100,000 condoms for the athletes’ use. Yeah, I don’t think any of those hardbodies will be lacking for sexytimes.
@interrobang, #9:
Just as well, I’d hate for someone to be slapped in the face by flying uteri live on television in front of the entire globe. Won’t somebody please think of the children?
Golden.
/@
I’m bored stiff with the Olympics. The BBC has dropped the slightest pretence that it’s a neutral reporter of world events and every time I switch on the radio it’s to hear that some Brit has come seventh in some sport I’ve never heard of. I should get at least a bronze for fastest hand to radio switch movement.
However I did watch the opening ceremony and one of the pleasures was to see those good-looking young people in prime condition, with radiant smiles and exuding energy. If they aren’t at it like rabbits with each other, they should be tested for drugs.
I may or may not be very jealous of them. Although I apparently have a different definition of hotness than other people, so I’d prob be a bit picky.
Yes, someone needs to tell Zoe what being a feminist really means. She bloody well is one whether she likes the word or not.
True also, that athletes (mostly) look good. The cultivation of human capacities seems to have pleasing aesthetic results accross the board. It is only in a few extremes: anorectic distance runners and gymnasts, sumo wrestlers, weightlifters in the top weight categories etc) that cultivation of a specific skill seems to compromise overall aesthetics.
The creeps really are a deranged minority. Not that you could tell by the amount of noise they generate.
(warning: Cracked, but it’s kinda worth it)
http://www.cracked.com/article_19733_5-things-they-dont-want-you-to-know-about-olympics.html
…y’know, suddenly my faith in the Olympics and international celebration is restored. ♥♥♥