Put those guns away before you get us all killed

The whole idea that girls may not be strengthening their legs because they are torn between wanting to play a sport and yet look like they don't (i.e. be un-muscled and not "thick") made me totally sad. How lame that girls have to feel the pressure to have bodies that are skinny instead of functional. Course I also like the way muscle definition looks, I think the athletic aesthetic is awesome. But sadly, teenage girls aren't all about getting my approval, you know, cuz I'm not taking 'em to prom.

Now, as someone who does have muscle definition in, say, my arms, I do know you get mixed responses from others and lots of interesting messages about muscles and being female. I've yapped about this before, but maybe if I talk about it enough, when I die I'll get to be the patron saint of buffed chicks everywhere. I'm just a person, and a neurotic one at that, so it's not like I'm any stranger to body freak-outs and insecurity and angst---though it has lessened significantly since I got athletic. But most of that is my own internalized stuff, and if I'm actually confronted by a real live person who doesn't heart my aesthetic, it's amusingly clear that this is not a person I care about even a teeny weeny bit. Yes, most of the people who disapprove of the guns are coincidentally not people I have even one tiny bit of interest in impressing. I mean, it's uncanny how often it coincides.

Yesterday was freakin' hot here, so I was all tank-topped out. I have the combo of big tattoos and muscle-y-ness that people seem to like to comment on. I am not exaggerating when I say that in a 20 minute span, four separate people said something about my arms. Not all of it was sweet, in my opinion. Here are the four types of commentary I generally get:

1. The sincere compliment. Sometimes people just say flattering things about the guns, "I love your arms" etc. Got no problem with that--it's very nice. Occasionally people ask what I do so they can replicate it or whatever, both male and female, BTW, and that's fine.

2. The ambiguous commentary. "My, what big muscles you have!" as though we are in the Red Riding Hood story. I probably ought to say, "The better to clothes-line you with, my dear" or something. But it actually doesn't bug me much, some people are just unsure about what they think about ripped-ness, and they get to make up their minds on their own time, cuz I have things to do.

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