Not aware men are stronger than women

[AthenaBasil]

Maybe I’ve just been unluckily but on a few platforms I’ve noticed a number of women who disagree with statements like: men are stronger than women. Anyone else? Why is this?
For some it seems like they acknowledge correctly that women’s sport has been held back but then conclude from that that women’s sport just needs time to catch up with men’s or supersede it(!). I’ve even had women say I have self hate because I don’t think the fastest 100m runner will ever be female.
Obviously you can have a woman stronger than a specific man but in general it’s established that men are stronger.
Is this just women trying to win an argument regards issues like males in women’s sport or do a group of women (and maybe men but I only notice women) genuinely believe this? And if the latter, why? Is it a specific type of feminism?

Because it used to be common for equality to mean equal in everything, including strength. It also used to be common for anything feminine to be disparaged as girly and for anything masculine to be aspirational. Being called a girl meant you were weak and feminine.

I remember having an argument with someone who said men had quicker responses than women. I saw that as him saying that women were inferior to men.

I saw myself as a feminist but feminism to me meant to be like a man. That's because I was brought up and socialised to see being a girl as inferior.

I'm delighted that's no longer the case.

Ah right.
I think there have always been some of us who could see the flaws in that... I was a small girl but I never saw that as making me in any way inferior to anyone else!

I mean, and this is a tangent, but maybe relevant somehow, I remember reading (I think) From The Beast To The Blonde and there’s a chapter about clever girls using their smarts to talk their way out of dangerous situations. I really liked that there were these old fairy tales that acknowledged quick thinking, versatility and staying cool under pressure were as good (if not better?) than brute strength. Because women and girls have always had to rely on their wits. Remember the young woman who was kidnapped and played along with her kidnapper, outwitting him and escaping? (She died a few years ago I think and I’m sorry I don’t remember her name.)

There’s also the overlooking of women’s astonishing bravery- again, remember Lisa Potts, the young teacher who saved children from a machete attack (I’m quite unsentimental but her bravery still brings a tear to my eye, and if you don’t know of her look her up.) Sadly this is relevant at the moment too. And this is so brave, to protect the smallest and most vulnerable against someone much stronger (and armed!) than you. To suggest simply having less physical strength makes you inferior is such bullshit.

We have replaced the old sexist movies where the woman screams and needs to be rescued with unrealistic depiction of women's fighting ability. Both as sexist in their own way, although some of the female characters are superheroes, so lie outside normal physical limits, as do their male counterparts.

I have also encountered young men and women online who dont understand the huge strength differences between the sexes, although people with siblings of the opposite sex tend to be more realistic.

I think there are some women who for their own need to feel safe have to believe that women are more invincible than they are and men are less capable of harm than the ongoing evidence proves.

I agree but it is actually counter intuitive. If you believe you are invincible and that your predator is not as harmful, you are probably putting yourself in greater danger.

There have been many discussions/arguments over the years that women who learn basic self defence might have a false sense of confidence and power which, in reality, is almost laughable when compared to the strength of a man. They are actually better off running away from a threatening situation than engaging with it head on.

Remember the young woman who was kidnapped and played along with her kidnapper, outwitting him and escaping? (She died a few years ago I think and I’m sorry I don’t remember her name.)

Stephanie Slater? She didn't escape, her employers paid the ransom her kidnapper demanded and he released her. She did try to befriend him, hoping to make it more difficult for him to kill her, and that may well have worked, since he did let her go after getting the ransom, having killed a previous victim, Julie Dart, who had tried to escape.

Poor Stephanie never really got over it. She died of cancer aged 50 in 1992.

This is really interesting

I was teenage in the 90s and all about the girl power, but always knew men were much stronger, I didn’t know it had ever been controversial to say.

That might explain some of bizarre attitudes around bio men in women’s sport though..

Yeah similar to PPs, somehow I thought "equality" meant not admitting boys / men were naturally stronger. Was very influenced by the tail end of lad culture.

I don't remember being officially taught that they were stronger either.

It was play fighting with my insanely thin boyfriend in my early 20s that made me realise. I was fit, lean and fairly muscled, weighing much more than him. He was an emaciated, lazy stoner. But he always won with ease.

Ah, thank you, I must’ve misremembered.

Also thank you for supplying her name.

People arent going to know stuff unless they are taught it.

And they aren't taught it in schools.

I don't remember ever being taught something that's so blindingly obvious.

come again? @Carebearsonmybed

The women (and men) I've seen do this on platforms like tiktok say it and use it to justify men in women's sports. When they're presented with evidence of men in general being stronger than women in general they just deny it and say that it's an insult to women. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I don't know if they are stupid or whether don't want to accept fact as it just doesn't suit their argument.

I think it's the former, stupidity. On a tiktok live a couple of days ago, a group of men and women were saying that as some women are stronger than some men, that is justification for men to be in women's sports. It's impossible to argue with their 'logic'.

I can imagine that 10 years ago I would have argued in horror that I couldn’t do anything my husband can do. I am lucky that no man has ever used his strength against me and I grew up with a sister. I used to make a point of carrying the heavier suitcase on holiday as I hadn’t realised my husband would find it easier- I definitely feel I grew up with the ‘girl power’/ we can do anything the men can do message. What changed it for me was getting into running and entering some races, and more recently having teenage sons. I do believe that some women aren’t aware of the magnitude of the difference in strength between the sexes.

Someone said something along these lines in the House of Commons relatively recently, and there was booing. I was really surprised. I can’t remember which MP it was. All they were doing was acknowledging the general disparity in physical strength between the sexes, and there was clearly a feeling that this either wasn’t true, or shouldn’t be said aloud.

That's madness. The differences between men and women are important and it needs to be acknowledged, especially in the current climate. There are differences in the composition of men and women. Men have more muscle mass/strength, it's a fact. We're doing women no favours denying it, but it does help those who wish to take women's places and spaces.

I had this today with some friends who were annoyed when I said my husband was stronger than me. It was like I had committed blasphemy saying it out loud. I thought they were saying I was emotionally stronger and so “no I mean biologically “. They were shocked I would say it and I was so puzzled by their reaction, it’s madness!

I mean I am fit and work out and DH is slightly overweight and not active but he’s still stronger than me! It doesn’t mean he’s better than me it’s just facts. I have tried to beat him in an arm wrestle and failed 😆

When did the concept of 'different but of equal value' disappear? That was one of the many iterations of feminism I learned about in the early 90s. And it seemed to be completely sensible.

I've noticed it too. It's ridiculous.

https://boysvswomen.com/#/ High school boys times compared to olympic women's times.

I enjoy physical sport and activity and don't want any girl or woman to think physical activity isn't for them. I also grew up with the stereotypical '50s/60s housewife' for a mother and for aunts, and witnessed how physically strong they all were (handling livestock, building with concrete, hard labour type gardening etc etc) as well as their phenomenal emotional strength and intelligence. I think this is where it comes from - the desire to recognise the relentlessness of physical labour undertaken by so many women, their capability and their physical strength, in the face of male-directed focus on femininity as inactive, delicate, soft, physically restrained by clothing or whatever is sexually appealing to them.

I agree though that extrapolating this to say that it is unfeminist to understand women's bodies properly and that we can have fair competition in sport with men is just a bit daft. Kid's stuff.

I was at university in the nineties and remember a couple of my male friends were arm-wrestling one day. I said that I would like to try and a close male friend said ok. He was shorter than me but quite wiry and a few years older. I was slightly built but fairly active.

After about a minute I commented that I was doing quite well, as our hands were still in the middle and I felt that I was holding my own. He chuckled and instantly bent my arm down onto the table! He had just been playing along with me of course.

I was astonished and it made me realise how much stronger men, any men, are than most women.

I enjoy physical sport and activity and don't want any girl or woman to think physical activity isn't for them.

Totally agree - but that is more likely to happen if there isn't an understanding of physical reality.
Our family does watersports. Very few women would think sailing a Laser was 'for them' if only full rigs existed! But many can sail well with the smaller Radial rig. This is an example where the reality of dimorphism has to be reflected in the kit.

Totally agree. We’re actually doing girls and young women a disservice making them believe they’re as physically strong as men. It literally serves no purpose and is actually dangerous.
There’s no middle ground now. Like someone said we had films in the 60s and on where women could never be relied on to stand on their feet in an emergency and now we’re seeing cold hard nose b***s who can fight their way out of any situation, whilst being totally devoid of any emotion.

I do think the Trans thing may well have made women more aware of the physical differences between men and women.