The Frailty Myth [Paperback]

Is it just me, or do some of the rather inflammatory reviews of this book belie some very insecure minds?

Some of the condescending generalizations these people are making wouldn't be tolerated were this a book on say, racial or religious equality.

Women have been socialized to be a lot smaller and weaker than they need to be, and in a more egalitarian society, they might learn from an early age to properly nourish, exercise, and use their bodies to realize more physical accomplishments and enjoy a greater sense of self. What exactly is it about this thesis that is evoking such a hostile reaction in you? Why are you acting so threatened?

Did any of you misogynists actually bother to read the book? Given your frightened, contemptuous, kneejerk reactions, apparently not.

In "The Frailty Myth," Colette Dowling presents a compelling and well-researched analysis of why and how American girls are socialized to be "weak." Dowling examines the myths about the "weaker sex," tracing this myth as a source of the oppression of women handed down to us from Victorian times.

She convincingly explains why men fear strong women: In part, she says, it's because strength is perhaps the only area in which our culture does not say that men and women are equal. Thus, as male-only professions and traits are rapidly disappearing from public discourse, strength is masculinity's last hope.

Further, she carefully details how the media, parents, educators and peers of both sexes encourage girls to be passive and boys to be active (often without realizing it), and gives ample evidence that there is no physiological basis for the belief that women are fated to be weaker than men. It is, in essence, a mere self-fulfilling prophecy.

After demonstrating the mental and physical unhealthiness of this cycle, the author provides advice on breaking out of it. To illustrate the possibilities, she offers inspiring stories of women and girls who have become strong, breaking into "male" sports like football and even playing on co-ed teams.

This book is well-written, well-organized, and an important read for anyone with a daughter or an interest in women's issues. At the very least, it might encourage you to spend more time at the gym -- that's one of the many beneficial things it did for me!

I am not a fan of Dowling's other books. This one, is a resarch book that is easily read like a novel, while providing important, empowering facts and data on the way males and females develop. Dowling talks about how from an early age, even in our times, girls are still taught it is not "feminine" or attractive to boys or others to be muscular or athletic. She talks about how boys are taken by the majority of theri fathers and taught how to throw a ball, and train their muscles, and engage in rough housing, where girls are not and so "throw like a girl." Boys and girls bodies are similar but as girls starve themselves, and do not use their muscles, their ability to develop larger muscles over all diminishes as they get older. We see female athletes who want to look like covergirls and some who are beautiful and atheltic, and those who really just want to be professional athletes. This book overall shows how women hold themselves back from achieving their true potential starting at an early age, and examines how the image a woman has of herself by thinking a certain kind of beauty is most important keeps a woman from being independant in this way. Dowling also points out that if you take a 5'7" woman who works out and a man of the same height who does not, and one who does, the results are very interesting. She points out that women are often compared to male athletes not in their weight range. While Women and men may not be biologically equal in every area, that should not keep us from being equals as humans. Dowling also talks about how athletes need to work with their menstrual cycles. Also, with the studies done now, we know that women have always been treated tradtionally nutritionally and physically by doctors as if they were skinny men with mood swings. Now we know we have different nutritional requirements, and while during our cycle, we are constantly preparing for a child, wether we want to have one or not, and men do not. When these needs are all met healthily instead of denying ourselves to fit into a body type that does not fit us, we will all have more energy for strength training. There is so much information packed into this book, and it is such a fast read, I recommend it to all women, and especially those who have daughters to see a new way of strengthening them. I find it hilarious that some still question women's strength and dexterity after reading this book.