On Mon, 8 Sep 1997, Sean Johnston wrote:
>
> Okay, so why are most women in this, the world's most diverse, culture
> usually shorter than men, as well as weaker in the upper body?
>
> -Sean
>
NH: Let me balance this by pointing out that many men are proportionally
weaker in the legs than women, ie. given a woman and a man of similar
size and strength, the man will tend to be stronger in the upper body
than the woman, and the woman will tend to be stronger in the lower body
than the man. So we're not talking strength vs. weakness here, but
relative distribution along a spectrum, as well as
gender-based differences in distribution of muscular strength on our
frames. I guess the same would go for height. To bring this back on
topic, one of the more appealing speculative aspects of feminist sf for
me is the times when the literature allows me to imagine what it would be
like to be in a female body that is comfortable exercising physical
mastery. For which you don't necessarily need superior strength, just
good training. That was one of the things I loved about the martial art
in Elizabeth Lyn's books. Men and women sparred together.
-nalo
"There are two kinds of dates; the kind that you go out with, and the
small fruit that you eat."
-my aunt
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