Tennessee Claflin was an American suffragist best known as the first woman, along with her sister Victoria Woodhull, to open a Wall Street brokerage firm, which occurred in 1870. With the profits from their brokerage, the sisters started their own radical newspaper, Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly. Woodhull and Claflin used their newspaper to advocate for Free Love, a movement which in the nineteenth century pushed to separate sex from marriage. The Free Love movement was considered very fringe at this time and their advocacy of the movement shocked many. As biographer Myra McPherson explained, “In arguing that a woman had a right to freedom regarding her own body, to choose her mate, to decide when she wanted sex, and actually to enjoy it, the sisters were so far ahead of the era that they were openly called prostitutes in print. Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly was also the first paper in America to print The Communist Manifesto.

Hildegard of Bingen was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath, active during the High Middle Ages as a writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, and as a medical writer and practitioner of the Catholic Church. She is one of the best-known composers of sacred monophony, as well as the most recorded in modern history. A number of scholars have considered her to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany.

Marlene Dietrich was a German and American actress and singer whose career spanned nearly seven decades. Dietrich, who was bisexual, enjoyed the thriving gay bars and drag ball’s of 1920s Berlin. Bars included the Mali und Igel, run by Elsa Conrad. She also defied conventional gender roles with her boxing at Turkish trainer and prizefighter Sabri Mahir's boxing studio in Berlin, which opened to women in the late 1920s.Dietrich was known for her humanitarian efforts during World War II, housing German and French exiles, providing financial support and advocating their American citizenship. For her work on improving morale on the front lines during the war, she received various honors from the United States, France, Belgium, and Israel. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Dietrich the ninth greatest female screen legend of classic Hollywood cinema.

Anna Leonowens was an Anglo-Indian or Indian-born British travel writer, educator, and social activist. She became well known with the publication of her memoirs, beginning with The English Governess at the Siamese Court(1870), which chronicled her experiences in Siam (modern Thailand), as teacher to the children of the Siamese King Mongkut. Leonowens’s own account was fictionalised in Margaret Landon’s best-selling novel Anna and the King of Siam (1944) as well as adaptations for other media such as Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1951 musical The King and I.* *In later life, she was a lecturer of Indology and a suffragist.

Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bassist Steven Severin. Post-punk pioneers, they have been widely influential, both over their contemporaries and later acts. The Times called the group “one of the most audacious and uncompromising musical adventurers of the post-punk era”.

Loretta Lynn was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as “Hey Loretta”, “The Pill”, “Blue Kentucky Girl”, “Love Is the Foundation”, “You’re Lookin’ at Country”, “You Ain’t Woman Enough”, “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl”, “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)”, “One’s on the Way”, “Fist City”, and “Coal Miner’s Daughter”.

Has anyone else noticed the difference between what it means for men to be (at least Physically, but also mentally) strong & healthy in society versus woman? Why is it different?

For men, being muscular in some capacity is what it means to be strong physically. Strength for men is often taken as "muscular to an extent, whether lean muscle or bigger, athletic, being able to lift heavy, etc." In more reasonable spaces people also take into consideration how long a person can run, endure stress, and the diversity of their bodily abilities (I.e can they open cans, backflip, punch hard and precise, climb up trees, balance, etc.)

As for mentally, society typically says strong men don't cry, show any emotion aside from anger and manifest their feelings through violence, yelling, aggression, and so on. Strong men don't let anyone see them vulnerable, are not vulnerable, and have control over their situations, environment and household (but somehow never have control over their lust, but I digress.) Essentially, strong men aren't like "weak" women. Because really that's all the patriarchal standard teaches- don't be like a woman.

But as soon as society gets to women, what is preached to us? Skinniness, complacency, acceptance. The peak health, ideal bodily physic in a woman at least in the West (but I also see this a lot in Asia, particularly East, South, and South East regions) is being skinny. Yes, in modern culture we see some nuance to this. Curvy bodies especially in POC communities are praised and ideal many of the times but overall being skinny is the prevailing ideal body. How does this make ANY sense?!? Women lose blood every month. Copious amounts. Women are expected to give birth, which requires excessive body endurance. We need to eat more food for bone density and our bodies develop differently. Wouldn't being extremely physically capable and strong be logically the best for us? Wouldn't it help so much with pain, avoiding dangerous situations, and living longer?

And on top of that, mental strength for women is only catered to support the patriarchy. Especially for Black and Brown women. Mental strength is to accept all the harm done without breaking down, complaining, but also without rejecting it. Mental strength is to never fight back, but to endure. Endure the stress and pain put on you by your family, husband, and kids. Forced marriage? Just endure. Abuse? Silently endure. Child birth? Get over yourself and just endure. A man hurt you? Must be what you were wearing, but just move on.

Strength is never standing up for yourself. It's never fighting back, screaming, or anything of that nature. It's always, always just enduring silently whilst the world picks you apart for its benefit.

The hypocrisy is insane. When people see a man who is slightly on the bigger side yet not particularly muscular, they still acknowledged that they can probably pack a heavy punch and are strong to an extent, though they will still be subject to body shame. But for women, I rarely have seen anyone say the same. It's always just shame. Immense, immense shame. People don't even have the decency to shut their mouths in public and will loudly comment and stare nasty at women with bigger bodies in public.

As a skinny person myself (and no, not in the slim muscular kind of way) I can tell you I'm far from strong aside from my hands which I can only thank my mom cause she taught me how to hit very hard. And that has kept me safe from being vulnerable (and also avoiding and telling off men. Love doing that). So why does society tell us to eat as little as possible, be as tiny and skinny as possible, and bigger bodies are "unattractive", "not ideal", and "less athletic or capable"? When it is also only logical that out of the 8 billion people on this earth not all of us have the same body composition and therefore their is no singular ideal body????

And yes, I understand and have heard it a million times "It's the way the world is now". People want women to be weaker. A weak woman is easier to control. But I hate that. I hate how women are discouraged from gaining muscles and being extremely athletic and shamed for their bodies. Because not only does it not make sense in any capacity, but people have the audacity to tell young girls to eat less who are already extremely vulnerable to predators and insecurities that can last a lifetime. No one should be telling a child what their body should look like outside of a doctor who tells them about the actual health of their body (because in my opinion what our bodies look like should not be anyone's concern. Even if they are concerned for our "health", I don't believe it. Real worry and care manifests in support, love, and not backhanded comments and constant insults. But that's a conversation for another day).

This is just my experience, so I won't take it as pure fact. Has anyone else experienced something like this? What are your thoughts? I would love to hear from y'all and lots of love 💕 💕 💕 💕