Physical Fimiliarity

I was recently at the gym at USC with my girlfriends and we were running on the  treadmills. In front of us was a girl that I every time that I am here working out in her typical skin tight outfit on the same weights and machines that the boys are working out on. At first I thought that she was just working out there to be with the boys and flirt with them, but the more I see her the more I start to understand that she is working out on those machines because she can. She is just as strong and physically fit as some of the boys working out next to her and she is not doing it to get attention but doing it because she is capable.

 I was talking to my male friends who were also at the gym and asked them if they ever noticed the girl that works out here every day. They said they had and they had given her a nickname... "Skeletor" is what they called her. I didn't understand why this nickname worked because she wasn't super skinny, sure she was in great shape, but she was muscular and toned. A skeleton was the last thing that came to my mind. They proceeded to talk about her and make fun of her and point out all of her flaws and anything negative they could think of. I found myself starting to agree with some of the negative things that they said, but quickly stopped myself. They only reason that I was agreeing with them was because she was different from the rest of the girls, she didn't fit the gender norm that most girls like me fall into. I realized that the boys were only making fun of her because their masculinity was being challenged.

Here was a girl at a gym that is typically dominated by males and in "their" area of the gym where most girls did not dare go. They were intimidated by her because she was doing the same exercises and lifting the same weights as them and putting up close to the same amount as them. They felt that this girl was a threat to their status as the dominating, masculine figures in a place where males are typically supreme. I found this to be quite amusing and in a way changed the way I viewed this girl. I no longer looked at her as a freakish showoff, I now found her to be some what inspiring. She was brave enough to know who she is and had the confidence to allow herself to meet her potential. So often girls hold themselves back for fear of upsetting the male status quo, this girl is a small but strong inspiration.