International Women’s Day. This day was established to to inspire women and celebrate achievements. But what this blogger often hears is that we have to “empower” women, and not that women should empower themselves. The best example of what I mean comes in the form of the female bodybuilder.
Female bodybuilders epitomize the strong woman. Often working many hours in the gym and taking special diets, they emerge with bodies, and more often than not self-esteem, vastly improved. Yet, with all of those efforts at obvious self-improvement, the female bodybuilder is not widely supported beyond a fanatical group of fans.
This is to change that, in part by presenting two women I know who have really shown the best of women’s bodybuilding, and are attractive and smart women with muscle: Sarah Hayes and Kortney Olson.
I met Sarah Hayes five years ago, and she was already bodybuilding, but over that time, moved to Dallas, Texas, and really focused on moving her body to extraordinary levels of strength. Anyone who says a woman can’t be strong enough to go into combat, or do anything, never met Sarah.
Korney Olson is an amazing ball of confidence and energy. More strong woman than bodybuilder, but with every bit the female bodybuilder’s body, I met her three years ago in Oakland, but she moved to Australia and is now a personal trainer and motivational speaker who’s also taking up ultimate fighting.
Watch out!
In all, Sarah and Korney are role-models for all women. They don’t wait for others to empower them, they empower themselves. And for those who think there’s something wrong with women who have muscle, please get over it.
Personally, I’ve liked women who were, as they say, buffed, or athletic, since I was 14 years old. I never grew up with the idea that a woman had to be weaker than me, or that I had to be able to physically control a woman.
That idea must be jettisoned from the World’s society, and the sooner the better. Let’s start by celebrating female bodybuilders, passionately, and openly!