"When anthropology professor Alison Murray was studying prehistoric human remains at the University of Cambridge, she made a startling discovery about women’s bodies: They were buff. When comparing prehistoric women to modern ones, Murray found their bone structure most closely resembled that of today’s elite rowers—evidence of regular, load-bearing activity and a sign that women played a major role in the development of agriculture.
"In fact, for most of human history, women weren’t meant to be thin; they were meant to be strong. Neolithic women had arm bones 11 to 16% stronger than the rowers to 30% greater than typical Cambridge students, according to a 2017 study. Bronze Age women showed a similar pattern, with arm bones up to 13% stronger than rowers. Our cultural obsession with thinness is a relatively recent invention, born of fashion, patriarchy, and postwar consumerism. When food became more accessible, especially in Western cultures, thinness replaced fullness as a marker of status and self-discipline. It began in the late 19th century, with new warnings about 'corpulence,' the dawn of dieting as a moral virtue, and the invention and rise of the calorie, all of which paved the way for modern food restriction.
"Across time and cultures, women have consistently outlived men by 5 to 20%, says Steven Austad, scientific director of the American Federation for Aging Research. The global life expectancy at birth for a woman is 76 compared with 71 for a man. About three-fourths of centenarians are women.
"The reasons aren’t fully understood—theories include the possibility of a more responsive immune system, an additional X chromosome or the idea that mothering makes women robust—but the pattern is clear.
"And when it comes to strength, women possess a different kind of power. Yes, men typically have more upper-body muscle and larger hearts. But studies show women are often more resilient. Sandra Hunter, chair of movement science in the School of Kinesiology at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor has found that women can better withstand muscle fatigue. In fact, Hunter points to a 2016 review of more than 55 fatigue studies that concluded that, on average, women outlasted men by 36%.
"The emerging science paints a clearer picture: women are not the weaker sex. We’re just built differently—and to last.
"Bursts of the “return to skinny” have always surfaced at pivotal moments — right when women are on the brink of claiming more power. It’s no coincidence. The flapper look took hold in the 1920s just as women won the right to vote — a new, boyish silhouette for a new kind of woman, one who was suddenly politically powerful. In the 1960s, Twiggy’s thin, androgynous frame became the face of fashion right as the women’s liberation movement was gaining traction, challenging traditional roles and demanding equality. In the 1990s, heroin chic surged in popularity as women flooded law schools, boardrooms, and newsrooms in record numbers — a visual counterpunch to female ambition."
This photo points to the greater strength of women in present-day societies where they do heavy farm work, and grind or pound grain (or seeds, or yam, or other foods). Shown here, very ancient grindstones in the Sahara, from a time when plants grew in a greener Sahara.
TIME
Becoming a Bodybuilder Taught Me Women Aren’t Meant to be Thin
"We’ve been taught to disappear, but our true power lies in taking up space," writes Anne Marie Chaker.
