Thanks to A Strain That’s Left Her Sidelined for Weeksall eyes are on Caitlin Clar’s Quad right now. But it is the Indiana Fover Star’s Arms that Had People Talking in the Days Leading Up to Her Second Wnba Season.
It all started in March, wen 23 -ear-op Clark was Photographed Cheering on her alma Mater, The Iowa Hawkeyes, During the ncaa Big Ten Tournament. “OKKKK hello Arms!” One Commenter Wrote, Adding a flexed bicep emoji in reaction to the point Guard’s noticeably muscular appearance.
Those Muscles were on Display when Clark’s Team Photo Was Releassed in Early May, PromPting Side-by-Side Comparisons to her 2024 physique. Acciting to Clark Herself, She’s Been intentionally Bulking Up Sine Last Year. “I try to put on some weight and i’ve been working hard in the weight room,” She Told Reporters in August.
That rampond up in the offseason, for the fover’s head athletic performance Coach, Sarah Kessler, Who Told Espn that Clark was in the weight room four to five Times a Week. Cue the toned courtside pic that got got wagging in march – and a lot of body discourse that not every comfortable with.
WHY DO People Care?
“Speculating About Women’s Bodies Generally and Speculation of Women Athletes’ Bodies is Not New,” Michelle Mannoa sociologist, Associate Provost for Community Enrichment at Northwestern University and the Author of Denied: Women, Sports and the Contradicions of Identitytels yahoo life. “What stands out as new to me in this case is that it is the speculation is positive.
Indeed, Adjectives like “Beautiful” have been use alongside “jacked” and “ripped” as commasters weigh in Clark’s Muscles. One X user Hailed her as Having the “Peak Female Atherte form,” while an Instagram Commeneter Wrote, “Girl You Show Off Those Muscles. You Workhed Hard on Those. Lookin ‘Great.”
Acciting to Mikala JamisonAuthor of the Newsletter Body TypeThose compliments are a sign of evolving standards. “It ‘Hard to Overstate How Much Conversations ABOUT WOMEN AND THEIR MUSCULATURE HAS CHANGED,” She teles yahoo life.
She References A Survey Done by Writer Leigh Peele in 2009 (Which Jamison Wrote About in 2022) in Which 2,000 Women Were polled on their views about weightlifting and the Attractiveness of Muscles. The Majority of Those Surveyed Indicated that they didn’t like the look of muscles on their bodies and figure men didn’t find it attractive. A Majority Also Said they’d Rather be “too say heyer too.
“There was that this sense that any shade of musculariy on a Woman’s body was something, at the least for this survey, was desired by a lot of Women. “But that has definitely Changed over the years, and you see that in things like more women Strength training regularly than ever before.”
A Growing Interest in Lifting Weighs, Eating More Protein and Paying More Attention to the Benefits of Building Muscle Has Roots in Conversations About Menopause and Aging. Howver, The Reaction to Clar’s Body in Particular SEEMS to be an indication that the Positive Messaging About Bodies Could Be Reaching and Influencing Younger As Well.
Female athletes’ Impact on Body Standards
The focus on Clark’s muscles follows a general shift in gears in terms of how female athletes – and thyir bodies – are being discussed.
“People were talking about this a lot of during the (2024) Olympics with Ilona Maher,” Says Jamison, Refering to the US Women’s Rugby Player who won bronze in Last Summer. “She was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and She’s a Super-Slender, Super-Skinny Woman. She’s Very Muscular. ”
AFTER NABBING THE SPORTS Illustrated Swimsuit Digital Cover Last Fall, Maher donned a bikini again to possess for the pages of the Magazine’s recently released 2025 print Issuewhic quotes her as Saying, “I Hope People see my Photos and understand that Strengh Can Be so Beautiful and So Feminine.” The Latest Issue Has Won Praise for Featuring various female athletesIncluding Fellow Olympians Jordan Chiles and Gabby Thomas. “How Different My and Many Other Women’s Lives Wauld be if these Strong Bodies were the Center of Attention?
“If you see more different Types, Sizes and Shapes of Bodies, it gits any person is seeing those types an underestanding that there are many different ways that body cooul, or maybe you want your body.
But Eight Still, Who People Praise is Dependent on Certain Standards. “If i think about athletes like serena Williams or Brittney Griner, The Commentary Around Their Bodies Throughout their Careers Has Been Pretty Uniformly Negative,” Says Manno. “So be what’s what’s happening with caitlin Clark, have to think that time and her gender expression” – Ie, Being a White, Straight Woman – “Are Really helping her in this moment.”
At the end of the day, the Beauty Standard for any and all of the time contingent to be a tight line to walk, especilantly for those in sports, accorting to manno. “A lot of Women athletes Still Navigate This Very Strong Tension BetWene Wanting to Be Strong, Wanting to Do the Things they will be to excel at their sport and still be acceptally as looking, quote-unquote, approprately femininine enoveugh,” Sheys.
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