Why “The Weaker Sex” Should Hit the Gym

Maternal strength isn't a metaphor

This week, Featured Author Rachel Lu tells the story of how exercise helps her stay sane—and argues that all women, especially mothers, should strive for physical fitness.

Why “The Weaker Sex” Should Hit the Gym

Rachel Lu

Here is a question I have often pondered. Why is it that traditionalists, who generally view childbearing very positively, haven’t generally embraced female fitness with the same enthusiasm as maternity-skeptical leftists? If you see maternity as a neutral life-choice, then the urgency of staying fit might be less obvious for women. If we want young women to become mothers, we should care whether they’re adequately prepared for this physically demanding undertaking. On the ground though, liberal feminists tend to be much more excited about (literal) girl power.

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This Week in Sex-Realist Feminism: Children and Porn, Surrogacy, and Shakespeare vs. the Girlboss

This week: Jason S. Carroll, Brad Wilcox, Brian J. Willoughby, and Michael Toscano on protecting children from pornography, Janice Turner on why we shouldn't relax surrogacy restrictions, and Marilyn Simon on what girlbosses miss in reading Shakespeare. Plus: manic pixie dream girl nightmare, women's studies on the chopping block, the perils of BDSM, and grooming gangs.

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From the Archives:

Featured Author Helen Roy discusses Olympic medallist Ilonha Maher’s refreshing approach to body positivity.

Ilona Maher, Jean Baudrillard, and Authentic Body Positivity at the Olympics

Helen Roy

“Maher quietly subverts both the faux-equality of the body positivity movement and shallow gender essentialism by prizing excellence over appearance.

See what magnificence you could accomplish. The greatness is beyond the image.”

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Fairer Disputations Book Club:

Our book club, on Flowers of Fire: The Inside Story of South Korea’s Feminist Movement and What It Means for Women’ s Rights Worldwide, will be starting the first week of February. Featured Author Leah Libresco Sargeant and Patrick Brown will be leading discussions on Substack, concluding with a live Zoom event in early March.

Expect more details next week, but in the meantime, get your copy of the book now so you can read along!