Swimming Stereotypes

One researcher told me that during medieval jousting bouts, the fair ladies would actually lift their skirts to show the knights what was at stake. I am not sure if Super Girl swimmers reap the same psychosexual rewards as the Super Boy swimmers, and I find it impossible to imagine that many (or any) of you would be motivated by even the most attractive male swimmer "lifting his Speedo" as you step up on the blocks as a way of showing you what's at stake. Okay, I am getting a strong message that I will need to keep my Speedo on at all times during forthcoming meets, and most likely wear a number of modesty suits beneath. However, if any of you Super Girls out there decide that your revenge/self-actualization brain lobes are temporarily sated with victory over the likes of puny me, and you would like to inspire me to improve my times (and hence enjoy your future victories even more because you will be beating a "better" Jim), please consider attempting the fair-ladies-at-the-jousting-arena motivational strategy for me. This, plus a B70, is virtually a guarantee of a PR. Please, help me do it! And thanks, Swimmj, for your philosophy of competition. Your 10 and under coaching reminds me of another thing one of the researchers told me: that the stereotype is that girls like working hard in practice but are blase about meets, and that boys hate working hard in practice, but love racing in meets. Do you find this to be the case with your team, too? The masters swimmimg movement is interesting to me in many ways. I think more than any other sport, it has helped revolutionize the way gerontologists look at aging and exercise. I think a similar sea change in attitudes may emerge, as well, on the conventional wisdom regarding competitiveness and gender influences. Finally, in terms of those, like Chris, who appreciate a well-toned body over the Twiggy heroin-chic emaciation that has long dominated the fashion catwalks of the world, I personally think we may just be returning to a much more evolutionarily sensible view of things: i.e., the world is rough and eking out a hardscrabble existence is no trifle. A certain strength and capacity for endurance in both genders is something worth passing down to the next generation. Waif-like women, who resemble in many ways prepubescent boys, seems to have been something of a luxury of affluence that maybe won't survive the financial winter fast a'comin'. I, for one, find strong women increasingly attractive in my incipient dotage. Instead of waifs who demand my protection against scoundrels, I prefer women who can scare off the scoundrels that threaten me, with a full throated blood curdling cry: Leave my boyfriend alone!

One researcher told me that during medieval jousting bouts, the fair ladies would actually lift their skirts to show the knights what was at stake. I am not sure if Super Girl swimmers reap the same psychosexual rewards as the Super Boy swimmers, and I find it impossible to imagine that many (or any) of you would be motivated by even the most attractive male swimmer "lifting his Speedo" as you step up on the blocks as a way of showing you what's at stake. Okay, I am getting a strong message that I will need to keep my Speedo on at all times during forthcoming meets, and most likely wear a number of modesty suits beneath. However, if any of you Super Girls out there decide that your revenge/self-actualization brain lobes are temporarily sated with victory over the likes of puny me, and you would like to inspire me to improve my times (and hence enjoy your future victories even more because you will be beating a "better" Jim), please consider attempting the fair-ladies-at-the-jousting-arena motivational strategy for me. This, plus a B70, is virtually a guarantee of a PR. Please, help me do it! And thanks, Swimmj, for your philosophy of competition. Your 10 and under coaching reminds me of another thing one of the researchers told me: that the stereotype is that girls like working hard in practice but are blase about meets, and that boys hate working hard in practice, but love racing in meets. Do you find this to be the case with your team, too? The masters swimmimg movement is interesting to me in many ways. I think more than any other sport, it has helped revolutionize the way gerontologists look at aging and exercise. I think a similar sea change in attitudes may emerge, as well, on the conventional wisdom regarding competitiveness and gender influences. Finally, in terms of those, like Chris, who appreciate a well-toned body over the Twiggy heroin-chic emaciation that has long dominated the fashion catwalks of the world, I personally think we may just be returning to a much more evolutionarily sensible view of things: i.e., the world is rough and eking out a hardscrabble existence is no trifle. A certain strength and capacity for endurance in both genders is something worth passing down to the next generation. Waif-like women, who resemble in many ways prepubescent boys, seems to have been something of a luxury of affluence that maybe won't survive the financial winter fast a'comin'. I, for one, find strong women increasingly attractive in my incipient dotage. Instead of waifs who demand my protection against scoundrels, I prefer women who can scare off the scoundrels that threaten me, with a full throated blood curdling cry: Leave my boyfriend alone!