Push Up and Put Up With It

Let's talk about push-ups. Well, the so-called "girl push-ups", which involve allowing the knees to touch the floor, thus making them easier, rather than maintaining a straight plank position.
     It's not so much the exercise itself that bothers me - they're actually a decent way to build some upper body strength. It's the name that's irritating. Why must it be girl push-ups? (Now, I realize they are occasionally referred to as "modified push-ups", but "girl push-ups" seems to be much more common. It has a particular ring to it that sticks in your mind.) Just the name itself places an entire gender into a box of "weaker than men". This may generally be true from a purely physical standpoint, but  it's essentially stereotyping. We wouldn't go around declaring all Germans to be racist or all blonds to be dumb, so why is it perfectly acceptable to imply that one gender is far weaker than the other?

When you Google "modified push-ups", the images are almost exclusively of women

     The other day at the gym, I went over to the free weight area. This is where the bench presses, squat bars, and other heavier equipment are located, and it inevitably draws men with the allure of being ripped. It's unusual to see any other women in this corner of the gym besides myself, and that day was no exception. After stretching, I proceeded to do some push-ups. Not girl push-ups, but the full ones. Behind me was a couple, with the boyfriend helping his girlfriend begin bench pressing. As soon as I began my push-ups, I couldn't help but notice him gawking at me. Really? I thought. Have you never seen a girl do push-ups? And I supposed he hadn't. So I just kept going until he eventually got bored and looked away.
     Why was it so shocking that a female could do push-ups? What does that say about our society?
     This is not just a one-way path of gender bias, however. If a man can only do "girl push-ups" he's considered lesser than those who can do full push-ups. That's not fair either. A person's value, regardless of their gender, should not be "measured in physical courage" (Ehrlich 571).
     We human beings are comprised of so much more than flesh and bone, and we should be valued according to traits that reflect our complexity. -MC

Side note: The paper towel company Brawny recently released ads with the slogan "#strengthhasnogender". We are making steps towards overlooking physical strength!

The new ads depict women in the familiar red Brawny flannel