Ideal female body and why I disagree with my culture on this one. (opinions)

[Alex1989]

Somehow I think this culture of mine is a wee bit fucked up. In my old unit there is a young woman who plays on the battalion and company softball team, SHE loves softball, she's been playing for most of her life.

During a drill in Salinas training center, she went for an evening jog. Me, Mortar, Sniper and Sarge were at the barracks gazebo playing dominoes, Softball jogs by the gazebo, she was wearing a short sports top that showed her stomach and running shorts, naturally this caught my attention, to be honest and I confess, I kinda stared at her, I was surprised! I knew she played softball but I did not know she was well built, I mean built like a tank! I'm talking washboard abs, toned arms, powerful legs that can smash a brick wall. she looked amazing (I was also a bit jealous because I also want strong legs...), some soldiers from the other company started bad mouthing her:

"She looks like a trans man"
"She must be a butch lesbian" (To be fair she is a lesbian but to use her orientation as a pejorative is quite a crass and douche move)
"She probably can't get a man, probably scares them away"
"No man wants to date a mannish bitch" (I wanted to slap the dog shit out of these people! :grrr:)

The sad part is, she heard all the insults thrown at her, and one of the insulting soldiers is a first lieutenant, naturally she was hurt... I could not believe my ears, I confronted them (Yes even the lieutenant.) How could they be so crass and sexist? the officer threatened to write me up but Sarge reminded him that there were witnesses to the whole thing, and could have him reported to the BC (Battalion Commander.)

They insulted her because she did not have the "Ideal" body for a woman, a slim waifish body, easy to dominate. While they were looking at her with contempt being other than the "Ideal", I admired her (And her body), these pigs think that men only have preference for a skinny model looks and women who deviate from that standard are "Butch d*kes" or "Land Whales" who deserved to be mocked.

I will admit that I like a woman who has a body like Softball's, I do not know why but I find them very attractive (don't worry I find all body types attractive), my point is my culture is not accepting of overweight women (even women who are slightly chubby), women who have a toned body or women who quite tall.

I REALLY hate my culture...

[sky]

Good on you for confronting them about those insults! It takes guts to speak up!

[Robjection]

I know we haven't really interacted much on here Alex, but in that one post I suddenly gained a lot of respect for you.

[Caffeinated]

Standing up to people who are acting like bullying jerks takes a lot of courage.

[Alex1989]

I know we haven't really interacted much on here Alex, but in that one post I suddenly gained a lot of respect for you.

(Personal note: Well, after one admits his mistakes in life and admitting that one was acting like a whiny, misogynistic prick and getting help to get rid of those attitudes, you gain a load of empathy for another human being. Note that this whole mess happened after I got suspended from the forums and got help from therapy.)

Last I heard from Sniper, the Lt. got busted down to sergeant and lost his commission. I do not know if this is true since the officer is in an engineer company while I am in infantry. but nonetheless, Softball appreciated my help, I was saddened to hear that she was bullied mercilessly in school too, basically I can feel her pain. I kind of saw myself in her as she told me her story.

I wish she did not have to go through that...

I REALLY, REALLY hate my culture...

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