Customer Reviews

The Frailty Myth: Women Approaching Physical Equality

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Other reviewers on this site have chosen to look at this book from a fairly limited perspective--focusing, for example, on the information about Uta Pippig--rather than on the work as a whole and its implications for women and for everyone; another reviewer has mistakenly suggested that Dowling's intention is to disparage men by suggesting that women are gaining physical strength.

Both of these readers/reviewers are mistaken, and have failed to consider The Frailty Myth completely and objectively, which leads to the false suggestion that her work is biased, untrue, and unimportant--this is simply not true. People appear to be threatened by her assertion that women's bodies can--and are--changing through the years, and that women are capable of far greater physical accomplishments than they were in the past, and will, in all likelihood, make ever more gains in the future.

Dowling cites research that demonstrates how our society (and other world societies) teaches girls to limit their physical prowess, to question their physical abilities and prowess, and then to fulfill the messages we send them about their supposed "frailty" and "weakness." Our culture sends the message, Dowling says, that women OUGHT to be petite, thin, and passive--and that the purpose for this is to be attractive to men. Bulkier women, and women who aggressively pursue physical challenges, are less appealing, we tell our young women.

The author is asserting that these messages CAN be changed, and that girls' ideas about what they can accomplish as athletes can have an enormous impact on what they actually accomplish. We can alter the messages we send and the opportunities we provide, and this may enable our young women to develop stronger muscles, more agility, better self-confidence, and the numerous other strengths that accompany physically fit individuals.

Dowling is not suggesting that either sex is, or will ever be, superior to the other--simply that we owe it to our young women to provide them with the same opportunities and beliefs about physical fitness that we give our boys--and make available the benefits that accompany that fitness.

I usually don't read non-fiction unless I have to, but I picked this up and then couldn't put it down. A fast read and well-written. Dowling provides a history of all the methods used to keep women frail that could imply a conspiracy if you were inclined to see one. She also provides convincing arguments for getting and staying strong. I have a four-year-old daughter, and this book will definitely influence my decisions regarding her athletic opportunities, let alone my own state of fitness.

Time for women to stop accepting the limitations placed on them in the interest of keeping them "safe."

I picked this book up because of its great cover, not really knowing what it was about. And when I started reading it in the bookstore, I just couldn't put it down. It's about what it has meant and still means for women to be treated as frail, as weaker, as needing to be helped, as in "Women and children first!" At first you think this is a nice thing, a gallant gesture on men's part, but I'd never thought about how it is for a woman to be treated on a par with children, physically, throughout all of her life! Who wants to be "taken care of" all their life? It's a lot like grown up women being called "girls." Anyway, the author is not haranging, she tells great stories, including wonderful ones about her daughters and friends. It's a great read.

I just loved this book and feel more excited when I go to the gym now, I'm not kidding. I see it as part of a bigger picture.

I highly recommend this book. It sounds like a cliche, but it's empowering.

Eleanor Reynolds

I didn't think, when I picked up this book, that it would be so effortless to read. I like reading, but most authors don't have a knack for glibness without compromising scholarship. Scholarly books can be dry and hard to trudge through, but I found myself breezing through "Frailty" and becoming informed of a great deal! I am so excited by this book that I decided to put it down for a moment and give it my 5 thumbs up on Amazon.com. If you like books that challenge conventional ideas of femininity, I believe you'll like "The Frailty Myth" very much. If you tend to react negatively towards most feminist literature, you will probably not like this book.

"Frailty" opened my eyes to the untruths that my mother had been telling me for years: "don't play sports when you have your period or you will get sick," "don't eat or drink anything cold during your period or your menstrual blood will clot inside," and (the big doozy) "don't swim when you are menstruating because you will get an infection!" My mother's ideas are pretty outlandish, but she is from the Chinese baby boomer generation, and Victorian notions of women's health still linger in modern-day Taiwan.

I am surprised and disappointed that this well-written book did not receive accolades from prominent newspapers and magazines, like the New York Times Book Review. I couldn't find a review for this book when I searched their site.

Ms. Dowling ups the ante when she challenges the omnipresent notion that women are the "weaker" sex. This unspoken, commonly held assumption keeps women out of direct competition with men in sports. It keeps women out of direct combat in wars. Ms. Dowling points out that physically fighting for one's country puts gender equality on even keel. She cites the women soldiers of Eritrea as an example. The only drawback to enforcing the draft with women, I believe, will be a increase in the popularity of burning draft cards!

Read the book for an interesting (albeit brief) mention on Minoan "bull vaulting", in which young women and men competed together in a dangerous sport. "Frailty" is just 266 pages of positive reinforcement for your self-image. Like another reviewer, this book has helped me resolve to stay active and use physical activity as the boost for my sense of confidence.

This was an very interesting book. I picked it up after several discussions with my boyfriend as to whether or not men gain muscle faster than women. This book did talk about the muscle issue, but what was truely interesting were discussions on how society still discourages female participation in sports, tries to differentiate between male and female sports by changing the rules just a little in the women's half of the sport, and the pressure that still exists on female athletes to be girly and feminine.

This book is also incredibly well written. It flows well and is rather difficult to put down.

I highly recommend this book.

as a long-time student of the second wave of feminist activism, I found this book absolultely fascinating, and I don't even like sports! Dowling writes clearly and persuasively for a general audience. This book is useful for anyone seeking to understand how women's status has changed in the united states over the 20th century.

Depending on what your looking for, this book is either an inspirational documentary of woman's achievements in the sports arena or just a collection of feminist cheerleading.
As a student of the controversial "women in the military" argument, I was looking for something to add to my knowledge base. I had hoped for a more analytical approach to the idea of women's athletic ability and less of "hear me roar" rhetoric.
Like Goldberg's "Bias" it is short on research and long on anectdotes. While undeniably a "good read", I had to look at her work with jaundiced eye after too many anti-male put downs and incorrect information. Mz Dowling never lets the facts get in the way of her position. Phrases like "fortunately not all husbands squelch their wives' athletic ambitions." (I suppose most do???) add to her air of bias.
She all but refuses any suggestion that biology has an impact on the athletic abilty and strength potential of woman, apparently laying the blame at the feet of males and our apparent societal dominance. To even criticize the WNBA is seen as misogynist. Later, her implication that there has ever been a female Green Beret is pure fabrication.
In chapter 7 we find the potential source for her passion (and ire?): her run-ins with various men throughout her life which scared or intimidated her. How much these events inspired her adult profession, we can't say, but it is clear the taint of them are felt in the general tone of the piece.
Although I didn't find what I was looking for in her book and she needs to work on her academics, I'm sure many folks will find a good deal praiseworthy, though I caution them to take much of the stories with a grain of salt

Here's another put-down of men by using a very broad brush. I don't kow of ANY woman who was thought of as frail and delicate. Think of the early settlement of this country - or any country for that matter. Where were the "frail" women? During WWI and WW II, where were the "frail women"? During the Depression, everybody struggled.

I don't know. Maybe Ms Colette Dowling was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, so she grew up with priveleged women. Well, now there's a snake in there, spitting venom.

She discredits herself with so many twisted, inaccurate, and half-truths, it's hard for me stay with this book.

I wish I had my $20 back. Any takers? You can the book for $5, and I'll pay the postage.

This is a bad book. Attempting to show that women are physically as strong as men, Ms. Dowling gives them advice that can only do them harm. To quote just one example out of several dozen: the female winner of the 1996 Boston Marathon was a German woman, Uta Pippig. Ms. Dowling praises Ms. Pippig for having won the Marathon in spite of getting her period in the midst of it. According to her,this constitutes proof that women do not have to suspend exercise owing to menstruation.

What Ms. Dowling does not say is that Ms. Pippig, according to her own home page, has won no important race after 1996. Instead, she has experienced continuous health problems. In 1998 she was found guilty of taking illegal drugs that led to her being suspended from running for a period of two years.

This is not only a bad book--bad on physiology, bad on history, bad on practically everything--but it offers bad advice. Don't touch it, or else you may end up with health problems like those of Ms. Pippig.