A couple of weeks ago I went to a friend's house to meet her soon-to-be husband and to help her move. I just about burst out laughing when he called my arms "guns" and asked if I work out. I jog, I said, but couldn't stop thinking about that term, "guns". There's something so funny about it. It makes me chuckle every time. Guns.
Then today, First Lady Guns turned up on a blog I read. I don't read a whole lot of blogs--which is to say, compared with people who read lots of blogs my reading list is a short one. Pretty much a blog has to be written by someone I know or written about something I wish I was writing about or I won't read it.
Art is one of those things I wish I was writing about, so I read a fair number of blogs about art. Modern Art Notes, the ultimate art-blog, is always excellent, contemporary, and (to me anyway) relevant. Today's post, about the depiction of women's musculature, reminded me why I like that blog so much. The article is worth reading and it will only take a minute.
4 comments:
you make me laugh! i remember you having guns, you are just built that way. i've gotten many comments on my "guns" over the years. mostly when i lived on the boat, i had to use my arms a lot more then. i need to email you soon! i'm so excited for you about your upcoming move. talk to you soon.
Okay, found this blog which was not hard.
Followed this link and read the article. Vaguely I knew that her fitness was a topic for conversation in the US, but the analysis of the Michelangelo Madonna was fascinating. I loved that bit about triangles and focus.
I am more gentile, preferring to say "nicely toned" than to use anything as negative as "guns". Different culture I suppose.
I guess it makes me laugh because what I see in my mind when I hear this kind of slag is Eve, the cute white flying robot from Wall-E, whose arm IS a gun.
Maybe it's the dominance of youth-centric culture and media that allowed 'guns' to enter the vernacular. But it makes me wonder if we can't directly say 'powerful'. Does the euphemism make the idea of female power less threatening?
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