Poetry in Motion: Weightliftress by Shel Silverstein
A Powerful Poem Championing Gender Equality at the Gym
Shel Silverstein was my introduction to poetry. Where the Sidewalk Ends (1974) was the first anthology of poems that I ever read. A Light in the Attic (1981) was the second book of poetry I consumed. I must have read each book from front-to-back and back-to-front (and sometimes from the middle) more than 100 times during the 1990s.
What strikes me most about Silverstein’s poems is how much of a rabble-rouser he was. His work was most certainly my initiation into the genre of satire. No doubt, these are children’s poems (or rather poems intended for children), but they are packed with some really potent commentary on social, cultural, environmental and political issues. In just a few short stanzas, Silverstein manifested a manifesto that celebrated critical thinking and countercultural activities.
I was shocked, but not surprised to learn that both Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic, had been either banned or challenged to be removed from library shelves in certain states and school districts (see: Gopp-Warner, 2023). Silverstein’s poetry can surely be dark and disobedient, but both of those aspects lend to its power for inspiring open minded conversations about pertinent life issues and the human condition at large.
Take for example, Weightliftress, a very concise poem lamenting an issue that is all too prevalent today: gender bias and inequality within athletics. Silverstein takes an acerbic swipe at the social construction of femininity and masculinity with an ode to a female bodybuilder named Nancy Bates. In four lines, Silverstein challenges weightlifting stereotypes.
Although the gender gap in athletics has improved from the time when Silverstein wrote this poem, it continues to hold an enduring grip on our collective culture. We are still living in an era of the male gaze and masculine hegemony, which means that the cliché “men lift weights and women do cardio” is a statement that some people still uphold; even when studies show that the differences between elite male and female weightlifters in terms of muscle fiber and training is trivial. I am referring to a 2018 study, which determined that women have the same amount of fast-twitch muscle fibers, which are essential for high intensity weight training, as their male counterparts. One of the study's co-authors, James R. Bagley explains, "these findings suggest athlete caliber, training experience and body mass determine the percentage of fast-twitch fiber more than gender."
In other words, anything a gym bro can do, Nancy Bates can do just as well, or even better! Regardless of our gender, we should all be doing a balanced amount of cardio and weightlifting for our workouts. And preferably even be combining them on occasion.
References, Notes, Suggested Reading:
Gopp-Warner, Melissa, “My mom Tried to ban Shel Silverstein's ‘Where the Sidewalk Ends,’” Salon, 7 October 2023. https://www.salon.com/2023/10/07/my-mom-tried-to-ban-shel-silversteins-where-the-sidewalk-ends/
Serrano, Nathan, Colenso-Semple, Lauren M., K. Lazauskus, Kara. W. Siu, Jeremy, R. Bagley, James, G. Lockie, Robert, B. Costa, Pablo and J. Galpin, Andrew. “Extraordinary fast-twitch fiber abundance in elite weightlifters.” PLOS ONE, 2019; 14 (3): e0207975 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0207975
Stepanova, Olga N., Daria P. Stepanova, Alexandra A. Pirogova, and Vladimir Yu. Karpov. “Women’s Weight Lifting as Sport Discriminated against on Grounds of Gender.” The European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences, 2018. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2018.02.155.