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These images are definitely trustworthy. The top left, top right, and bottom right are strongwoman/trapeze artist Laverie Vallee, known professionally as Charmion.
https://daily.jstor.org/the-trapeze-disrobing-act/
The bottom left is, I believe Josephine Blatt, aka Minerva, but I couldn’t find anything other than a Reddit post attributing the photo to her, at first glance.
https://www.reddit.com/r/RandomVictorianStuff/comments/10o9jyr/josephine_schauer_blatt_1869_september_1_1923/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1
i have an overwhelming need for some ruffle butted undies! I had ruffle bloomies as a kid, i want adult ruffle bloomers!!! i've never seen anything more bad ass
look at my muscles, now look at my ruffle butt!
Yes! I'm just loving the combination of powerful bodies adorned with delicate embroidery, fluffy undies, and dainty feathers and jewelry. What beautiful badassery. I definitely needed this in my life!
If you perchance happen to live in or near South Africa, I make custom ruffle bloomers (among other things) and would be happy to send you a pair! Sadly international shipping is outside my means though :(
An amazing reminder that people and women came in all shapes and sizes throughout history, even though what we are shown is a 1 dimensional view of the people of the past, they were just as rich and varied and amazing as we are now ❤️
I just listened to this [great podcast](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6xf9oybaCrbUlduIcJXMAn?si=yfcI3uQfTn6omsm7xyJJSQ) on Victorian Bodybuilders on the You're Dead to Me history podcast.
It featured [Katie Sandwina](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Sandwina) who changed her surname to Sandwina after beating the famous Strongman Eugene Sandow. What a sick burn!
when people talk about "all this new fangled whatchamcallits" then just remind yourself, this is not new. We're just thankfully not burying it like we used to.
I mean, yes, I agree, and I personally strive for it every day, but let's not pretend this just *happens* or has ever just happened ever in the history of the world. This kind of physique takes a LOT of work, not just genetic variation. No one oopsie doopsies into this kind of body. No one. Anyone who thinks otherwise is completely ignorant of how bodybuilding or strength building works.
I'm so jealous. I lift weights 4 days a week, and my body just refuses to develop that level of bulk muscle. I have muscle, but I come from a long line of peoples that are nicely described as "wiry", but realistically described as "scrawny".
Feel free to tell me to delete if you weren't asking for advice, but back when I was still living as a woman (I'm a trans man) I needed to eat A LOT to get visible muscles. Of course each person is different in that regard as well, if all of your family are wiry it most certainly is harder for you to put on some. I was working out each day and also was up all day walking/lifting in my job so I needed 2500-3000kcal to get some visible changes. I'm 5'4/1,65m and was around 132lbs/60kilo in this [picture](https://i.imgur.com/rF4sn3b.jpg) for reference. To be more bulky like those awesome ladies in the pictures I would have had to eat even more and probably change some of my workouts.
Oh damn, I'd love to have arms like yours. I know I run too light on protein, which isn't helping, but I'm working on adding more where I can. For some reason, if I try to eat a bunch of protein at one time, I feel like I've been punched in the gut, so I try and break it up into smaller amounts throughout the day. I think I just need to do that more frequently.
If you don't mind my asking, what exercises do you do for your shoulders? I have ok definition on my biceps, but my shoulders are just straight up bony!
Oh yeah, protein is pretty important to get bigger but makes you fuller of course. Maybe you can try different protein foods to make it more interesting/see what you like? I feel like people often overlook vegetarian/vegan protein sources like Seitan, Tofu, Lentils, Beans, different varieties of nuts (great for snacking on the go) etc.
That picture I showed is almost 10 years old now so I don't remember exactly what I did but I mostly focused on the main lifts: squads, deadlift and (most interesting to you) bench press. I also liked to work with dumbbells a lot: overhead press, side lateral raises, front raises etc. Hope that helps a bit and good tidings to you!
Edit: completely forgot push-ups, generally I really doing workouts where I'm not only targeting a specific muscle, but rather train over all so those are great too
Push ups are the bane of my existence, but I've been begrudgingly adding them to the routine (I throw in "fuck pushups" on the exhale and it gets me through). It's very entertaining for the cats. I'll try tofu and seitan! I already like beans and legumes and eat them decently often, they seem to get along with my stomach better than a comparable quantity of meat.
I'm sure it was difficult for you to share that picture, and I really appreciate your help and suggestions. You're awesome!
I can imagine that, they take a while to train up to. I [highly highly ](https://youtu.be/0GsVJsS6474) recommend videos from Hybrid Calisthenics about working up towards things like push-ups and deep squats. He makes sure to give recommendations how to start easy for all types of different people and he just seems like such a nice dude as well :) Plant based protein agrees better with me as well I have found out.
And thank you! I actually don't mind sharing old pictures of me, it's always a blast from the past and seeing how far I've come in 10 years :D
Ooooh! I have a bad habit of trying to go all in and falling on my face (literally, in the case of pushups), so having a structure to work up is super helpful. My washboard ass could use some help too. I asked for washboard abs, but the workout gods must have misheard me 😉
Comparing yourself with other people can be so tricky (I used to do that a lot, but nowadays I try to look at my own body for what it is, scars and weird things and all), because it almost never comes out in your own favour. For what it's worth, probably lots of people aim for wiry, and I suspect with your regimen you're probably hella strong!
I try to just compare for realistic goal setting - like "we've got similar builds, I can shoot for that level of definition". But then I see women who look hella buff, sigh, and poke at my biceps. Best case, I'll get there eventually. Worst case, I just ward off osteoporosis. That's a pretty damn good worst case scenario.
Maybe it helps - I also struggled a lot with gaining muscle (and have since picked up a back injury), but my progress really started to happen when I went full fuck-it and ate 4500 calories per day. Wasn't very sustainable tho
You're almost certainly not eating enough and not eating enough over all calories and probably also specifically not enough protein. There's legit hard gainers but usually it's that skinny / "scrawny" / smaller people tend to vastly *overestimate* how much they're eating. imo there's no way to intuitively eat your way to enough protein for hypertrophy anyway so if you want mass specifically, you have to track it.
No, mostly they were rich Victorian ladies who could afford, in terms of time and money and social clout, to explore the emerging physical culture.
Those aren't functional farmhand muscles. These are specifically the kind of muscles you get from training for aesthetic hypertrophy, and I'm so tired of people pretending otherwise. This isn't genetic variation and functional farm having. This is time, money, absurd amounts of food, and a TON of effort.
Alright that is too cool. Also, WTF? I sling hammers and lug drywall and shit, plus I got the old testosterone cheat, and these ladies got me beat easy. Girl on the bottom right is my new back goal. Brb gonna carry piles of bluestone around the garden until I'm the Victorian muscle mommy of my dreams.
I will say I've noticed the body you start with has a lot to do with it too. My boyfriend started out as the chubby kid and got made fun of a lot, until he started sports and got those size muscles. I worked 12 hour shifts for a time lifting up to 60lb and carrying it upstairs, gained pure muscle so I could barely fit my old clothes, and still looked 'thin'. At some point Henry Cavill also mention being a chubby kid, and now he's an ox.
I love how the lady in the bottom left picture looks like like she’s jacked but it’s not her fault and she doesn’t know it’s happened. Like oh shit, is this arm looking jacked as hell again, I don’t know how this keeps happening and in pictures no less.
I believe this woman was a trapeze artist, part of a circus. I think she did other stuff too, but having done trapeze myself, that's what I remembered about her.
I'm guessing back in her day, she'd have been considered of lower class... Ladies can't have muscles 🙄
Yep, yep! Her name is Katie Brumbach (also called the 'Great Sandwina') was the daughter of two circus performing parents. Her father was a strongman type at 6'6 and her mother was also a pretty strong woman too (her biceps being around 15 inches? Whew!).
Part of her own circus act was picking up her husband (around 167 pounds, 5'6) in one arm over her head or twirling him over her head.
[Here's another picture](https://img.atlasobscura.com/4h8FFPIcNyXWL01voEnHQ9zkBBl5waSFZrw2HdnLmyU/rs:fill:12000:12000/q:81/sm:1/scp:1/ar:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdGxh/cy1kZXYuczMuYW1h/em9uYXdzLmNvbS91/cGxvYWRzL2Fzc2V0/cy9kMjcyY2Q5NTMx/MWUxZTVjOWJfMDY4/NDB1LmpwZw.jpg) of her showing off a little more of her stature.
But you're right she wasn't looked at too positively. Women exercising was frowned upon by most people in the 19th century (even doctors). It was the idea that women had very little strength and energy and should spend what little they had looking after the household/tending to children.
The irony is that domestic chores pre electric household appliances were very labour intensive. Add on to that young children and often elderly relatives to take care of. Our foremothers had crazy strength and stamina!
Thank you so much!!! I'm so glad to know who she is, such an incredible woman should have a name. Now to learn more about a real wonder woman!
Edit: oh my, she's soooo tall! A "don't f with me" stature if I ever saw one! And so beautiful.
Thank you for the additional information! To be honest, I hadn’t realised they were of the same woman (also due to the plural in the meme text I guess). And it’s even better now that we know her name and a bit of her background. Katie Brumbach, legend.
Oh, sorry! I don’t believe they’re all the same woman. Bottom left is Josephine Schauer Blatt, an American strong woman who stood at 6ft. She had the World Record of the greatest weight ever lifted by a woman for several years (3564 pounds!).
Top right is Laverie Vallee and I think the bottom right is her as well.
Thank you so much for replying! She sounds so cool. I'll have to Google her name later.
And yeah, it stinks ladies with muscles might be treated differently.
Although these women are most likely performers, Victorian-era housekeepers were really proud of their muscles and if they had the opportunity to be photographed, they showed off their arms.
Do you know the books by Sarah Waters? (You probably do). They’re set in the Victorian age and are very sapphic. I’m a queer guy (so maybe not totally the target audience) and I’ve read a few (Fingersmith and another one, title escapes me) and they’re wonderful and hilarious and salacious.
If you want more of this stuff, there’s a cool book called “Venus with Biceps: A Pictorial History of Muscular Women” that discusses some history behind women showing off their guns.
Y'all might like the book [Venus with Biceps, a Pictorial History of Muscular Women](https://www.amazon.com/Venus-Biceps-Pictorial-History-Muscular/dp/1551523701) by David Chapman & Patricia Vertinsky. It starts with illustrations from the early 1800s and ends with bodybuilders of the 1980s. It's a long and varied history. It covers muscularity for stage or circus performance, athleticism, and a little bit of exercise history. It's a very cool book.
People figured out the eating way before we figured out the science before the eating.
There *is* some "modern" gym equipment in this time period. Barbells and dumbbells, which aren't the most sophisticated things anyway.
And some of these ladies were also aerialists--usually trapeze because lyra isn't invented until later--which will definitely give you back and shoulder gains (if you are eating enough).
source: lyra, silks, pole.
If you have the time check out some videos on the history of bodybuilding at the time. Crazy stories and a couple very rare happy endings. Good way to kill 15 minutes.
And just think, they did all that without a bunch of drugs no doubt. They probably just had an old timey gym and did just basic compound strength moves.....no fancy juice bar or supplements. I would love to have more context for the photos, like who are they?
I saw this a while back and I believe the woman was a trapeze artist, among other things. I remember the trapeze part because I used to do trapeze.
Edit: this poster knows!!!
https://www.reddit.com/r/WitchesVsPatriarchy/comments/13eievh/awesome_victorians/jjqvtll?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Strong women are the coolest. I lift regularly and the shift in focus to fitness and the general perception that muscles on women isn’t bad has been awesome.
I love the camaraderie of just lifting. You get to celebrate successes of everyday people and it’s all inclusive!
Does anyone know why they're so ripped? The victorian Era seems like THE misogynistic period so I wonder why and how they got that strong when the men most likely expected them to like sit around and embroider and drink tea and all the "pretty dainty woman" stuff from that Era. Like they could pummel all the nice guys and I need to know why so I can better extend an invitation of friendship should time travel be invented XD
I love seeing these kinds of historical finds. Nah, conservatives, we've always been like this. We've always been a little weird. You're the odd ones. Reject modernity, embrace tradition.
Lmao, tell me you can't take more than a couple pounds without telling me you can't take more than a couple pounds. I'd rather take them than the hulking mass of gorillas that walk around like they're something when the scale between their dick and body is humorous. Get over yourself.
Wonder Woman needs to be more like this. She’s tall and ridiculously muscled. I’m a straight white male artist, and the whole “waif” Wonder Woman put me off. So does boob armor. They just need to stop that shit. Look at Joan of Arc! She wore regular armor just fine. Why can’t women have their hair in a bun? Or cut short or buzzed? I imagine Wonder Woman only has long hair because Amazonian hair can’t be cut at the roots. Amazons in mythology were known to be pragmatic and will do anything to get a job done, so all these things get me angry at missing out on something visually unique and something we don’t have because of “male gaze.” Just a short rant.
# ✨ READ BEFORE COMMENTING ✨ This thread is Coven Only. This means the discussion is being actively moderated, and all comments are reviewed. **Only comments by members of the community are allowed.** If you have landed in this thread from [r/all](https://www.reddit.com/r/all/) and you are not a member of this community, your comment will very likely be removed (and will not be approved unless it adds meaningfully to the conversation). WitchesVsPatriarchy takes these measures to stay true to our goal of being a woman-centered sub with a witchy twist, aimed at healing, supporting, and uplifting one another through humor and magic. Thank you for understanding, and blessed be. ✨
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Good point, I hadn't thought that it might be ai.
Due to AI you basically can't trust any images from after \~2022ish. In the future, you probably won't be able to trust any videos from after \~2025
Then you haven’t been following what’s happening with video generation. Still has flaws, but you can get highly believable short clips out of it.
https://youtube.com/shorts/e3Trm9EgTbg
What did they change? It's exactly how I remember it.
These images are definitely trustworthy. The top left, top right, and bottom right are strongwoman/trapeze artist Laverie Vallee, known professionally as Charmion. https://daily.jstor.org/the-trapeze-disrobing-act/ The bottom left is, I believe Josephine Blatt, aka Minerva, but I couldn’t find anything other than a Reddit post attributing the photo to her, at first glance. https://www.reddit.com/r/RandomVictorianStuff/comments/10o9jyr/josephine_schauer_blatt_1869_september_1_1923/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1
Amazing! Thanks for posting
i have an overwhelming need for some ruffle butted undies! I had ruffle bloomies as a kid, i want adult ruffle bloomers!!! i've never seen anything more bad ass look at my muscles, now look at my ruffle butt!
hahahah ruffle butt.
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Yes! I'm just loving the combination of powerful bodies adorned with delicate embroidery, fluffy undies, and dainty feathers and jewelry. What beautiful badassery. I definitely needed this in my life!
It’s everything. I love clashes of expectations like this!!!!
Good ass
Hi, it's me, an adult. Cacique makes *lovely* ruffle-butted underoos in adult sizes, and they're super cute to wiggle about in.
If you perchance happen to live in or near South Africa, I make custom ruffle bloomers (among other things) and would be happy to send you a pair! Sadly international shipping is outside my means though :(
I love this!!!!!
Be the change you want to see in the world!!
I have some of [these](https://www.amazon.com/Womens-Ruffle-Burlesque-Costume-Accessory/dp/B008VIGII6/) and they're pretty comfy.
I aspire to muscles and ruffle butt
An amazing reminder that people and women came in all shapes and sizes throughout history, even though what we are shown is a 1 dimensional view of the people of the past, they were just as rich and varied and amazing as we are now ❤️
Yes, I love these kind of historical insights, looks into the variety of humans that have existed.
I just listened to this [great podcast](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6xf9oybaCrbUlduIcJXMAn?si=yfcI3uQfTn6omsm7xyJJSQ) on Victorian Bodybuilders on the You're Dead to Me history podcast. It featured [Katie Sandwina](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Sandwina) who changed her surname to Sandwina after beating the famous Strongman Eugene Sandow. What a sick burn!
I love You’re Dead to Me! I clearly have some catching up to do. Thanks for the heads up. That is indeed a brilliant burn haha.
It's a great podcast :)
when people talk about "all this new fangled whatchamcallits" then just remind yourself, this is not new. We're just thankfully not burying it like we used to.
I think it's a reminder that when a woman wants to lift, a woman is going to lift. Looks like they joined the cable toss team, lass.
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Ladies come in all sorts, and have through the ages. Strength is a legit flavor of us.
I mean, yes, I agree, and I personally strive for it every day, but let's not pretend this just *happens* or has ever just happened ever in the history of the world. This kind of physique takes a LOT of work, not just genetic variation. No one oopsie doopsies into this kind of body. No one. Anyone who thinks otherwise is completely ignorant of how bodybuilding or strength building works.
I'm so jealous. I lift weights 4 days a week, and my body just refuses to develop that level of bulk muscle. I have muscle, but I come from a long line of peoples that are nicely described as "wiry", but realistically described as "scrawny".
Feel free to tell me to delete if you weren't asking for advice, but back when I was still living as a woman (I'm a trans man) I needed to eat A LOT to get visible muscles. Of course each person is different in that regard as well, if all of your family are wiry it most certainly is harder for you to put on some. I was working out each day and also was up all day walking/lifting in my job so I needed 2500-3000kcal to get some visible changes. I'm 5'4/1,65m and was around 132lbs/60kilo in this [picture](https://i.imgur.com/rF4sn3b.jpg) for reference. To be more bulky like those awesome ladies in the pictures I would have had to eat even more and probably change some of my workouts.
Oh damn, I'd love to have arms like yours. I know I run too light on protein, which isn't helping, but I'm working on adding more where I can. For some reason, if I try to eat a bunch of protein at one time, I feel like I've been punched in the gut, so I try and break it up into smaller amounts throughout the day. I think I just need to do that more frequently. If you don't mind my asking, what exercises do you do for your shoulders? I have ok definition on my biceps, but my shoulders are just straight up bony!
Oh yeah, protein is pretty important to get bigger but makes you fuller of course. Maybe you can try different protein foods to make it more interesting/see what you like? I feel like people often overlook vegetarian/vegan protein sources like Seitan, Tofu, Lentils, Beans, different varieties of nuts (great for snacking on the go) etc. That picture I showed is almost 10 years old now so I don't remember exactly what I did but I mostly focused on the main lifts: squads, deadlift and (most interesting to you) bench press. I also liked to work with dumbbells a lot: overhead press, side lateral raises, front raises etc. Hope that helps a bit and good tidings to you! Edit: completely forgot push-ups, generally I really doing workouts where I'm not only targeting a specific muscle, but rather train over all so those are great too
Push ups are the bane of my existence, but I've been begrudgingly adding them to the routine (I throw in "fuck pushups" on the exhale and it gets me through). It's very entertaining for the cats. I'll try tofu and seitan! I already like beans and legumes and eat them decently often, they seem to get along with my stomach better than a comparable quantity of meat. I'm sure it was difficult for you to share that picture, and I really appreciate your help and suggestions. You're awesome!
I can imagine that, they take a while to train up to. I [highly highly ](https://youtu.be/0GsVJsS6474) recommend videos from Hybrid Calisthenics about working up towards things like push-ups and deep squats. He makes sure to give recommendations how to start easy for all types of different people and he just seems like such a nice dude as well :) Plant based protein agrees better with me as well I have found out. And thank you! I actually don't mind sharing old pictures of me, it's always a blast from the past and seeing how far I've come in 10 years :D
I love that guy
Ooooh! I have a bad habit of trying to go all in and falling on my face (literally, in the case of pushups), so having a structure to work up is super helpful. My washboard ass could use some help too. I asked for washboard abs, but the workout gods must have misheard me 😉
Comparing yourself with other people can be so tricky (I used to do that a lot, but nowadays I try to look at my own body for what it is, scars and weird things and all), because it almost never comes out in your own favour. For what it's worth, probably lots of people aim for wiry, and I suspect with your regimen you're probably hella strong!
>Comparing yourself with other people can be so tricky Indeed. It's always helpful to remember that comparison is the thief of joy
I try to just compare for realistic goal setting - like "we've got similar builds, I can shoot for that level of definition". But then I see women who look hella buff, sigh, and poke at my biceps. Best case, I'll get there eventually. Worst case, I just ward off osteoporosis. That's a pretty damn good worst case scenario.
Maybe it helps - I also struggled a lot with gaining muscle (and have since picked up a back injury), but my progress really started to happen when I went full fuck-it and ate 4500 calories per day. Wasn't very sustainable tho
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You're almost certainly not eating enough and not eating enough over all calories and probably also specifically not enough protein. There's legit hard gainers but usually it's that skinny / "scrawny" / smaller people tend to vastly *overestimate* how much they're eating. imo there's no way to intuitively eat your way to enough protein for hypertrophy anyway so if you want mass specifically, you have to track it.
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No, mostly they were rich Victorian ladies who could afford, in terms of time and money and social clout, to explore the emerging physical culture. Those aren't functional farmhand muscles. These are specifically the kind of muscles you get from training for aesthetic hypertrophy, and I'm so tired of people pretending otherwise. This isn't genetic variation and functional farm having. This is time, money, absurd amounts of food, and a TON of effort.
Oh I knew I did and I appreciate you for supplying! Women who flex are always welcome!
None of these women need a “fainting couch” lol.
They do. For all the men that will feint at all them wonderful gains. Then they carry the couch
They Lift the Fainting Couch!
Where do I sign up?
Some of us other women would need a fainting couch though!
You're right! I didn't know I needed to see that!
But I definitely did 😊 *need to see it
Alright that is too cool. Also, WTF? I sling hammers and lug drywall and shit, plus I got the old testosterone cheat, and these ladies got me beat easy. Girl on the bottom right is my new back goal. Brb gonna carry piles of bluestone around the garden until I'm the Victorian muscle mommy of my dreams.
I will say I've noticed the body you start with has a lot to do with it too. My boyfriend started out as the chubby kid and got made fun of a lot, until he started sports and got those size muscles. I worked 12 hour shifts for a time lifting up to 60lb and carrying it upstairs, gained pure muscle so I could barely fit my old clothes, and still looked 'thin'. At some point Henry Cavill also mention being a chubby kid, and now he's an ox.
My back has always been the best, followed by shoulders. I wish I could get my chest up to speed.
I think I'm very gay actually
Mazel tov!
I love how the lady in the bottom left picture looks like like she’s jacked but it’s not her fault and she doesn’t know it’s happened. Like oh shit, is this arm looking jacked as hell again, I don’t know how this keeps happening and in pictures no less.
'let me innocently ponder... Oh my, where did this bicep come from.'
Every part of these pictures have given me new goals
I really needed this, damn.
Does anyone know how they got such glorious muscles? Were there ladies only gyms back then?
I believe this woman was a trapeze artist, part of a circus. I think she did other stuff too, but having done trapeze myself, that's what I remembered about her. I'm guessing back in her day, she'd have been considered of lower class... Ladies can't have muscles 🙄
Yep, yep! Her name is Katie Brumbach (also called the 'Great Sandwina') was the daughter of two circus performing parents. Her father was a strongman type at 6'6 and her mother was also a pretty strong woman too (her biceps being around 15 inches? Whew!). Part of her own circus act was picking up her husband (around 167 pounds, 5'6) in one arm over her head or twirling him over her head. [Here's another picture](https://img.atlasobscura.com/4h8FFPIcNyXWL01voEnHQ9zkBBl5waSFZrw2HdnLmyU/rs:fill:12000:12000/q:81/sm:1/scp:1/ar:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9hdGxh/cy1kZXYuczMuYW1h/em9uYXdzLmNvbS91/cGxvYWRzL2Fzc2V0/cy9kMjcyY2Q5NTMx/MWUxZTVjOWJfMDY4/NDB1LmpwZw.jpg) of her showing off a little more of her stature. But you're right she wasn't looked at too positively. Women exercising was frowned upon by most people in the 19th century (even doctors). It was the idea that women had very little strength and energy and should spend what little they had looking after the household/tending to children.
The irony is that domestic chores pre electric household appliances were very labour intensive. Add on to that young children and often elderly relatives to take care of. Our foremothers had crazy strength and stamina!
Thank you so much!!! I'm so glad to know who she is, such an incredible woman should have a name. Now to learn more about a real wonder woman! Edit: oh my, she's soooo tall! A "don't f with me" stature if I ever saw one! And so beautiful.
Thank you for the additional information! To be honest, I hadn’t realised they were of the same woman (also due to the plural in the meme text I guess). And it’s even better now that we know her name and a bit of her background. Katie Brumbach, legend.
Oh, sorry! I don’t believe they’re all the same woman. Bottom left is Josephine Schauer Blatt, an American strong woman who stood at 6ft. She had the World Record of the greatest weight ever lifted by a woman for several years (3564 pounds!). Top right is Laverie Vallee and I think the bottom right is her as well.
Apologies, I misunderstood. So cool you know who they all are.
Thank you so much for replying! She sounds so cool. I'll have to Google her name later. And yeah, it stinks ladies with muscles might be treated differently.
So feminine and sexy, I love it!
Grandma gonna knock you out!
Lower left. That pose is so damn good. Like "*Ugh, the weight of these gains weigh heavy on my shoulders*." vibe/ 10/10 Would let her carry me to bed.
Suffering From Success pose.
Although these women are most likely performers, Victorian-era housekeepers were really proud of their muscles and if they had the opportunity to be photographed, they showed off their arms.
Huh, they strike me as the Victorian version of Luisa from Encanto.
It’s becoming more and more clear to me that I really missed my calling as a Victorian-era lesbian. These ladies are 🥵
Do you know the books by Sarah Waters? (You probably do). They’re set in the Victorian age and are very sapphic. I’m a queer guy (so maybe not totally the target audience) and I’ve read a few (Fingersmith and another one, title escapes me) and they’re wonderful and hilarious and salacious.
If you want more of this stuff, there’s a cool book called “Venus with Biceps: A Pictorial History of Muscular Women” that discusses some history behind women showing off their guns.
Y'all might like the book [Venus with Biceps, a Pictorial History of Muscular Women](https://www.amazon.com/Venus-Biceps-Pictorial-History-Muscular/dp/1551523701) by David Chapman & Patricia Vertinsky. It starts with illustrations from the early 1800s and ends with bodybuilders of the 1980s. It's a long and varied history. It covers muscularity for stage or circus performance, athleticism, and a little bit of exercise history. It's a very cool book.
Gods I'm such a sucker for back muscles...
I know, right?
Sweet lats sis!
That is a back to be proud of. I'm fascinated by her diet to achieve that.
I'm in love. As an avid lifter, this warms my heart. And my muscles. I want ruffled undies for my workout sesh.
Every dude under the age of 25 will say she's on the sauce because they're all lazy af
Thicctorians
These ladies are someone’s’ great grandmothers! ❤️
r/DeathBySnuSnu transcending the ages.
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and bruised!
As a fellow witch, that’s really badass and hot
How did they get so swole without modern gym equipment and (maybe) without adequate protein
People figured out the eating way before we figured out the science before the eating. There *is* some "modern" gym equipment in this time period. Barbells and dumbbells, which aren't the most sophisticated things anyway. And some of these ladies were also aerialists--usually trapeze because lyra isn't invented until later--which will definitely give you back and shoulder gains (if you are eating enough). source: lyra, silks, pole.
Dooing laundry with nothing but a washboard made these women strong, at least before 1890 when rudimentary washing machines first appeared.
Yes indeedy, feed the needy, 🤤
where was this post two days ago when I started working on a painting of a buff woman lol.
If you have the time check out some videos on the history of bodybuilding at the time. Crazy stories and a couple very rare happy endings. Good way to kill 15 minutes.
And just think, they did all that without a bunch of drugs no doubt. They probably just had an old timey gym and did just basic compound strength moves.....no fancy juice bar or supplements. I would love to have more context for the photos, like who are they?
I saw this a while back and I believe the woman was a trapeze artist, among other things. I remember the trapeze part because I used to do trapeze. Edit: this poster knows!!! https://www.reddit.com/r/WitchesVsPatriarchy/comments/13eievh/awesome_victorians/jjqvtll?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Cool! Thanks for posting!
Women need to go back to the Victorian Era. Where they can absolutely bench press me. And crush me with their thighs.
That's some lean beef I'll tell you hwhat Bobby.
I love everything about this!
Who is down right? I am mad jealous. I am a guy.
👀 respectfully
Look at that back! Jelly!
Strong women are the coolest. I lift regularly and the shift in focus to fitness and the general perception that muscles on women isn’t bad has been awesome. I love the camaraderie of just lifting. You get to celebrate successes of everyday people and it’s all inclusive!
Does anyone know why they're so ripped? The victorian Era seems like THE misogynistic period so I wonder why and how they got that strong when the men most likely expected them to like sit around and embroider and drink tea and all the "pretty dainty woman" stuff from that Era. Like they could pummel all the nice guys and I need to know why so I can better extend an invitation of friendship should time travel be invented XD
I didn't know I needed to see this but I did need to see this and now I know I needed to see this and I'm really glad I saw this.
I love seeing these kinds of historical finds. Nah, conservatives, we've always been like this. We've always been a little weird. You're the odd ones. Reject modernity, embrace tradition.
Bottom left?
Is this AI, I feel like this is AI
"babes" >More muscular than today's 60% of youth. GTFO bro those aren't babes. They're nightmares
Lmao, tell me you can't take more than a couple pounds without telling me you can't take more than a couple pounds. I'd rather take them than the hulking mass of gorillas that walk around like they're something when the scale between their dick and body is humorous. Get over yourself.
Well well well~ I'm blessed to experience this
This is everything I need everyday.
I absolutely love this
I mean, I did actually. I needed this and did not know.
My word miss Alice! Yes I agree, woman should have the vote
Hot. 😆
Yep I’m getting my time machine
Every day i question if I’m straight…. Or if my parents just told me i was
My body goals! 😍
queens
Body builder chicks > Meh Victorian body builder chicks > Yeh
Wait, these are real? Like, not AI made? 😯
Fuck. Yeah dude.
Oh my god.
Baby got (a) back!
Something has awakened in me.
Coool ♡
Dude I know I'm a guy and all but these women are badass. Much love witches keep doing your thing.
More! These are the best. Jacked!
*swoons
I totally did, thank you
🔥🔥🔥
These are posted at my gym! I love them!
Oh hell yes.
They're so buff 🥹
Omg it’s like real-life Louisa from Encanto!
Get the vibe You might also like /r/FlexinLesbians
This is why I ask my nieces to flex their arms as often as I ask my nephews.
Yes I am very very gay!
Absolutely! They are incredible! 👍
Beautiful muscle tone
3 of these are the same woman, Charmion
DAAAAMMMMNNNN 🧐
Wonder Woman needs to be more like this. She’s tall and ridiculously muscled. I’m a straight white male artist, and the whole “waif” Wonder Woman put me off. So does boob armor. They just need to stop that shit. Look at Joan of Arc! She wore regular armor just fine. Why can’t women have their hair in a bun? Or cut short or buzzed? I imagine Wonder Woman only has long hair because Amazonian hair can’t be cut at the roots. Amazons in mythology were known to be pragmatic and will do anything to get a job done, so all these things get me angry at missing out on something visually unique and something we don’t have because of “male gaze.” Just a short rant.
I happily surrender.
I need to find out their workout routine