Strong Women
It was such an unusual sight that many could not help but be curious how a woman could reach that level of strength without turning into a man, even doctors stated, “any other type of physical fitness ‘of a masculine character causes the female body to become fore like that of a man’.”15 While this sentiment caused many women to stray further away from physical activity out of fear, it caused others to push even harder and become even stronger to prove them wrong. The strong women in the circus were visible proof that women had more than just a little energy and could perform tasks outside of the home, breaking the stereotype of women’s immobility.