It all centered around the idea that it was considered Manly to be nude.
Manly Men, men who trained and fought at the Palaestra, were Proud of their muscular trained bodies.
They were Proud of their Man Muscle, uncut Cocks and Balls.
So they went nude whenever they could.
Men were always nude at the local fight gym.
Today many Men are ashamed of their bodies, untrained and overweight.
Our Consumer Culture promotes the idea that “the clothes make the Man”.
Spartan Men would Laugh at such an idea.
Who would you want to join you in a fight to defend your family and your friends?
A fighter, strong and well trained, or an overweight well dressed Man?
Train and Fight!
WarriorMale
Or maybe people who are overweight (a lot of which are poor btw and can’t afford to be well-dressed as you seem to imply most overweight men are) cover up and refuse to go to the gym because of these very lines of thinking.
If every “Spartan man” is going to mock them and look down on them and influential people such as yourself pedal this idea that they should be embarrassed of themselves, then of course they’re not going to want to train with you!!!!!
I know you probably didn’t mean any harm, but please remember that you have a lot of social media presence and power, and should think about how to word things!
Thank you so very much for sharing this comment!
You are so right!
I’m an ignorant and insensitive jerk to use the word “overweight” in this post.
I will remove it immediately!
Wrong wrong message!
I am so very sorry for this offensive post!
My sincere apologies to anyone whom I disrespected with this post!
WarriorMale
I don’t think warriormale wanted to attack anyone, @fadomay
Instead I think he pointed out something very important which is the shame men feel and how they try to make up for it by buying clothes, cars and other superficial things. When really what they should do is train to lose weight and get the body they desire.
It may have been worded badly but warriormale is not a man to belittle others for their choices. He tries to motivate them. If someone is obese and happy I strongly doubt warriomale would talk bad to or about them. But the truth is that many people, men and women alike, are not happy when they are obese but instead of working on bettering themselves physically they try to take an “escape route”.
Oh, and then there is of course also the fact that the media constantly tries to push an agenda of how to look but instead of saying “Hey, looking this way (insert cliché trained model here) is a hard way but it is worth it because you will be healthier and happier” we are instead told “haha fat people bad and ugly, go cover yourselves” which is a horrible approach as it drives people deeper into bad habits instead of giving them strength and lift them up.
I don’t believe that warriormale tried to use “overweight well dressed man” as a strict example but more of a metaphor. The obesity being a result of consumer culture and the well-dressing a form of hiding, being ashamed of your body and trying to weigh your worth in the price of the things you wear and own. People put their sense of pride into the wrong parts of their life. You shouldn’t be proud of your car or your suit. You should be proud of yourself.
Maybe I am just reading too deep into this but from what I have read from warriormale before that’s the message I got from his post. It was really just an unfortunate choice of words.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Yes, I would have to agree that it was an “unfortunate choice of words”.
But this episode has encouraged me to be more thoughtful with my choice of words in future posts.
I appreciate every message that I received tonight concerning this post.
WarriorMale
Let’s draw attention to WarriorMale owning up to his mistake and making a conscious effort to learn from it.
Now that’s Manly.
Thank you for the kind words and the show of Respect.
It is, after all, easy to understand how a passionate admiration of noble bodies and balanced souls could spring up in a race which for countless years had prized physical prowess and spiritual harmony as the highest good attainable by man, and which had striven by grave and ceaseless rivalry, by exertion involving the utmost energies of mind and body alike, to bring those qualities to the greatest possible perfection.
They didn’t buy their Manliness, look Manly with the right clothes and possessions. Be ashamed of their bodies by covering them up.
It was not about “appearing” Manly,
The Spartans WERE MANLY!
They had to be! They defended their homes and families against invaders.
If they were conquered by a foreign power, the Men were killed (warriors) and the Women and children turned into slaves.
So it was very important to know how to fight, to have a trained and conditioned body and most importantly have the Moral Virtues of Humility, Integrity, Selflessness, Self Control and always showing Respect.
Then and today…..
WarriorMale
Our
dominant culture, the Consumer Culture, is Toxic to Men and Manliness.
The
Consumer Culture Uses Men for profit, to Sell to them.
The
Martial Culture Builds Men and Honors Men through training and fighting.
WarriorMale 