[howenterprisey]

1) It divides people into "primitive" and "civilized", which delineates an ingroup and outgroup;

2) The document is written for civilized people, because surely the document wouldn't call its readers primitive;

3) The flip side of "developed muscles" is "barbaric lifestyle" - the "proper" thing for women at the time was NOT to develop said muscles, but rather to maintain a "trim figure" ("one of the best exercises for a woman are her household duties, and that besides those she doesn't need more exercise", from a 1941 article);

4) In sum, given the context, the "endorsement" is a grudging admission that on this one issue the "primitive" women might be stronger, but in no way an overall endorsement of the lifestyle.

[Chris2048]

> "barbaric lifestyle"

> "trim figure"

Where are you getting these quotes from?

[howenterprisey]

First are scare quotes, second is from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century_women%27s_fitness..., the title of a 1967 article.

[causi]

I think you're making a lot of assumptions about someone you've never met and know nothing about.

It divides people into "primitive" and "civilized", which delineates an ingroup and outgroup;

Right, in the context of "look at us poor pathetic civilized people whose broken bodies need this apparatus to reproduce unlike those strong primitives who can do it in the normal way.