I’m Not Maria Kang’s Target Audience

I’ve been enjoying reading Akrypti’s and Xxxtine’s articles on Maria Kang’s “What’s your excuse” picture, so as an Asian American woman myself, I just had to join the party. That and I’m sure all this publicity helps up Kang’s website hits and business, so from one APIA woman entrepreneur to another, you go girl, and here’s some more.

My reaction to Kang’s photo? First, it was “Well, that doesn’t help the narrow definitions of beauty or the global objectification of Asian women.” After that, my secondary reaction was “Wow, I’m totally not the target audience of this photo.”

For one thing, I’ve never wanted a body like Maria Kang’s (nor that much eye make up). Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always dreamed of getting a body like Sarah Connor’s in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, able to reload a shotgun with a single arm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMUotV2WdiU

Next, exercising for the sake of “looking hot” in other people’s eyes is just not enough of a motivator for me. I would never wear her little bikini undie outfit in public, let alone post a picture of myself in it online for everyone to download. Also, I am very easily bored of exercise, even with swimming, which I’ve done competitively. So what works for me is martial arts, of which I am currently doing muy thai and kickboxing. There’s nothing that motivates me to do high intensity interval training more than when it involves full impact with a friendly punching bag or pad. I hate jogging, but if I think, “This will improve my footwork in kickboxing…”, I will run with purpose and zeal.

Here’s World Kickboxing Champion, Kathy Long, with arms so gorgeous they caught Chuck Norris’s attention and put even Sarah Connor to shame.

Plus, although I think I’ll have do some serious body fat lowering to really get those muscles showing so beautifully, my definition of female beauty tends to be more on the battle-mass side, not the tiny skin and bones look. As a tiny Asian girl, I’ve gotta admit, I’ve got a bit of a complex in terms of size, knowing that I might punch and kick with better form, but there’s a lot I’ve gotta do to make up for the size and mass I don’t have, even if I do weigh in pretty heavy for my size.

Clearly, skin and bones is not the trend among these Top 5 Female MMA fighters.

Finally, I’m not a mom and have no plans of becoming a mom in the near future if ever, so I just can’t relate on the body image issues of moms or to-be moms, nor can I relate to that level of busy caring for young children 24-7.

So aside from the initial cringe over the tactlessness of the photo and the not-my-concept-of-female-beauty shrug, my biggest question is, having three kids and two companies, when DOES she find the time to put on all that eye shadow? I guess in my mind, if you’ve got time for make up, you can’t be THAT busy.