Zoe Smith is speaking out about body image and sexism in sports–and looks stunning while doing it! | Source: WENN.com

Zoe Smith, an 18-year-old Olympic weight lifter from Great Britain, is not only stronger than most men, but she’s also super cute–and really, really smart about not just her sport, but also about body image and life in general. She proved it when some mouth breathing idiot decided to harass her on Twitter.

The genius (read: jerk) sent Zoe Smith a bunch of piggish replies, including, “I wouldn’t even look at you. I’d think you was a bloke and so would 9 out of 10 lads.” Hopefully more of those lads had a grip on proper verb tenses in the English language, but that’s neither here nor there.

Zoe Smith responded eloquently and beautifully, writing, “Your futile attempts at insulting us have brought me many giggles! It makes me laugh that you think we’d give a toss what a closed-minded, clearly weak fool like yourself who can’t handle a bit of muscle thinks anyway!” BAM!

You’d think a witty response like that would shut this dope up, but nope. He went in on Zoe Smith again, posting, “In other words your insecurities are kicking in lol. Now piss off back to the kitchen and make your boyfriend a sandwich he’s hungry.” OMG LOL! A sandwich joke! LMFAO, how original! Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.

Of course, Zoe Smith showed this moron up yet again, replying, “Meh, not particularly. I just find it funny to argue with idiots on the internet. What a very original comeback, you are a credit to men everywhere. I bet all those feminine women you speak of are queuing round the block for a chance with you!” Welp, how ’bout some aloe for that burn?

In her response to this clown’s tweets (by the way, the coward has since deleted his account), Zoe Smith addressed a larger issue: sexism and body image issues in athletics. Zoe Smith is super pretty and clearly mature about her own body image and those of the girls with whom she lifts weights, but that doesn’t mean she’s immune to all that negative hot air. As a result, she’s speaking out about sexism and body image in sports on her blog–and, as expected, she’s doing it in a very well-worded, clever way. Check out our favorite parts of her latest entry about her anonymous (read: cowardly) haters:

“The obvious choice of slander when talking about female weightlifting is ‘how unfeminine, girls shouldn’t be strong or have muscles, this is wrong.’ And maybe they’re right … in the Victorian era.” You go, Zoe! She continued, “To think people still think like this is laughable, we’re in 2012! This may sound like a sweeping generalisation, but most of the people that do think like this seem to be chauvinistic, pigheaded blokes who feel emasculated by the fact that we, three small, fairly feminine girls, are stronger than them. Simple as that. I confronted one guy that said ‘we’re probably all lesbians and look like blokes,’ purely to explain the fact that his opinion is invalid cause he’s a moron. And wrong.” Hells to the yes, Zoe Smith!

She added, “We don’t lift weights in order to look hot, especially for the likes of men like that. What makes them think that we even want them to find us attractive? If you do, thanks very much, we’re flattered. But if you don’t, why do you really need to voice this opinion in the first place, and what makes you think we actually give a toss that you, personally, do not find us attractive? What do you want us to do? Shall we stop weightlifting, amend our diet in order to completely get rid of our ‘manly’ muscles, and become housewives in the sheer hope that one day you will look more favorably upon us and we might actually have a shot with you?! Cause you are clearly the kindest, most attractive type of man to grace the earth with your presence.”

Obviously, she’s being sarcastic–but just in case readers didn’t pick up on it (someone like the guy she addressed it too probably wouldn’t, because he’s an imbecile), she made sure to clarify: “Oh but wait, you aren’t. This may be shocking to you, but we actually would rather be attractive to people who aren’t closed-minded and ignorant. Crazy, eh?!” Atta girl! “We, as any women with an ounce of self-confidence would, prefer our men to be confident enough in themselves to not feel emasculated by the fact that we aren’t weak and feeble. And here’s some food for thought–maybe you should broaden your criteria for what you consider ‘attractive’ anyway, because these perfect, feminine women you speak of probably have no interest in you either.” Dayyyyum!

Zoe Smith is making huge strides not just in sports, but also in positive body image (and in calling out douchebags who don’t get it). She absolutely hit the nail on the head about this guy, but you know what’s disappointing? She actually said a lot of girls agreed with him. It’s such a bummer that instead of applauding Zoe Smith and her teammates for being strong, powerful, courageous women, girls are tearing them down because they don’t meet some impossible and idiotic standard. If you’re in that camp, please know that you’re setting us all back–and that envy and powerlessness isn’t a good look for anyone.

Zoe Smith isn’t on this planet to please men, and neither are you nor any other girls. You’re here to be the absolute best, happiest, most awesome you that you can be–and let’s be real, you and Zoe Smith are freakin’ awesome. Any guy who deserves your time won’t expect you to change a thing–and don’t you forget it. Zoe Smith sure didn’t!

Do you agree with Zoe Smith about body image and sexism towards female athletes? Do you think female athletes have body image issues more often than male athletes? Does Zoe Smith inspire you to do your own thing? Do you think Zoe Smith was smart to respond to that jerk about sexism and body image, or do you think she should have just ignored him? Tell us in the comments!

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