Despite our culture’s ten- dency to cast males as being large and muscular and females as being small and thin, the average man is only 10% to 15% larger than the average woman (Dowling, 2000). Given how great the strength difference between men and women is thought to be, this 10% to 15% seems minor. Female bod- ies are not small, and they are not weak either. In a study of females who fell within the height/weight standards of the army but were not involved with the military, 24% of the women could lift 100 pounds before training to increase their heavy lifting ability (Gutmann, 2000).