Some people take a small kernel of truth and run with it (1 Viewer)

[Ahsoka]

I was watching a video where some male gymnasts tried to do a balance skill and failed, but a female rhythmic gymnast managed to do it. In the comments, almost everyone said that she could do it because women have a lower center of gravity. Loads of people said that men’s center of gravity is in their chest, or even shoulders

Here’s the skill

So, to clear it up:
Yes, women’s center of gravity on average is slightly lower. This is true. And yes, that can help slightly with some balance skills. But no, men’s center of gravity isn’t in their shoulders. If that was true, it would mean men couldn’t lean forward more than 5-10 degrees without falling over. In fact, men’s center of gravity is only 1-2 inches higher on average than women. Ie theirs is just above their belly button, women’s is just below.

A better explanation for how she managed but not them is that rhythmic gymnasts train balance and flexibility a lot. If they trained like her, they’d definitely be able to do it. But they didn’t. It’s kind of like being surprised that a NFL quarterback is able to throw a football farther than a male ballerina with no football experience. Could the quarterback be naturally stronger (ie not from training) in his arms than that male ballerina, helping him throw farther? Maybe. Is the reason he can throw it so much farther just because of that? Obviously not. This is the same. Most women cannot do this skill, regardless of center of gravity (me included, I can’t balance like that). Some men who trained balance and flexibility can easily do this skill. To take the small truth that men and women tend to have different centers of gravity and to run with it every time a woman does a skill that some men can’t is insanity. Especially for something like this, where the center of gravity difference is really negligible compared to the other more important factors involved (training being the most major one).

Okay, rant over

 

[Pirioca]

I don't know where my center of gravity is but I know that the truth ist out there ... somewhere.

 

[Ahsoka]

I don't know where my center of gravity is but I know that the truth ist out there ... somewhere.

The internet definitely has a lot of lies, but the consistency here was what was annoying. It’s one thing if one person claims that men’s center of gravity is in the shoulders and that’s why they aren’t able to do this, but if virtually every comment claims that the center of gravity is the reason why she can do it and they can’t, that’s too much

 

[centen]

These kind of videos are always wild. "Person who has trained hundreds of hours in a skill is better than person who hasn't! In other news, fork found in kitchen! More at 4:00!"

 

[Ahsoka]

These kind of videos are always wild. "Person who has trained hundreds of hours in a skill is better than person who hasn't! In other news, fork found in kitchen! More at 4:00!"

To be fair for the video itself, this is a skill that is in the book for male gymnasts, but one that’s incredibly rare. So I could understand the original video on its own, especially since they didn’t say they were surprised that she was better. They were surprised anyone could do it.

 

[uran]

As a most dignified uran i know for a matter of fact that my center of gravity is in my heart, how else can i keep falling for you 💖