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Few years ago bodybuilding for women seems to had reached a crisis point in its development, at least at the pro level. Female bodybuilding has been removed from the Ms. International competition and this seems to be a threat that extends to other IFBB pro events. The International Federation of Bodybuilders seems to feel there is only an audience for the women who compete in bodybuilding-based beauty contest like fitness, figure or fit bikini.
So there is recognition of sport for the men, some kind of beauty pageant for the women. How amazing this is in an age of emphasis on equal opportunity and rights for women! If bodybuilding had ever managed to become an Olympic sport it would now be in trouble with the IOC, which has very strong gender equality policies. It is difficult to think of a similar example of gender discrimination anywhere else in organized athletics.
Why is this happening, will it continue – and what can be done to restore some sort of reasonable support for bodybuilding for both women and men?
SOMETHING NEW UNDER THE SUN
Of course, for somebody who was present at the beginning of bodybuilding for women in the late 1970s, it seems the sport has already been around for a very long time. But in historic terms that is simply not the case. Pumping Iron author Charles Gaines calls this phenomenon a “new archetype,” and points out that women who develop their muscles for primarily aesthetic purposes have never existed before in any time or place. It is, what I call: “Something New Under The Sun.”
So looking back at the sweep of recorded history, this period of 30 to 40 years is just an eye blink. And given the challenges women’s bodybuilding presents to our preconceptions regarding the female body, gender identification, sexuality and many other well-accepted elements of your culture, it is no wonder these women have encountered opposition. It is actually amazing that the sport, and other areas of modern life in which female muscularity has become so prevalent, have not had to deal with more obstacles than has been the case.
Female bodybuilding was well accepted in the beginning because the first women involved were not that big or muscular. (In fact, it is amazing to look back and see how relatively small the competitors were who were criticized for being too big!) Most had been training seriously for very short periods of time and top bodybuilders today, women and men both, have generally been working out intensely for a decade or two. It takes time to fully develop a physique. So the earliest competitors displayed comparatively small muscles and mostly displayed a lot of definition – achieved by hard dieting. So they were not that far from the norm of female beauty and most could accept them as attractive – and sexually appealing. So many of these early FBBs were invited to be interviewed on TV shows, were featured on magazine covers and featured in advertisements. Bodybuilder Lisa Lyon was featured in Playboy.
But when anyone with sufficient genetics works out in the gym long enough and hard enough they get keep getting bigger. So female bodybuilders gradually increased in size and muscularity over the 1980s. (So have fitness and figure competitors, by the way.) And while everyone loves kittens, not everybody likes cats. So the more developed the women became, the more criticism they became subject to. Of course, several things mitigated against this. There was the quality and beauty of many of the top champions. It is hard to reject out of hand women like Rachel McLish, Cory Everson, Anja Langer, Lenda Murray, Sharon Bruneau and others. This was not the case with a number of the other women, who looked less like “cover model” material.
But look at the difference in development between Rachel McLish and Lenda Murray in just 10 years and the degree of evolution in muscle size and muscularity that was going on is evident. Rachel didn’t look as muscular at that point as most figure competitors do today.
Another factor was the magazine coverage given these women by Joe Weider. Weider began featuring female bodybuilders in Flex and Muscle & Fitness very early on and created the Ms. Olympia to give them a world pro championship in which to compete starting in 1980. The other industry magazines generally followed his lead and advertisers began using them for ads and personal appearances.
WILL be continue
So there is recognition of sport for the men, some kind of beauty pageant for the women. How amazing this is in an age of emphasis on equal opportunity and rights for women! If bodybuilding had ever managed to become an Olympic sport it would now be in trouble with the IOC, which has very strong gender equality policies. It is difficult to think of a similar example of gender discrimination anywhere else in organized athletics.
Why is this happening, will it continue – and what can be done to restore some sort of reasonable support for bodybuilding for both women and men?
SOMETHING NEW UNDER THE SUN
Of course, for somebody who was present at the beginning of bodybuilding for women in the late 1970s, it seems the sport has already been around for a very long time. But in historic terms that is simply not the case. Pumping Iron author Charles Gaines calls this phenomenon a “new archetype,” and points out that women who develop their muscles for primarily aesthetic purposes have never existed before in any time or place. It is, what I call: “Something New Under The Sun.”
So looking back at the sweep of recorded history, this period of 30 to 40 years is just an eye blink. And given the challenges women’s bodybuilding presents to our preconceptions regarding the female body, gender identification, sexuality and many other well-accepted elements of your culture, it is no wonder these women have encountered opposition. It is actually amazing that the sport, and other areas of modern life in which female muscularity has become so prevalent, have not had to deal with more obstacles than has been the case.
Female bodybuilding was well accepted in the beginning because the first women involved were not that big or muscular. (In fact, it is amazing to look back and see how relatively small the competitors were who were criticized for being too big!) Most had been training seriously for very short periods of time and top bodybuilders today, women and men both, have generally been working out intensely for a decade or two. It takes time to fully develop a physique. So the earliest competitors displayed comparatively small muscles and mostly displayed a lot of definition – achieved by hard dieting. So they were not that far from the norm of female beauty and most could accept them as attractive – and sexually appealing. So many of these early FBBs were invited to be interviewed on TV shows, were featured on magazine covers and featured in advertisements. Bodybuilder Lisa Lyon was featured in Playboy.
But when anyone with sufficient genetics works out in the gym long enough and hard enough they get keep getting bigger. So female bodybuilders gradually increased in size and muscularity over the 1980s. (So have fitness and figure competitors, by the way.) And while everyone loves kittens, not everybody likes cats. So the more developed the women became, the more criticism they became subject to. Of course, several things mitigated against this. There was the quality and beauty of many of the top champions. It is hard to reject out of hand women like Rachel McLish, Cory Everson, Anja Langer, Lenda Murray, Sharon Bruneau and others. This was not the case with a number of the other women, who looked less like “cover model” material.
But look at the difference in development between Rachel McLish and Lenda Murray in just 10 years and the degree of evolution in muscle size and muscularity that was going on is evident. Rachel didn’t look as muscular at that point as most figure competitors do today.
Another factor was the magazine coverage given these women by Joe Weider. Weider began featuring female bodybuilders in Flex and Muscle & Fitness very early on and created the Ms. Olympia to give them a world pro championship in which to compete starting in 1980. The other industry magazines generally followed his lead and advertisers began using them for ads and personal appearances.
WILL be continue
