The Truth About Female Bodybuilders
Change happens slowly, and if time has taught us anything, it is that there is no such thing as a "man's world." More and more women are breaking into sports, professions, and other areas that were previously thought of as the "man's realm", and while many may not know it, women have been an integral part of bodybuilding for generations. But for most watchers and now gawkers, female bodybuilding is intimidating.
The Acceptable Image
Image continues to play a huge part in all this mess. Generally, when most of us think of bodybuilding, we think of Arnold Schwarzennagger or some other ridiculously ripped male bodybuilder. We think of this as the athletic male, which is what we train many men to strive toward.
But when we think of women, we think of small, petite, rail thin women on the pages of fashion magazines. And every once in a while, we think of the again rail thin women who happen to have six packs featured on swimsuit covers. We rarely if ever think of the muscular, and defined figures of competitive female bodybuilders.
Because of this image set in our minds, the rising popularity of female bodybuilding is shocking, and to some of us, it even seems flat out disturbing. There is no precedent for the well-defined and considerably larger figures of these female bodybuilders, and some have even begun to describe it as a "new archetype", carving out a new place for women in today's society.
Female Bodybuilding & Feminism
Once upon a time, women were required to wear dresses everywhere they went, and it wasn't so long ago that one school in particular was brought under scrutiny for continuing to enforce this policy even though every other major University had progressed to a new age. And now, some women are considering female bodybuilding to mark a similar movement.
In the past, young girls who were also athletic were called "tomboys", some were told that they would "grow out of it", and it was generally discouraged. But once most women were allowed to compete in the athletic arena, some even joining boys' teams where there was no female equivalent, it was decided among many women that obviously stronger (or in this case bigger) is better when it comes to sports.
In the beginning, women used the weight room to build muscle for sports such as soccer, tennis (i.e. the Williams sisters), golf, and many other popular sports. And with a growing number of female athletes competing in major sports, the athletic female physique has become increasing acceptable, with some women even emerging as cultural icons.
Today, Olympic stars like Florence Griffith Joyner and the Williams sisters catch our eyes. There are still some female athletes such as Kristi Yamaguchi and other famous figure skaters who maintain a more slender physique. But the top female athletes are typically bigger and more muscular than any we have seen before. They can hardly be compared to the hardcore female bodybuilders now emerging. But female athletic form is slowly becoming more acceptable and less "grotesque"by society's standards