Big Pretty Muscles
The past two weeks I’ve had an opportunity to proofread a paper by a friend who’s in University and studying Gender and Sport. She too has taken a great interest in the women’s side of bodybuilding and the topic that she was looking at was how female bodybuilders has the toughest time balancing out their femininity, their need to be competitive in sport and to be marketable. About a week or so ago, the National Physique Committee also known as the NPC, the IFBB’s amateur representative in the United States, held their national championships. It’s easily the biggest amateur National-Level show in the United States bringing together over 55 female bodybuilders to the stage this year.
Taking a look at the field you can easily recognize the strength these women possess and for the women that win their weight class, it represents years of hard work and preparation that cultivates into being recognized as the best in their field. Full muscles and curves are called up and flexed on stage at will in a choreographed routine to the delight of fans in the audience. As you watch on stage you can see two piece posing suits that are meant to accentuate their look on stage that combines with their skin color and tone, make up and hairstyle to show their beauty, strength and their femininity. The winners that the judges choose would represent the best look of the female bodybuilder of the day and possibly of the year.
Something that aroused my thinking is a comment made on one of the female muscle forums that I frequent where the poster mentioned that extreme conditioning and definition will not be rewarded unless the competitor was “really, really pretty”. The user then posted the overall winner who was backstage flexing her butt (or glutes) which from weeks of dieting showed extreme muscular striations and detail.
This is a very hard feat to accomplish. The competitor in my mind and many other female muscle aficionados thought she looked extremely beautiful with a feminine face and curves and naturally was very deserving to win. On the surface, the women who placed high are all what more people would likely find desirable, that is, the fans who are into this look. Most women who do well in the sport are able to pack on muscle mass and maintain a level of femininity that is in-line to the ideal female form albeit with the muscles.
Consider the comment as it relates to other women who were not as feminine. Back in the 90’s when there was a dramatic growth of muscle mass in female bodybuilders on stage. Soon, people who were paying money to see these women were being turned off and stopped attending these shows making the stakeholders lose money. Because of this, there has been an effort by physique federations to encourage the toning down of muscularity levels in women who compete in the sport of bodybuilding in general. The results were the creation of the fitness and figure divisions where the latter added quarter turns and one/two piece rounds and the former in addition added a routine round which allowed athletes to add gymnastic and dance routines to show their level of athleticism. The level of muscularity in fitness and figure competitors were significantly less than those in bodybuilding and with that, allowed these athletes to focus more on being feminine but still athletic rather than shooting for a very muscular physique often recognized with the ideal male form.
Behind all of this is the business of bodybuilding which is driven by sports nutrition companies and health companies. These are the companies that sponsor and bring in revenues for promoters who run these shows often out of their own pockets. Even though female bodybuilders represent very, very, fit and strong athletes, their look only attracts a certain niche of crowds. With that, and the androgynous looks notably on the lesser prettier athletes, companies in the business cannot make enough of a return of investment if they use a female bodybuilder to promote their products. When was the last time you saw a thickly muscled woman on a cover of a magazine? Not necessarily a bodybuilder but big strong female athletes like a powerlifter, a female shot-put thrower, or even a thicker female gymnast?
Once a move is made to cross between the boundaries business and sport by a woman, she will find herself lost in the neutral zone. Is she in the sport to test her limits and the limits of other women in the sport or to earn money in the sport? Often when I interview physique women during my media work in the sport asking why they compete, I often get the response “For the Love of the sport.” I won’t knock someone who gives me that answer because when you enjoy something while at the same time it’s taboo, it can be difficult to articulate why you love it. Male athletes should be grateful that they never have to consider these things. Seriously, it was god after all that made you into the manly man you are today. If not for the lack of an X chromosome, you too would have to at some point question the purpose of having big muscles AND breasts albeit likely fake ones much to the enjoyment of the fans that like the jiggle.
A sport federation whether mainstream or not in my mind has a very fine line to walk on to keep both the promoters and the athletes happy. Some sports not widely supported will struggle to function, since public funds won’t be put into niche sports. This leaves the federation (at least on this side of the hemisphere) with only being able to draw from private funds. So naturally the federation must address the need of those stakeholders first and ensure enough support exists for a profitable, sustainable venture. At the same time, the revenue generated from the show depends on the performance of the athletes themselves and the quality of the competition. Without that, you have no show and no entertainment. Women’s bodybuilding suffers because in a stakeholder’s mind, the look of a female bodybuilder is not in the majority interest and larger niche markets are simply not a good enough investment. Compare this to figure competitions where you will see femininity and marketable athletes in bounciful quantities.
But, even as the best female bodybuilders can come from no-where to advance rapidly to rise through the ranks and become a pro bodybuilder, others who have been struggling around the sport for much longer and try to listen to judges’ advice don’t come close. These are often the women who may not be as feminine looking as the winners stay within the amateur levels despite appearing softer as told by judges. Aren’t female bodybuilders supposed to be softer at shows and be more feminine looking? After all there was that infamous 20% muscularity reduction directive that the IFBB sent out in 2005 for the pro women bodybuilders (I will see if I can find a direct link, for now an entry on Wikipedia is the best I can do at the moment.). Perhaps possessing a pretty look DOES give a free pass to unlimited muscularity and shredded definition for the athlete?
Imagine a woman with 24 inch biceps like this one (in a drawing by artist ATELIER EG) who exudes femininity but is approaching the size of today’s Male Heavyweight Bodybuilder. Should she win the show? Again, this is a very difficult dilemma for a legitimate sport federation where they have women who excel and bring a superior level of a feminine look AND comes in with such an advanced muscular physique. If you score the competitor high, it tells other competitors to get more ripped, harder and bigger to meet or beat her level. This shows progression in the sport and it will encourage women to push harder. However, marketing athletes of this caliber will be rarer if this approach is taken. If you score the competitor low, you limit the level of development and the sense of competitiveness or testing one’s limit becomes lost in the heat of trying to be more favorable to the mass audience. But, you make it more likely that the promoter and sponsors will make money in the long run (assuming the show is entertaining enough) and the athletes are more usable in marketing products. So what do you do?
I believe consistency is important. If a federation is going to be sustainable and enjoyable for all there has to be some sense of consistency for long term growth. In my opinion, female bodybuilders (and in a sense figure and fitness competitors) are tired of moving targets, promoters will likely be tired of an unpredictable product and sponsors will not be attracted to an uncertain investment. Once that gets established, that extra energy can be spent on other things, like making shows more entertaining?
Thoughts? Leave a comment.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
I really like how you open up questions regarding this topic: Should female bodybuilders be less-muscular or more muscular in order to win? Honestly, bodybuilding in general has always emphasized a main focus on muscular development/definition, so a “softer” look with less muscle–although considered ‘more feminine’ in Western society—would almost defeat the purpose and definition of the sport. Their main intentions are not to appear ‘masculine’, but rather to appear muscular and defined, which wins a competition—at least in the mens’ side of the sport. Overall, my opinion is that we should keep bodybuilding as bodybuilding, because that’s what it is. If you don’t like it, then keep your mouth shut, and find something that you do like!