Other Writer - Female Bodybuilders Denied? Discriminated Against? Inquiring Minds Want To Know!

[webmaster]

To be big and freaky. Or not to be. That is the question that haunts women's bodybuilding. Some say yes. Others say not. The line has been drawn. Read below to get the latest on this ongoing issue.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/other44.htm

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[kimsquit]

I think the author has made some very succinct and well-spoken observations.

I have to agree that there is a double-standard when it comes to male versus female bodybuilding.

Perhaps I'm not your average guy, but I've always been an enthusiastic admirer and supporter of female bodybuilders who want to push the physical development envelope.

I think that given the body image pressures women grow up with, having the guts to veer so far from what society considers "normal" demonstrates a genuine commitment to being their own person rather than basing their self-image on what "Cosmo" tells them to be.

I guess that as an amateur bb competitor myself, I don't care what gender you are: if you have the drive and self-discipline to get yourself to that level of muscular development then you have my respect

[4amWorkouts]

Let's face it, the IFBB does not print prize money out back in a shed. People have to want to pay for their product, and history has shown that people do not want to pay to see big woman (but they do want to pay to see big men). Let's face, men and women are different. Trying to pull a Title IX with the IFBB won't change that. Society wants some seperation between the sexes, regardless of what the individual sexes desire.

While reading this article I could not really tell what side she was trying to come down on. Is she for or against hypermuscularity? She seems to have simply strong a group of psudo related topics together to form the basis of the article, and not really stuck to defending one side or the other.

Also, her argument that we should ignore the illegal use of steroids because they aren't as bad as cocaine or heroin is just silly. Should we ignore rape because it is not as bad as murder? A sport will not gain wide spread acceptance as long as the "winners" have to break the law to win.

I would also have to disagre with her statement that woman's basketball and golf share the same negative stigma as woman's bodybuilding. The product of woman's golf is tolerable to watch, but woman's basketball is simply a lousy product that very few want to pay to see. It's lack of paying fans has nothing to do with a stigma. I will agree that it is hard to sit and watch two woman systematically try and beat the other lady unconcescious.

If women bodybuilders want to make money, they must produce a product that will willingly seperate the audience from its' money, and stop trying to simply rob them in the parking lot. If the only people who will pay to see female bodybuilders want to look at a sleek, sexy body, then if you want to make money you had better give them what they want. Trying to force them into attendance will not work.

i consider myself a fan of female bodybuilding.maybe i do not follow the sport close enough,because i never know where or when a competion is taking place.i do not feal that the problem is with the athletes being to big personally i think they are not big enough.i want to see and cheer on massive back spreads and 25" biceps it's rediculous to tell these women to tone down they are competing in a bodybuilders contest for crying out loud they should be huge.look arnold was successful because when he came out he shocked and awed the crowds by being the biggest most well defined guy out there.if people want the women to tone it down because they're too big they should ask themselves "do i want to see bodybuilding".it sounds more like they want a slightly more muscled woman than the thin actors and models we are so use to seeing nowadays.it sounds like they want a beauty contest where the women are not looking so anorexic and sickly.bodybuilding is about who looks the biggest,who has the best definition,then thirdly is symmetry.i feal whoever is in charge of advertising these things should be fired.they have a budget to promote the competions and i feal they just aren't doing it too well.the women have a huge fan base but the fans are kept in the dark and the women should be more accessible.have a fans meet the athletes day they could say all the stuff the magazines print up sign some pics everyones a winner!

I must say that I am pushing for a muscularity reduction in womens bb. Lets keep the gender seperated. A woman's body is absolutely beautiful especially when it is fantastically fit.

I have the utmost respect for women and men alike who wish to push their bodies to the limits. However, exceeding the natural limits by use of steriods to achieve unreal (maybe unnatural???) muscular development should not be condoned, respected, or rewarded.

If female bodybuilders are deadset on looking like men--and a lot of them do--then they should compete in the men's division. If the women strive for extreme mass--which seems to be what the judges are looking for-- and by attaining this are as big if not bigger than some of the male bb why don't we just all compete in the same class.

This is unacceptable-- there must be different criteria for women and men. Keep the genders seperate. Allow the women to retain some feminine quality. Bring some glamour and prestige--which will bring money--- back to female bodybuilding.

I am currently competing in the women's lightweight bodybuilding. I get a lot of compliments on my beauty, sex appeal, strength, stage presence, overall perfection in symmetry and seperation--- and then I am told I need to get past the beautiful stage and just "get huge" "add some size" I refuse to give up my quest for being a beautiful, successful, and FEMININE bodybuilder As an all natural competitor and a woman who intends to look like a woman forever I am determined to make a change in bodybuilding!!!!!

[AirHarp]

the other part is no promotion. disagree? well look at M&F's review of the last THREE Olympia's. the men (of course) had a multi-page spread article. Fitness and Figure had two pages and at the bottom they displayed at least the top 5 placers. but when it came to women's BB it was two pages put only one pix of the winner. now i don't expect them to give women's BB as much coverage as the men...wait why not? they use too! i have recently come into a collection of BB magazines from the 70's (remember MUSCLE B4 M&F) on up. i'm talking IRONMAN,M&F,FLEX,MUSCLE MAG. and i can tell you for a fact they all used to give Women's BB its due. COMPLETE coverage of all the big shows. MM even did something that no one ever did, for men or women, for each pose they had pictures of each competitor in a grid so you could easily compare them to each other. it was agreat idea, i wish they would bring that back.

[AirHarp]

the other part is no promotion. disagree? well look at M&F's review of the last THREE Olympia's. the men (of course) had a multi-page spread article. Fitness and Figure had two pages and at the bottom they displayed at least the top 5 placers. but when it came to women's BB it was two pages put only one pix of the winner. now i don't expect them to give women's BB as much coverage as the men...wait why not? they use too! i have recently come into a collection of BB magazines from the 70's (remember MUSCLE B4 M&F) on up. i'm talking IRONMAN,M&F,FLEX,MUSCLE MAG. and i can tell you for a fact they all used to give Women's BB its due. COMPLETE coverage of all the big shows. MM even did something that no one ever did, for men or women, for each pose they had pictures of each competitor in a grid so you could easily compare them to each other. it was agreat idea, i wish they would bring that back. coverage would be given to Mr.O one issue and in the next Ms.O. now Ms.O is just "and by the way...there was a female BB contest held tonight. anyways how about those Mets..."
looking back through these issues i saw a time when women BBers were given respect. they too were in magazines workingout. now we only see figure and fitness women in these sections. even then there have been times when this section has been left out in favor of lingerie football females (M&F's "football" issue). when was the last time Ms.O appeared in M&F workingout? hell Cory Everson has had more covers on M&F since she retired than all other Ms.Os combined. how is a sport suppose to thrive when the magazines don't cover it? we know COSMO is not going to cover women's BB, just like we know Men's Health isn't going to cover men's BB. so that leaves niche magazines like FLex and MM to cover our sport. but what happen's to women's BB gets none? that leaves an even more niche magazine like WPW to cover it. is that mag on selves anymore?
one point in the article she other talks about women in the gym not wanting to look like wBBs. sure not ALL women but some to a few do. and those women who would activly participate in the sport won't even know were to begin if wBB gets NO coverage in the magazines. jump back to 1989 and a young Lenda Murray (the best :] ), were could she had gone to see the likes of Cory Everson? and jump back another 7 years and think about Cory not having the chance to see Carla Dunlap, or Rachel. and both of them had Mrs Frank Zane to look to for guidance. if you don't show wBB, then wBB won't grow.
do not take this as a stab at Figure or Fitness. i support any sport that encourages people to be fit. but the what saddens me is i can name the last three figure and Fitness Os w/out a second thought.
when REPS! name thier top BBs of all time all i could think about was how Cory and Lenda should have been on that list.