Body Image, Strength, and 'Masculinity'

The following discussion of women's strength and body image and
the fear of appearing too 'masculine' took place on WMST-L in May
2003.  For additional WMST-L files available on the Web, see the
WMST-L File Collection.

Hi,

I have a student who is investigating women's body image and strength.  She
is looking at women weight-lifters who are expected to live up to certain
standards of femininity and therefore are not able to build muscle to the
level they could because they will look too much like men. She is wondering
if this is happening and if women are encouraged not to be too strong or
risk crossing the line into 'masculinity'. Is anyone familiar with this or
recommend any articles or other readings about this issue?

Wendee Kubik

Women's Studies Programme
University of Regina
Regina, Saskatchewan, S4S 0A2
e-mail: Wendee.Kubik.  AT  uregina.ca

I'm sending this to the list because it is my favorite weight lifting
site.  The author is an academic who is also responsive to email.

http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html

I also saw a weight lifting equipment catalog about two years ago.  It
sold a T-shirt that said "bigger faster stronger" in men's sizes, and
one in women's sizes that said "better faster stronger."

Your student probably won't have to look far.  A comparison of any of
the men's bb and women's bb magazines will quickly reveal this
information.

cheers,
Scout
scout  AT  hoyden.org

--
"clever quote here"
[test signature file]
scout,
informavore
scout  AT  hoyden.org

Leslie Heywood's _Bodymakers:  A Cultural Anatomy of Women's Body Building_
(1998) discusses the issues of "how muscular is too muscular" for a female,
as well as a woman's taking control of her life through bodybuilding, and,
of course, the idea that female body builders are "unfeminine" (with
emphasis on the clothing female body builders are encourage to wear to
resemble  beauty contestants rather than athletes).


Lorelei Kitrick
WMST Program
UNC  Charlotte
Charlotte, NC 28269
lpkitric  AT  email.uncc.edu

On Wed, 21 May 2003, Wendee Kubik wrote:

> I have a student who is investigating women's body image and
> strength.  She is looking at women weight-lifters who are
> expected to live up to certain standards of femininity and
> therefore are not able to build muscle to the level they could
> because they will look too much like men. She is wondering if
> this is happening and if women are encouraged not to be too
> strong or risk crossing the line into 'masculinity'. Is anyone
> familiar with this or recommend any articles or other readings
> about this issue?

Leslie Heywood: Athletic vs. Pornographic Eroticism: How Muscle
Magazines Compromise Female Athletes and Delegitimize the Sport of
Bodybuilding in the Public Eye
http://www.mesomorphosis.com/exclusive/heywood/eroticism01.htm

Krista Scott-Dixon:
Cyborgs in the Gym: The Technopolitics of Female Muscle
http://www.stumptuous.com/dukepaper.html

Krista Scott-Dixon:
Some philosophical thoughts on strong women...
http://www.stumptuous.com/thoughts.html

Marcia Ian: From Abject to Object: Women's Bodybuilding
http://folk.uio.no/thomas/ai/marcia-ian-fembb.txt

Posters to the Amazons International newsletter frequently
address this issue, usually in the context of their personal
life:
http://folk.uio.no/thomas/ai/
Index to the newsletter:
http://folk.uio.no/thomas/ai/ai-index.txt


_Elite women bodybuilders: Models of resistance or
compliance?_ Guthrie, Sharon R.; Castelnuovo, Shirley: Play
& Culture 1992 (Nov) Vol. 5(4) pp. 401-408.

_Epistemological perspectives among women who participate in
physical activity._  Special Issue: Gender roles, sport, and
exercise.  Bredemeier, Brenda J.; Desertrain, Gloria S.;
Fisher, Leslee A.; Getty, Debby et al: Journal of Applied
Sport Psychology 1991 (Mar) Vol. 3(1) pp. 87-107.

_Gender (body) verification (building)_.  Daniels, Dayna B.:
Play & Culture 1992 (Nov) Vol. 5(4) pp. 370-377.

_Social perception of bodybuilders_.  Freeman, Harvey R.:
Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology 1988 (Sep) Vol. 10(3)
pp. 281-293.


Burton-Nelson, M. (1991). ARE WE WINNING YET?  HOW WOMEN ARE
CHANGING SPORTS AND SPORTS ARE CHANGING WOMEN.  NY: Random
House.

Lenskij, H. (1986):  OUT OF BOUNDS: WOMEN, SPORT AND SEXUALITY.
Women's Press, Toronto.  ISBN 0-88961-105-X.

Lenskyj, H. (1991). WOMEN, SPORT AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY:
RESEARCH AND BIBLIOGRAPHY. Ottawa: Canadian Communication
Group Minster of Supply and Services.

Messner, M. & Sabo, D. (1990). SPORT, MEN AND THE GENDER
ORDER: CRITICAL FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES.  Champaign, IL: Human
Kinetics.

Jarrat, E. (1990).  Feminist Issues in Sport. WOMEN'S STUDIES
INTERNATIONAL FORUM. 13(5), 491-499.


Also, you don't want to miss the book associated with the 1999
exhibition PICTURING THE MODERN AMAZON, co-edited by Joanna Frueh,
Laurie Fierstein, and Judith Stein, published by New Museum of
Contemporary Art, New York.  Amazon.com offers it, though not much
information about it; more details about the book here:
http://folk.uio.no/thomas/ai/ai72.txt

It's a vast topic, these are just a few sample sources.

Thomas Gramstad
thomas  AT  ifi.uio.no

>From a feminist geography perspective:

Lynda Johnston, "Flexing Femininity: female body-builders refiguring =
'the body' " in Gender, Place, and Culture V 3, No 3 (1996)

Hope this helps.
Laura


**************************
Laura Y. Liu
Dept. of Geography
Rutgers University

don't forget _Pumping Iron 2: The Women_, which is available on video.

-Sharon Doetsch

one more suggestion:
Dworkin, S. (2001) 'Holding back': Negotiating a glass ceiling on women's
muscular strength. Sociological Perspectives,44, 333- 350. (also published
in Weitz, R. (Ed) (2003) The politics of women's bodies (2nd ed)

annelies knoppers
utrecht school of governance
university of utrecht
bijlhouwerstraat 6
3511 ZC Utrecht
the Netherlands

She also might want to consider that male bodybuilders routinely use
feminine accoutrement -- baggy brightly-patterned pants, ponytails,
earrings -- in an attempt to accentuate their masculinity (that's my guess
for why they do it). In my experience as a competitive bodybuilder (early
1980s) and what I've noticed since is that women are *not* expected to tone
down their acquisition of muscle, and indeed are heavy steroid abusers on
par with males, but rather, in competition, they wear heels and bikinis
that cover pectoral muscle with virtually no breast tissue (they couldn't
go topless, but they don't wear jogbras for instance). They almost all have
long-hair, which is a hinderance to working out, and heavy make-up. I've
noticed several breast implants as well.

Robin Maltz
missrobinm  AT  earthlink.net

1. Gladys Portugues covers this topic somewhat in "The Hard Bodies
Express Workout". Now, granted, the book isn't for the competitor but the
woman on the street and such comments might have been made to promote the
book as oppose to the actual sport.

But just as in males muscle types vary, such as comparing Arnold S. to an
aerial artist in Cirque Soleil, so can it vary to what is strong in
women.

So either A or B. Either the differences should be noted or one type, ie
the bulk (and therefore non aerial artist for the female in that act is
quite impressive), should be covered at exclusion of all the others.

2. A cartoon from the other side that was once seen: man, woman are looking
at a woman wieght lifter. Man says, "Isn't that disgusting? I wouldn't want
to date anyone who could beat me up!" Woman says, "NEITHER WOULD I!"

3. I believe it was deceased astronaut Judith Resnik who commented that she
took up wieght lifting to increase her arm strength so to better operate
the SpaceArm. Such, of course, would not be sport but training so better
able to do one's job. The picture, of course, then widens. If it is
unfeminine to be strong, then is it unfeminine to be in a man's job? If the
latter has been neutralized, then would not also the former be neutralized?

[there tends to be a lot of data on the net regarding weight training and
astronauts]

-Traci
th06  AT  swt.edu

See also:

Choi, Precilla (2000).  Femininity and the physically active woman.
Routledge (particularly the chapter entitled, "The Muscular Woman")

Lowe, Maria (1998).  Women of steel: Female body builders and the struggle
for self-definition."  NYU Press.

Also, I second the recommendation of the video "Pumping Iron II: The
Women"-- the entire storyline revolves around the issue your student is
interested in.

  That's a fascinating point about the men!  Does anyone remember the big
Zubaz craze a couple of years ago?  There must be a gender component to
that.  I'm publishing this publicly because I hope that someone else can
explain why men could suddenly wear lime green and orange, while they mowed
the lawnit happened so suddenly--nothing like it before since... disco
clothes?  Unless you count the New Romantic look (think "Adam Ant") in he
1980's--Prince in "Purple Rain."  But even those looks were for going to
clubs, not jogging around the block.

In Sisterhood,
Hannah Miyamoto
hsmiyamoto  AT  msn.com

For a fascinating look inside the world of male bodybuilding, see Sam
Fussell's (1991) Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder.  Fussell is
the Oxford-educated son of two English professors who turned to bodybuilding
upon graduation as a way to deal with his fears living in NYC.  One simple
explanation for the baggy pants (such as Zubaz) is that highly developed
quads and hamstrings are not accomodated by typically-cut jeans or trousers.
Perhaps the flashy patterns (and other adornment) are just a natural
extension of the whole showy self-presentation that is central to serious
bodybuilding.

Britain

         Reply to:   RE: Women's Strength, body image and masculinity
Hi:

This issue comes up a lot in basketball/soccer circles.  I'm sure it
comes up in lots of places but these are the sports I know.  Lisa
Leslie for example is constantly coached (pardon the pun) to discuss
femininity and "being a woman" (read: high heels, lipstick).  She
talks about femininity and loving make-up and shopping in EVERY
interview.  Nothing wrong with being feminine, just promoting
femininity to the point where the subtextual message is that being or
seeming masculine (and a woman) is bad.

You asked for readings, but this is a good video on the subject:
http://catalog.frameline.org/titles/breaking_glass.html

Best,

_______________________________________
Desi del Valle
desi  AT  frameline.org
Distribution Director
Frameline
*********************
Educational LGBTQ film and video since 1981
http://www.frameline.org/distribution

See a book for which I'm one of the co-editors:

Joanna Frueh, Judith Stein, and Laurie Fierstein, eds., Picturing the Modern
Amazon (Rizzoli, 2000).

The book is a catalog for an exhibition of the same title at The New Museum
of Contemporary Art that was held March-June 2000.

Joanna Frueh
Professor of Art History
Art Department/224
University of Nevada, Reno
Reno, NV 89557-0007
email    jfrueh  AT  unr.nevada.edu