Customer Reviews

Bodymakers: A Cultural Anatomy of Women's Body Building

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Leslie Heywood examines the forces which shape the aesthetics of womens' bodybuilding. Her vision goes deep; she lives what she writes about, and her criticism of the movers and shakers of the bodybuilding scene is right on. Especially interesting is her comparison of photographers Bill Dobbins and Bill Lowenburg. Dobbins' work stereotypes and fetishizes; Lowenburg's questions. The truth, according to Heywood, lies somewhere in between.

A superb analysis of the cultural impact of the muscular female body. Heywood helps us understand that when a woman lifts weights, she does far more than strengthen herself physically and psychologically. She strengthens women's place in society and weakens the old patriarchal notions of female frailty and passivity. Heywood also helps us realize that the common practice of oversexualizing female athletes -- which is practically the norm in the bodybuilding industry -- diminishes the woman's power and serves to bring the potentially revolutionary female athlete back into hegemonic standards of feminity. Being a female powerlifter myself, I appreciate the fact that, unlike so many feminist theorists, Leslie Heywood derives many of her arguments from personal experience. Bodymakers is a must-read for any female athlete, or for anyone interested in women's studies or the sociology of sports.

The chapter "American Girls, Raised on Promises" is fantastic. It's a critical look at the differences between the way culture and gender have been viewed through the lens of rock music lyrics in the 80s compared to the 90s, then extended to views of women and bodybuilding. In particular Ms. Haywood focuses on the poignant and ironic song "American Girls" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and how Petty manages to describe to perfection the way young women in America, esp. the 30-somethings, feel about the gap between what we were raised to believe we could do and the hard realities of the world. I keep coming back to this essay again and again because it says so much about me, like a little wound that needs licking.

I looked forward to reading this book, but have been disappointed. I expected an objective look at the history of the sport through a cultural perspective. While there are good parts to the book, I constantly put it down because I got tired of all the feminist drivel. Even though she touts herself a new breed of feminist, I got the same old angry vibes. Where's the joy of the sport? The love of the iron? The love of the women, even? Why all this talk of gender and roles? Honestly? Why is there such a need for it? I expected a book about female bodybuilding, and that means there needn't be a mention of male bodybuilding at all. She's a terrific researcher, but what she did with her materials mostly just turned me off. I don't expect many people would read this book at all unless they were prepared to embrace it 100 percent. This book seems to me to be an indulgent soapbox marketed under the guise of an academic text. Interesting in parts, I found it mostly just tiresome.