Customer Reviews

Women of Steel: Female Bodybuilders and the Struggle for Self-Definition

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This is a really interesting book indeed that points out that there is a male hegemony that dictates how female bodybuilders develop and present themselves. Its a constant struggle for bodybuilders because they never know whether they need to develop more muscle or go for a softer more feminine look and are in a state of constant confusion and frustration. These women who represent power are really quite powerless in their sport the author asserts. Its a very interesting read but I deducted one star because the author has a terrible habit of having passages of some great quotes from bodybuilders and the contest judges and then she proceeds to simply repeat what was just in the quote. Its like reading the same thing twice. It is annoying indeed. Still I do recommend this book for female bodybuilding fans.

I enjoyed this book and found it provided some fascinating perspectives on women in bodybuilding. This narrative research report examines the motivations, relationships and formative experiences of female bodybuilders. The insights lifted the two dimensional physique pictures of athletes to a deep,rich and empathic portrayal of women in a largely frustrating sport.
It's hard to believe that women who are so strong are dominated by shallow definitions of 'femininity' and by the unimaginative, sexist male gatekeepers of the industry. The research is a little dated (1992), and the small sample size of female bodybuilders did not provide sufficient diversity to broaden application of findings. I was left hoping that follow-up research would be conducted on these athletes, to examine their departure from the sport and the effects of their bodybuilding history on their current life.

Let me save you the money and trouble of ordering this book. I will state the essential arguments put forth in this small-type tome, minus the repetition that causes these few sentences to swell to fill 150 pages: 1) Joe and Ben Weider own the sport of bodybuilding, exercising a "hegemonic" and monopolistic control unparalleled in any other pro sport. 2) Whether because of old-world thinking or economic reality, they decree what kind of female physique will win the top awards, favoring symmetry over muscularity and insisting on a show of femininity in the forms of heavy makeup and breast implants. 3) As long as the Weiders hold the purse strings, women bodybuilders who want to earn a living from the sport will have to limit their muscularity if they expect to succeed. There, I think that about sums it up. I have also included the author's favorite word, "hegemonic", which appears in this book more times than I have ever heard the word used previously in my life. Finally, there are some nice photos of women bodybuilders, who manage to look both sexy and sinewy, but you can find these online elsewhere free.

This is a very informative book on women in the realm of body building, but the writing is really poor to horrible. There are numerous iterations and reiterations and it's very hard to believe this was written by a graduate student, HOWEVER, the information is worth wading through the bad writing for.

my approach to the book was psychological, e.g., what drives these women? what are they like? i was surprised, in this post-reagan era, to come across a dialectical piece focusing on, yes, some psychological aspects of this subculture but on the socioeconomic strata as well--surprised to find these powerful female athletes toeing the line for a patriarchy (the Weiders et al.) out to make a buck off their hard work & looks. also, it seems no one is really very certain what to make or think of the feats of these women, how to respond to them. it is as if the impetus to sculpt one's body were in the challenge presented by the obstinate weight itself, dunning the desire of the lifter--you've either gotta love the work, be obsessively driven by it or, like most of us, be repulsed or bored by it. it also doesn't seem to be as healthy as it ought to be, what with steroid use & mad, dehydrating diets. still it is a vaguely admirable endeavor, perhaps moreso for a female than a male, considering the pressures & lack of equitable rewards.