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Women of Steel: Female Bodybuilders and the Struggle for Self-Definition
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 646.75
EAN: 9780814750940
ISBN: 081475094X
Label: NYU Press
Manufacturer: NYU Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 152
Publication Date: January 01, 1998
Publisher: NYU Press
Release Date: January 01, 1998
Studio: NYU Press
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Editorial Review:"A lot of people in the general public think female bodybuilding is gross and freaky . . . that that's not what a woman is supposed to look like." So says Michelle, a national bodybuilding judge. In fact, athletic women, especially those in sports where strength, muscle, and sweat feature prominently, are typically viewed by the public as being outside the boundaries of appropriate femininity. And perhaps no group of women athletes embodies this gender outlaw status more than female bodybuilders, who by their bulk and sheer strength challenge our very notions of what it means to be a woman. Why would women choose to look like that? And what does it take to get and stay so muscular?
Maria R. Lowe has interviewed more than one hundred people connected with women's bodybuilding, from the bodybuilders themselves, to trainers, family members, spouses, judges, and sponsors. In Women of Steel, Lowe introduces us to a world where size and strength must be balanced with a nod toward grace and femininity. Lowe, who actually worked out with a couple of the bodybuilders she interviewed, gets at the heart of what it is to be a woman bodybuilder. We learn about "paying the price"--doing the necessary exercise, and sometimes drugs--that allows women to rise to the top of their profession. We follow their successes and failures, and discover the benefits-- including increased self-esteem and physical strength--as well as the sometimes unhealthy effects of their training regimen, from dehydration to baldness to rampant acne to high blood pressure. We travel with the women from competition to competition and find that judges' standards seem to vary alarmingly depending on momentary notions of what constitutes "the overall package"--that elusive perfect body that catches judges' eyes and wins competitions.
Above all, Women of Steel is a keenly observant diary of life in women's bodybuilding, a must-read for people interested in sports, competition, physical culture, and gender.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Save Your Money
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 ... Read More
Rating: - Very Informative Book
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 ... Read More
Rating: - Horrible writing, but great info.
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.
Rating: - A Sociologist Examines Female Bodybuilding
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, ... Read More
Rating: - interesting in a surprising way
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 ... Read More
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