Strong and Hard Women

by Tanya Bunsell

  Instead, according to this perspective, their bodies are seen as burdens to be carried around with them and looked after.

  Against this background, feminist analysts of sport conceive that ‘the development of the physical, athletic body and the cultivation of a sense of physical power and competence, can be vital components of women’s full equality’ (Farkas 2007: 1). Roth and Basow (2004: 19) believe that encouraging women to participate in empowering sports and physical activities opens up possibilities for a true form of physical feminist liberation – one which they believe ‘would increase women’s confidence, power, respect, wealth, enjoyment of physicality, and escape from rape and the fear of rape’, on the basis that it would help their command of and movement within physical space. According to Farkas (2007), women’s historical oppression essentially emanates from men’s embodiment of physical power, which translates into the threat of violence and rape. Sport, then, according to Castelnuovo and Guthrie (1998: 13), creates the ‘potential for reducing physical power imbalances on which patriarchy is founded and reified’.

  As female bodybuilders not only increase their strength, but embody the physical appearance of power, these women hold the possibility of emancipation more than those involved in any other sport. As Charlie articulates, her new-found trust in her body’s capabilities gives her the confidence to overcome the fear of rape and attack:

  I’m less afraid of things now. I used to get really nervous walking home by myself after work in the dark… but I guess I feel I’m more able to handle myself now… put up a good fight.

  (Charlie, bodybuilder of four years)

  For other female bodybuilders, it was the desire to obtain these ‘physical powers’

  (as a form of self-defence/protection) that motivated them to become bodybuilders in the first place. This is illustrated in the example of Michelle (a bodybuilder of five years) who recalls a horrendous period of her life when she felt ‘fearful’, ‘vulnerable’ and ‘helpless’ against the physical abuse of her father. She remembers:

  Living in constant fear and terror of my father – not just for myself but for my brother and mum… I felt useless not being able to protect them, and I guess I thought that by being physically more powerful than my father would maybe stop his violence – that physical size would somehow be my protection for us.

  Evidence from other studies suggests that there are many other benefits for females who participate in sport. Active women, for instance, are more likely to perceive themselves as being better at leading, motivating, sharing, competing and reaching goals, in comparison to their inactive counterparts (Nelson 1994). In her study of women who participated in strenuous sports, Lawler (2002: 43) argues that

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  women ‘gain [both] confidence and enjoyment’. One of her interviewees claimed that only through active involvement in sport had she learnt to ‘stop apologiz-ing for the space [she] take[s] up in the world’. Similar to McCaughey’s (1997) research findings in her investigation into women and self-defence, female bodybuilders gained a ‘greater sense of self-efficacy’ and overall competence from their training. This is articulated in the following quote from Lucie (a bodybuilder of eight years): ‘Since serious weight training I’ve learnt to realise that I am capable of doing things. I feel more independent and self-sufficient’. When women enter spaces that are traditionally used by men and participate in ‘forceful space occupying activities’ (Shogun 2002: 16), some analysts believe not only do they challenge the myth of the fragile female body (Castelnuovo and Guthrie, 1998), but ‘[during the] process they are also awakened to their own bodily potential’

  (Wearing 1998: 110). Heavy weight training thus allows women to restore their faith in their bodies and capabilities and appreciate what they can actually achieve (rather than focusing on aesthetics). This positivity is shown through the words of Mary and Michelle:

  Workouts are empowering in themselves…They allow you to see how far your body can be pushed with no restrictions.

  (Mary, bodybuilder of 12 years)

  [Bodybuilding] gives you the ability to push your body to its limits.

  (Michelle, bodybuilder of five years)

  The satisfaction and elation that accompanies the achievement of doing something that was previously not believed possible, is demonstrated by Michelle, who, after completing a 100 kg bench press set for the first time, declared: ‘I have been wanting to do that for five years!… right now I feel I could do anything’. According to Heywood (1997, 1998), these new-found abilities have the potential to trickle down into these women’s lives and act as a form of ‘third-wave’ feminism (see Chapter 4).

  Heywood (1998: 60) continues by observing that as women begin to seriously weight train, they become ‘less bound by limits they’ve internalised from years of absorbing cultural mythologies that impose drastic limits on women’s strength and potential’. As their strength and muscles grow, so too does their confidence. Using the ‘body in space’ (expanding, moving, enlarging, growing and strengthening) can act as a form of empowerment for women – emotionally as well as physically.

  Heywood (1998: 60) claims that their bodies demand they are taken seriously, commanding respect from people and making women more assertive at work.

  Postures

  According to Sassatelli (1999:6), ‘body demeanour in training spaces is obviously divergent from everyday life expectations. Participants need to commit themselves to postures and movements which would be considered inappropriate, and even embarrassing in most situations’. This applies particularly to women who, by accessing

  114 ‘Empowerment’ through concepts of space leisure spaces traditionally occupied by males, learn to use and experience their bodies in non-conventional ways (Wearing 1998). In the gym environment women wear clothes that allow them to move freely and effectively (such as trainers and tracksuit bottoms, unlike the typically restrictive skirts, tight jeans, high heels and boots frequently worn in the outside world), enabling women to stride through space in an unprecedented manner. The safety of the weights area provides a space where they can perform activities and positions that would normally be deemed unfeminine (for example legs wide open, a position considered ‘natural’ for men). As female bodybuilders’ muscles become swollen and engorged with blood, so too do their postures change. They stand with their heads held high, backbone straight and feet firmly on the floor, thus taking up space (Heywood 1998).

  These unorthodox female postures, however, do not pass unchallenged. For example, Charlie (a bodybuilder of four years) is fully aware of the controversy caused by presenting her body (via demeanour and carriage) in a non-feminine manner. She notes: ‘Occasionally when I have trained my upper body, I’ll be pumped up and have to stop myself walking like a man. You know, take my hair down’. In muscle and fitness magazines’ photo shoots, these potentially threatening masculine mannerisms are contained by eroticizing and sexualizing the images of exercises by women in the gym. For example, the gaze will focus on women’s glutes, as they bend over to perform straight-leg dead-lifts, or on women’s legs invitingly spread wide apart, like a pose from a soft-porn magazine.

  Whilst a few of the female bodybuilders in my study felt some concern about performing compromising exercises (particularly ‘glute exercises’ and ‘donkey calf raises’, where one female sits on the other’s back), the majority didn’t care in the slightest: ‘You can’t worry about stuff like that, you’ve just gotta do what you’ve gotta do’ (Michelle, bodybuilder of five years). Despite these drawbacks, the gym provides an area in which female bodybuilders can move more freely through space and perform actions and postures which would normally be constrained.

  Conclusion

  Despite violating the gendered space conventions of the gym environment, female bodybuilders negotiate and establish a space of their own. The gym acts as a partial refuge and retreat from the malevolence of the outside world. In this milieu, female body
builders can move about in the gym without having to be concerned about the responses their ‘unfeminine’ physiques, postures and movements may provoke on the street. The gym also provides a zone that helps to re-establish and repair any damage that might have been caused to their self-identity. This occurs not only through positive social interactions with ‘like-minded others’, but also through these women’s total concentration on their proficiency and the skill involved in their weight-training activities, rather than focusing on any perceived aesthetic deficiencies.

  Sports feminists argue that dynamic activities such as heavy weight training can teach women to trust their bodies and to enjoy their physical competence and capabilities. Women can potentially take ownership of this new-found power and use it for their own advancement. However, Grimshaw (1999: 108) introduces

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  a note of caution to the female-centred orientation of this discussion. She notes that although the female body has been inhibited in terms of movements, this should not be placed in opposition to an ‘unrepressed’ male body. Rather than men having unrestricted freedom, much is dependent on the gender coding of activities: for example, men often feel clumsy, isolated and unwelcome in aerobics classes. Grimshaw also makes the valid point that ‘in certain circumstances, moving in ways that reach the limits of one’s physical capacities can oppress or terrorise others’ (ibid.). Subsequently, women re-enacting male behaviour in the gym by occupying as much space as possible (such as dominating equipment, dropping weights, making loud noises) would not necessarily be a positive phenomenon. Cultural, essentialist and radical feminists take this argument one step further, insisting that for women to take on masculine pursuits and activities would be for them to take on the same traits of violence, aggression, oppression and dominance as men.

  In order to investigate this debate further, it is valuable to move beyond the spatial elements of inquiry and explore the actual processes, bodily sensations, emotions and feelings of the female bodybuilder as the body is built in the gym.

  In the next chapter, I turn to the phenomenological experiences of these women, comparing their reality against the aggressive and domineering discourse associated with male bodybuilding.

  Figure 7.1 Sarah Lewis and Marina Cornwall. Courtesy of Karla Tizard

  Figure 7.2 Sarah Lewis and Marina Cornwall. Courtesy of Karla Tizard

  8 Ripped, shredded and cut

  Reworking notions of ‘pain and

  violence’ in female bodybuilding

  The bottom line is the desire and the need to push the limits – to be bigger and stronger, to go heavier and longer than Mother Nature ever intended… When you’re pounding the weights like this, you subject your body to a tremendous amount of punishment that can lead to wear and tear and injury.

  You don’t talk smack. You don’t bullshit when you’re in the gym. You don’t chase ass. You just lift. Plain and simple. There is something so peaceful about it, yet something so violent. To get motivated, you dig deep… Deep into yourself. You imagine a little man looking back at you in the mirror.

  So you take your anger out on the weights. You punish them. Yeah, this is what you call motivation. This is what drives you.

  (www.animalpak.co.uk)1

  In the previous chapter I argued that female bodybuilders were stigmatized for transgressing gendered space, but managed to turn this aberrance to their advantage. They carve out a space of their own within the masculine territory of the heavy weights area, creating an area where they can move in a (comparatively) unrestricted manner whilst also feeling protected against the harsh ostracism of the outside world. However, as pointed out in the conclusion to that chapter, critical commentators of female bodybuilding believe that women who enter this male bastion and embody masculine traits are not developing a new form of female liberation, but are simply re-enacting oppressive male characteristics of aggression, domination and self-destruction. To investigate this allegation further, this chapter focuses on the phenomenological experiences of female bodybuilders – looking at how the women’s subjectivities are expressed, lived and created through their bodies within the weights arena. The chapter begins by depicting the bodybuilder’s ‘culture of pain’ and how this is interpreted by critical feminists and others as being part of a detrimental hypermasculine force that subjects the body to more self-hatred, pain and violence. The chapter then turns to the voices and experiences of the women themselves, to assess whether there are alternative readings to pathology.

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  Pain and violence in bodybuilding

  White et al. (1995) suggest that the subculture of bodybuilding punishes the body beyond what is involved in any other sport, and indeed, actually welcomes pain. At the very heart of bodybuilding lies the process of muscle destruction that takes place in the gym. In order for the desired muscle hypertrophy to occur, muscles must first be broken down by strenuously exercising the body against resistance weights until muscle exhaustion is reached. During the bodybuilding process, microtrauma occurs, causing pain due to the tearing of muscle fibres.

  The soreness, discomfort, stiffness and temporary disability felt after the workout is a result of damaged muscle cells. Only by adequate rest outside the gym environment is the body able to begin its healing process, responding to the trauma by producing thicker muscle fibres, thereby increasing the size and appearance of the muscles. Consequently, the bodybuilding subculture welcomes this pain as an indication of achievement and muscle growth. Embracing the masculine cosmology so exemplified in Fussell’s work (1991), the body is portrayed as an obstacle to be overcome – a battle to be won using violent language, analogies and metaphors (Heywood 1998; Mansfield and McGinn 1993). Typical bodybuilding magazine articles depict the body as an object in the gym that needs to be destroyed, controlled and dominated. This is clearly illustrated in the following titles (which act as both inspirational tool and workout manual for readers): ‘In the Trenches – Time To Get Personal’; ‘Taking Up Arms’; ‘Conquering the Die-Hard Chest’; ‘Texas Toast’ (subtitled: ‘That’s what your legs will feel like after you try this fried-to-a-crisp thigh trash’); ‘Back Bombardment’; ‘Screaming Supersets’;

  ‘Intense Triceps Trash’; ‘Bloody Thursday’ (with the subtitle: ‘The guts and gore flow freely in this shoulder session from hell’); ‘Killer Instinct’ (subtitled: ‘A gym potato obeys his instincts, a bodybuilder dominates his’); ‘Armageddon’; ‘Love And Kisses From Mr. Hate-And-Pain’; ‘Slice and Burn’ (Locks 2003: 243–8).

  As Heywood (1998: 69) summarizes, ‘the language of bodybuilding is the language of violence, and the object of that violence is one’s own body’. These hypermasculine metaphors and imagery are used and alluded to throughout the subculture, and are readily found in magazines, websites, advertising and marketing (e.g. clothing logos, products), forums and everyday gym discourse.

  These frequently include militaristic and warrior analogies representing bravery, battles and fighting.2 In Fussell’s (1991) autobiographical account, in Foucauldian style, he compares the bodybuilding subculture to that of the military organization in terms of rank, attention to order, regulation and discipline. The bodybuilder’s role in this way parallels that of the soldier. Saltman (2003) explores this analogy further, citing the following three comparisons. First of all, both are bodies made for war: ‘from the disciplined routines in the gym and kitchen, to the posturing and posing regimes on stage and street, to the martial slogans, metaphors and boot camp sergeant’s screams, to the battle in the body itself’ (ibid.: 2). Second, in order to elicit big sacrifices from recruits, both soldiers and bodybuilders are promised the reward of transforming their bodies into human weapons (to be tough, hard and superhuman). Third, detailed

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  attention must be given to the body’s surface: the body must be smooth and shaven, hair must be cut short and be tidy. The bodies belonging to both
organizations must be stripped of their individuality and wear identical uniforms.

  For the bodybuilder, whose uniform is their very flesh, this entails creating a perfectly symmetrically proportioned physique. Similarly, the ‘bodybuilder is permanently in a state of military attention’ (ibid.: 51). Fussell (1991: 82) recites the muscle ‘roll call’ he would repeatedly do on his own body:

  Every few hours, no matter where I was, I found myself running through my muscle inventory, checking to make sure I was still there. From head to toe, I’d squeeze and flex every body part: traps? check; deltoids? check; pecs?

  check; lat wings? check; bi’s and tri’s? check; quads? check; calves? check.

  All present and accounted for.

  Linked to this military comparison, Fussell depicts bodybuilding as a form of protection and defence against the world:

  What were these great chunks of tanned, taut muscle but modern-day armour?

  Here were breast plates, greaves, and pauldrons aplenty, and all made from human flesh. He had taken stock of his own situation and used the weight room as his smithy. A human fortress – a perfect defence to keep the enemy host at bay.

  (Fussell 1991: 24)

  The extreme masculine ethos of the bodybuilder is also captured by Animal’s successful and prominent advertising campaign for its bodybuilder supplements and products. The ‘Animal’ evokes caveman-like imagery that implies survival of the fittest:

  This is a game for warriors. The iron sport is gruelling, painful and arduous.

  Whether it’s in the gym or with your diet, being an Animal is about consistency and giving everything you got 24/7, 365 days a year… It’s back-breaking labor, day in and day out. You move the heavy weight in the gym and eat the right calories to pack on muscle because you know it’s what’s required. It’s not just what you want to do – it’s what you gotta do.