ABSTRACT

In recent years the ‘body’ has become one of the most popular areas of study in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Bodybuilding, in particular, continues to be of interest to scholars of gender, media, film, cultural studies and sociology. However, there is surprisingly little scholarship available on contemporary bodybuilding. Critical Readings in Bodybuilding is the first collection to address the contemporary practice of bodybuilding, especially the way in which the activity has become increasingly more extreme and to consider much neglected debates of gender, eroticism, and sexuality related to the activity. Featuring the leading scholars of bodybuilding and the body as well as emerging voices, this volume will be a key addition to the fields of Sociology, Sport Studies, and Cultural Studies.

chapter |18 pages

Introduction

part 1|122 pages

Practices

chapter |7 pages

Introduction to Part 1

What is the “Practice” of Bodybuilding?

chapter 1|29 pages

Buff Bodies and the Beast

Emphasized Femininity, Labor, and Power Relations among Fitness, Figure, and Women Bodybuilding Competitors 1985–2010

chapter 2|15 pages

Outside and Inside the Gym

Exploring the Identity of the Female Bodybuilder

chapter 3|18 pages

Accounting for Illicit Steroid Use

Bodybuilders' Justifications

chapter 4|16 pages

Bodybuilding and Health Work

A Life Course Perspective

chapter 6|19 pages

Building Otherwise

Bodybuilding as Immersive Practice

part 2|90 pages

Representations

chapter |7 pages

Introduction to Part 2

Bodybuilding as Representation

chapter 7|15 pages

The Self Contained Body

The Heroic and Aesthetic/Erotic Modes of Representing the Muscular Body

chapter 8|15 pages

Flayed Animals in an Abattoir

The Bodybuilder as Body-Garde 1

chapter 9|18 pages

Strategies of Enfreakment

Representations of Contemporary Bodybuilding

chapter 10|16 pages

Getting Hard

Female Bodybuilders and Muscle Worship

chapter 11|16 pages

Aphrodisia and Erotogenesis