ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter it was illustrated how femininity and feminine appearances can be important to, and have implications for, female athletes. This chapter will explore this further by examining the female bodybuilder because it could be argued that she poses the greatest conflict of all to the masculine domain of sport. Bodybuilding is an activity that builds muscles and the aim, according to Daniels (1992), is to develop ‘traditional masculine heman dimension’ (p. 371). Thus, lifting weights and body-building are truly masculine domains-indeed, weightlifting only became an Olympic sport for women for the first time in the Sydney 2000 Games. Within the world of bodybuilding as well as amongst scholars, considerable debates and controversies surrounding the female bodybuilder have ensued and these could be said to epitomise wider controversies surrounding femininity and what it means to be a (physically active) woman. More so than most other sportswomen, female bodybuilders challenge society’s gender boundaries (Daniels, 1992). Female bodybuilders have muscles as big as, if not bigger than, their male counterparts. They are physically very strong and can lift heavier weights than many men, and many male bodybuilders. These attributes are not congruent with archetypal femininity.
