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

Rating:
Summary: Horrible writing, but great info.
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A Sociologist Examines Female Bodybuilding
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Very Informative Book
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Very Informative Book
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Horrible writing, but great info.
Review: 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.