Strong and Hard Women

by Tanya Bunsell

  One of my favourite female muscle clips is of Gayle Moher walking through the streets of New York in a revealing red dress. People gawp at her, necks snap round in disbelief, pure shock on their faces – they can’t believe what they have just seen. And Gayle just keeps walking on, seemingly oblivious to it all. She looks absolutely magnificent of course, but the sexiest thing about this clip is the way she just keeps walking serenely through the crowd, radiating total self-confidence.

  It’s a fantasy of mine to be with a muscle woman in such a situation, to be walking through the crowd with her and to observe the reactions myself.

  Furthermore, since I started training myself, I have come to appreciate the dedication and sheer hard work that it takes to sculpt such a body. The physical and mental effort necessary is so great that only the most determined, single-minded women achieve the kind of look that I find most erotic. Again, the ability of someone to set goals and reach them is something that most people find attractive, whether male or female, straight or gay. Both of these aspects of my attraction –

  the confidence and the achievement of goals – are things I would expect anyone to admire, and not just in muscular women. There are other factors in my attraction for them that are more personal though.

  The first is that muscle women subvert their traditional gender roles or arche-types completely, and this is another aspect of what makes them sexy to me. I am generally attracted to things that exist outside the mainstream. I don’t know whether my inclination towards an unconventional, even subversive lifestyle and life choices is a result of my admiration for muscular women, or whether the admiration is an aspect of my inclination, but I do have a tendency to sympathize with outsiders, original talents, new ways of thinking and so on.

  Moreover, there is the use of steroids, and their apparent effects on the women who use them. I’m not the kind of person who thinks that ‘drugs are bad’. I’ve never been averse to recreational drug use, even though I no longer partake. And while anabolic steroids are quite different from other, let’s say ‘party’ drugs, my point is that I know from experience that drugs can have very positive effects as well as very negative ones.

  Through my interest in muscular women I have come across articles and interviews in which the effects of steroids on women have been reported. I have to admit, I find a lot of what is said extremely erotic: the increase in sex drive and the enlarged clitoris particularly. I’ve never, unlike many fans of female muscle, been into the idea of being physically abused by a huge female bodybuilder, but I do fantasize about being picked up in the gym by a pumped-up, uncontrollably horny and virtually insatiable woman who uses me to satisfy her steroid-induced sexual cravings.

  And even though I have never had sex with a woman on steroids, my own personal experience of women with muscular, or at least toned, fit bodies is that the sex is more frequent, they have more stamina, are more flexible and are more willing to experiment. In short, the sex was better. In one or two instances, much, much better. And the women I have known were dancers, physical education

  100 Confession of a muscle slave

  teachers, a martial artist and a gymnast. ‘If they were so much better in bed’, my female-muscle lovin’ head says, ‘imagine a woman who is really really muscular.

  She must be truly earth-shattering between the sheets!’

  To sum up, then, my attraction to female bodybuilders and other muscular women is based on their aesthetic appeal and their confidence; my admiration for their unconventional lifestyles and their achievement in creating such unique bodies; and finally a suspicion that they are better lovers than any other women.

  Actually, I sometimes wonder why I feel the need to justify my attraction to them – either to myself or to others. Shouldn’t the question be put the other way round and those who don’t like muscular women be asked ‘Why not’?

  After all, what, exactly, is there not to like about them?!

  7 Exploring the ‘empowerment’

  of female bodybuilders

  through concepts of space

  I become acutely sensitive of my surroundings: sounds, smells and sensations that I am normally so accustomed to that I barely notice. Loud music is blaring out, echoing and booming against the warehouse walls. The machinery hum of treadmills and other cardiovascular equipment can be heard in the background. Within the weights area, male grunts, groans of exertion, and shouts of encouragement can be heard, occasionally interrupted by a fleeting eruption of laughter. The thuds of heavy weights as they are dropped or thrown to the floor vibrate through my trainers. Smashing sounds are heard as iron hits iron. Audible twangs and clicks. There’s a sense of anticipation, tension and excitement in the atmosphere. Scent glands emit bodily uriniferous and musky smells, which vaporize into the air and mingle with other sweat odours, characteristics of food eaten the night before such as garlic, onions, and curry.

  My training partner prepares to squat 160 kg. She moves into the squat rack and mentally prepares to psych herself up. She looks directly in front of her, straight into the eyes of her reflection. She wears no makeup, her hair is free and loose. She does not smile. Her clothes consist of a baggy t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms, allowing her to move freely. She wears a weights belt around her waist to support her lower back, signifying the seriousness of her weight-training endeavour. I stand behind her silently, ready to act as her ‘spotter’, should she need me. She stands up straight, taking the full brunt of the weight, allowing the barbell to lodge itself into her traps. She starts. Sounds of ‘Shhh’, ‘ghrurr’ ‘Arhh’ and gasps for air issue from her lips as she pushes the weight up through her heels. Grimaces cause lines to become etched out upon her face. She has the look of determination. Another female weight-trainer encourages her: ‘that’s it drive it’, ‘drive ’em out’,

  ‘come on’, ‘nice depth’, ‘light weight’. … She completes the set and leans on the squat rack for support. Her face is flushed, she breathes heavily and appears exhausted… a minute later, she looks me in the eye and gives a little nod and a smile of satisfaction – ‘your turn’, she says.

  (extracts from field notes, 15 March 2008)

  102 ‘Empowerment’ through concepts of space

  Chapter 6 explored how the identity of the female bodybuilder is constantly under

  attack, making it difficult for her to sustain a positive sense of self. In this chapter, it is argued that although it is not without impediments, female bodybuilders perceive the gym as ‘home’ – as a hospitable sanctuary that, at least in part, shelters them from the negative interactions of wider society. By navigating substantial obstacles in the male domain of the gym, female bodybuilders carve out a space of physical and mental liberation for themselves, which in turn provides a key source of motivation and identity affirmation. Also in this chapter, using ethnographic data, I explore ‘what actually happens in the gym’ by focusing methodologically on the under-explored area of ‘space’. The first part of the chapter describes how the environment of the gym is organized into highly distinctive gendered spaces, moving beyond a focus on ‘place’ to an investigation into how identity is constructed and expressed, as well as how social relations are produced, negotiated and contested in this area. In the second part of the chapter I employ a more phenomenological understanding of space in order to explore how female bodybuilders, despite stigmatization, use their spatial transgressions and deviance to their own advantage.

  Sexed space: building gendered bodies

  The health and fitness gym environment is organized through conditions of time

  and space.1 Peak training hours occur at lunch time and between 5 and 7.30pm,

  when the majority of gym members finish work. Sassatelli (1999: 4) points out that whilst ‘gym crowds can rarely be reduced to one socio-demographic at any time’, there is a tendency for different groups of people (e.g. students, professionals and the elderly) to attend at different times of the day. Bodybuilders as a rule, depending on t
heir work commitments, prefer to train at the extreme ends of the day, when the gym is at its quietest and is not ‘polluted’ by the presence of casual users (Douglas 1966). However, although time is a relevant aspect of the gym culture, providing a ‘time out from life’ as well as being a central component of training programmes and used to monitor progression (for example, ten minutes on the treadmill), it is the analysis of space that provides us with more useful insights into exploring the empowerment of female bodybuilders.

  Feminist geographers insist on the importance of researching the interconnections between gender relationships and space studies. According to Hanson and Pratt (1995), feminist geographers were the first to point out that women live spatially restricted lives, believing space to be central to male power and to feminist resistance (Hanson and Pratt 1995; Frye 1983; Blunt and Rose 1994). Its importance to power is emphasized more generally in Massey’s (1994: 81) argument that

  ‘[s]pace is a complex web of relations of domination and subordination, of solidarity and co-operation… a metaphor as well as a set of material relations’. As such, space is a vital variable in my analysis.

  The doors of the large (1,100sq m) gym open directly into the reception area. Just inside the doors, there are seats and tables arranged around a 32-inch television.

  ‘Empowerment’ through concepts of space 103

  Hot and cold drinks are provided, along with a free newspaper and videos and DVDs for hire – all of which emphasize the ‘leisure’ experience of the vicinity and provide a friendly atmosphere. At the reception desk, an attractive young person (usually female) greets the customers, swipes their membership cards and welcomes them through the electronic gates which mark the entry into the main gym. In front and to the right is the cardiovascular (CV) section. The purpose of the CV equipment is to improve general fitness (stamina, heart and lung capacity, etc.) and, most commonly, to ‘lose weight’ and ‘burn calories’. Machines such as treadmills, rowers and cross trainers are laid out in neat rows, reminiscent of a factory production line. Most pieces of equipment have their own TV, with a choice of channels, to help prevent boredom and monotony. The scales are also located in this area. Whilst this space is utilized by diverse clientele, the predominant sex of the users tends to be female.

  On the left-hand side of the gym is the hairdresser, beauty rooms and offices.

  The ladies’ changing rooms are located adjacent to them (the men’s changing facilities are situated at the far end of the gym, opposite the weights area). The changing room plays an important part in the preparation and transition of the participant. As Sassatelli (1999: 3.2) explains:

  The changing room helps clients to enter the spirit of training, sustaining its specificity and suspending other relevances, stripping individuals of their external identities, equalising their bodies in the moulding object of a serial and yet personalising training.

  As it is also a place where people dress/undress, bodily exposure is carefully managed and negotiated through the social interaction order, to prevent embarrassment and retain privacy and modesty.2 Furthermore, the changing

  rooms act as a meeting place where gossip and verbal exchange can take place, either before or after the workout (see Crossley 2006b). Attached to the basic but adequately equipped changing rooms, toilets and shower facilities, is the luxurious joint/unisex ‘spa relaxation area’, consisting of a sauna, steam room and jacuzzi – a place frequented after a ‘hard’ workout, where gym-goers can relax and reward themselves for their endeavours. It perhaps should be noted from my research observations that compared to ordinary gym members, female bodybuilders spent very little time in the changing rooms, preferring to get changed at home. Likewise, during the study I never saw a female bodybuilder in the spa relaxation areas.

  Outside the ladies’ changing room, in the main gym, there are stairs that lead up to the aerobics hall, spinning room, stretching area and resistance machines.

  This stairway ‘allows’ women to completely avoid the heavy weights area, which is located on the ground floor at the back of the gym, beyond the cardiovascular machines. Upstairs, resistance machines make up the next exercise space, a place frequently used to ‘tone’ specific muscle groups. Inspirational posters of fit men (muscular) and women (slender) are placed along the walls, next to

  104 ‘Empowerment’ through concepts of space advertisements for motivating personal trainers and weight-loss supplements.

  Mirrors are also strategically placed around the gym (particularly in the resistance machine weights area, free-weights area and aerobics hall), inviting participants to scrutinize their training bodies in order to check and rectify technique. This self-surveillance can be a daunting and distressing task for some, and especially for the new and uninitiated gym-goer (Sassatelli 1999).

  Back on the ground floor, situated at the back of the gym is an extensive free-weights section designated for the ‘building of muscle’. With rare exceptions, the gym users in this area are male. The space consists of free weights, including dumbbells, barbells, benches, squat racks, various bars and more ‘heavy-duty’

  old-style machines such as the hack-squat. Despite notices requesting that users put their weights away, the ‘heavy weights area’ is usually comparatively untidy.

  For example, plates are left on equipment, chalk and liquid stains (from knocked-over drinks) are embedded in the floor and dumbbells are left out of numerical order.

  Against this depiction of the gym, it can be seen that the specific organization of space impacts directly on corporeal bodies. Put simply, bodies are slimmed, stretched, sculpted or built in the gym. Thus, as Johnston (1996: 328) points out,

  ‘bodies become constructed and inscribed by the environment’ in which they move and work. Furthermore, as areas of the gym are highly gendered, providing ‘socio-political spaces which confirm feminine and masculine stereotypes’, these also help to contribute to the construction of masculine and feminine bodies (ibid.). Women are expected and inducted to use the cardiovascular machines and encouraged to use light ‘toning’ exercisers that are deemed appropriate for their

  sex.3 This point is illustrated by Samantha (a bodybuilder of three years) who recalls the first time she entered a gym and requested the male gym instructor to set her an exercise programme to build strength and muscle. After being told that

  ‘muscle doesn’t look right on a female’, she was given a meagre high-repetition, light-resistance weight programme, concentrating on women’s ‘problem’ areas of

  ‘legs, tums and bums’.

  Whilst there are no longer rules forbidding women from entering the free-weights section and ‘hardcore’ gyms, there remains a clear gender division

  of space within the gym.4 There are two main reasons for this divide. First, many women fear that by training with weights, they will put on muscle too easily and appear bulky and unattractive to heterosexual men. This is illustrated by one potential customer (female, gym 4:1), who commented to a member of the sales team as she was shown around the gym, in response to seeing a female bodybuilder train: ‘I wouldn’t want to look like her… I don’t want to train with weights and get all muscly’. The second reason why women avoid the weights area is the intimidation that they often feel. As one female gym member (female, gym 1:1) explained, ‘I don’t want to train over there [men’s weight area]… There’s testosterone flying all around the place…’. The weights section is still deemed a hypermasculine space that is unfriendly and uninviting to women. The ways in which this male domain is protected through noise space, body space and interactions shall now be examined.

  ‘Empowerment’ through concepts of space 105

  Gendered noise/sound

  The weights room

  Metallic and bodily sounds emanate from the weights area. Clips, chimes, clanks and twangs are audible as iron plates are moved on and off equipment (barbells, dumbbell racks, machines, squat racks etc.) – like the clink of metallic crockery. Clang – a weight
is heaved with some force back on to the rack. The whirl of the smith machine – ZssZZZ… ZssZZZ – up and down, up and down – can be heard. BANG. Loud bangs and thuds reverber-ate around the room as heavy weights are dropped and thrown to the floor.

  The crashes, twangs and clonks remain in the eardrum long after the initial noise occurrence.

  The sounds of this machinery orchestra are occasionally punctuated by a discordant Clonk. Clatter. The noise doesn’t sound ‘quite right’; everyone turns around to stare at the ‘out-of-place’ sound and the person who hasn’t been using their equipment properly.

  Human sounds of talking, laughing, coaxing, sniffing, sighing and heavy breathing come secondary to the guttural sounds of exertion. For the uninitiated, the intense visceral noises of grunts and groans can be shocking. Errrrrhaaaaarh! The strain of lifting heavy weights resembles a vol-canic eruption emanating from deep within the person. Aaaaaarrrh! The pain escapes through the gasp of the participant. Other sounds of exertion can be equally as violent/expressive: Arhhhh! Aweeeeeee! Urghh! Grhh. Ooeeffff.

  (extracts from field notes, 15 March 2008)

  Goffman’s (1971: 33–4, 46, 51) work Relations in Public explores how sound is a variable in people’s command of public space, and can be usefully applied to analysis of the gym. Goffman argues that one of the ‘modalities of violation’ when discussing ‘personal space’ is that of ‘sound interference’: ‘noisy people violate other people’s territory of the self by appropriating “sound space”’. Furthermore, Bailey (1996: 64) argues: ‘[Noise] is an expressive and communicative resource that registers collective and individual identities… it is a form of social energy with the power to appropriate, reconfigure or transgress boundaries; it converts space into territory’. The noises of the weights area can intimidate women and stop them from entering the male domain, thus protecting male supremacy. The dropping of heavy weights, the clanking and crashing of iron, the grunts and groans of the participants and the shouts from training partners all contribute to a cacophony of masculine