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The
Women reviewed by |
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Here is women's bodybuilding: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Let us first clear up where I stand on women's bodybuilding. I do not have a problem with women working out with weights. I do not have a problem with women bodybuilders. I do have a problem with the extreme size resulting from drug use. I do have a problem with the extremely low bodyfat that competetive bodybuilders need to have to successfully compete; on men it can get pretty bad but women just aren't supposed to get that lean. In short, I'm all for drug-free women's bodybuilding. There, now you know who is writing this review.
In The Women, Bill Dobbins tries to do two things. One is to show that female bodybuilders can be beautiful. The other is to challenge the reader's notion of feminine beauty. He does both but he also does something that he may not have intended: he also manages to highlight what is wrong, and what the general public does not like, about female bodybuilding.
Dobbins does indeed show that women bodybuilders can be beautiful. Though not all of his pictures work, he offers up plenty that do. Dobbins should not be faulted much for the pictures that do not work because, unlike Ironman photographer Mike Neveux, Dobbins is stretching himself in The Women. I think Neveux is a better photographer than Dobbins but Dobbins is taking chances and Neveux has been in a rut for years.
Debbie Kruck, Sharon Bruneau, Lenda Murray, and Suzan Kaminga all stand out as examples of how a woman can enhance her physique with weight training. You would be able to show their pictures to the average person and they would not be turned off (much) by them. These women have definitely worked out with weights but they have managed to keep their shape. I'll say it again: women are not naturally supposed to have extremely low bodyfat. Low is one thing but ripped is another. These women have low bodyfat but they are not ripped and they look better because of it. The muscle is there, adding curves all over the place, but bodyfat is there as well and it enhances the muscle.
Enough of the physique analysis, there are plenty of just beautiful pictures in this book. The book is dedicated, in part, to Playboy photographer Ken Marcus for "introducing (Dobbins) to the vocabulary of studio lighting," and Dobbins has certainly learned a thing or two from Marcus. The picture of Debbie Kruck on p. 78 is, for my money, the standout image in the book. Shadows, light, and muscle. Despite my misgivings of today's competitive female bodybuilding, almost every image of Ms. Olympia Lenda Murray is wonderful. She has the physique and the face that a photographer would be hard-pressed to take a bad picture of.
Dobbins' introduction attempts to give a brief history of female bodybuilding, define female bodybuilding, and let the reader know what some of the models have gone through to get where they are, all the while maintaining the Weider party line (Steroid problem? What steroid problem?). He insists that the general public's problem with female competitive bodybuilding has more to do with the public being behind the times than with today's competitors. That argument was perfectly fine for Rachel McLish in the 80's, but in the 90's it falls flat. Not when the public is willing to admire Linda Hamilton's physique in Terminator 2 or flock to fitness competitions. In both cases the women are packing more muscle than the female bodybuilders of the early 80's so the public seems to have gotten over that. No, there is something else and Bill just does not want to address it.
I do not want to drive the subject of too-low bodyfat into the ground, but its effects are in evidence here, too. The sunken cheeks with chiseled lines from the dieting. The near absence of breasts on many women from the same. The implants on others to make up for that. Hey, I have nothing against flat chests or implants but I was really struck by the feast or famine aspects of the bodybuilders. The fitness competitors, on the other hand, did not have these problems.
On a picky note, what is with the black and white printing of color photographs? Was this a cost-cutting move? An artistic decision? I am not sure but I do not care for it. These pictures lack the richness of a color image and the sharpness of a black and white image. They are in the twilight zone and are more fitting for a newspaper or even a magazine but not a photography book such as this.
If you like the female physique as exhibited by bodybuilders and fitness athletes, this book is definitely for you. If you are curious about the above, it is worth a look. If you want examples of what is wrong with today's female bodybuilding, you will find evidence here. It's the book with something for everyone.
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