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Modern Amazons - bodybuilding Go
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"The following article represents the opinion of the author and not those of femalemuscle.com. Also, the facts as represented in this article have been reported by the author and femalemuscle.com does not warrant these facts to be true. As in all opinion articles, we welcome further dialogue, response, and presentation of opposing opinions and presentation of factual matters." MODERN AMAZONS A Perspective that Matters by Lisa Bavington  What
do we see when we look at a female bodybuilder? Are we all using the same parameters
and terms of reference? How much of what we see is determined and influenced by
our thoughts? Can we really ever hope to be objective without first acknowledging
the fact that each of us bring different individual preferences to the table?
Consider for a moment the arrogance of one person standing in judgment over another;
of questioning a woman's femininity or sense of womanhood based solely upon her
body composition. The standard in this industry is that female bodybuilders get
judged as a group by not the best, but by the worst examples in the sport. It
makes you wonder if pecs and glutes will ever be able to compete with tits & ass
and if the mainstream population will ever be able to tell the difference. As
the subject of this editorial has stated on a previous occasion "that perhaps
it's not that the women are failing to convince the mainstream of the importance
and value of their physiques, but that the fault lies in those that are observing
them, as they cannot see the work in non-sexual terms."Bill Dobbins is trying to change this idea, one picture at a time. He has published another collection of unique photographs called Modern Amazons, which features and highlights a number of fabulous women he has worked with throughout his time as a physique photographer. For him, the book serves as a way of educating people on the female physique and interpreting it for those that lack the necessary references and experience. He has taken careful notice on how the public views and expresses a great deal of appreciation for muscularity on women, such as Serena Williams or Marion Jones, but not on female bodybuilders. Projects like this are part of his ongoing attempt to correct the situation, by creating a better awareness of what muscle on a woman is all about. In speaking with Bill personally, I discovered a photographer who obviously has a greater purpose than just getting his picture placed in a magazine. Through his creativity and attention to detail, he uses the camera's lens as a way to filter through his own personal sensibilities and create a visual, rather than analytical, look to the women he shoots. He's not attempting to make the observer a better judge of the female physique, only to enable others to perceive it properly by supplying their minds with the information they require to gain an appreciation of the female form. His goal is to bring about a change in consciousness through his photographs, and takes it upon himself to do the work for audience, so they get it and can attempt to understand it. Obviously, good photographers, like bodybuilders, just flow. As a photographer, Bill's work also seems to give a voice to female bodybuilders that would not otherwise be granted them by his peers and mainstream magazines. Even within the industry, perspectives differ. For example, in response to the now famous picture of Timea Majorova in Ironman Magazine, Pich Blaakness , a well-known and respected photographer, stated that: "this picture was not appropriate for a mainstream bodybuilding magazine". In light of recent publications, he obviously doesn't believe the same applies to the accompanying text, as it was his pictures used in the MD spread of Colette Nelson. However, he reveals what is common among most observers that view female bodybuilders; they are not able to judge a physique for what it is based on its own individual merits, but rather require it to be compared to another in order to assign value to it. I asked Bill about the idea of comparison and he explained that our perceptions are based on what others think the standard should/used to be. That they tell us more about ourselves than they do about the pictures we are looking at as we use them to interpret and project meaning onto what we see. He attributes this to our cultural surroundings, as they tend to reflect our own biases due to strong societal opposition. Furthermore, he believes that unless we use contrast, we are not able to perceive anything and should use this principle in guiding our judgments, not based on an ideal or what we think it ought to look like, but rather on what is better that day. If we take this notion one step further and apply it to the IFBB's Guidelines relating to judging women's contests, it's easy to see how their introduction has the potential to produce a smaller pool of genetically gifted athletes, which serves to slow down, rather than encourage, the progress of the sport. Bill knows, as well as I do, that there are plenty of extremely attractive women out there, even by conventional standards of beauty, but that society is disturbed by their level of development due to commonly held misconceptions of gender and body morphology. Bill recognized early on that there existed an opportunity to do what no one else was doing and realized the significance this group of athletes would have on human culture, if gauged only by the tremendous negative reaction that people have had to the female physique. Modern Amazons offers the reader the unique opportunity to view these women in relation to one another and allows you, the reader, to make your own judgments about them on an individual basis. It doesn't serve to define or determine your perception, but provides for the possibility that you will find them as fascinating and admirable as the man who put them on those pages. The book seeks to inspire and educate people from all walks of life, including both those that choose to purchase it and the women themselves. Now that it will be distributed worldwide, we'll be able to see how much of an influence it will have over a much wider range of human perception. Certainly, one of its greatest contributions will be to show others across the globe what is possible and to continue to provide support as women struggle for control over their bodies. If I were to place Bill Dobbins along the continuum that is women's bodybuilding, he would occupy a spot at the very beginning as one of the original pioneers as well as someone who has continued to make a positive contribution to the women's success. Surely, he will go down as one of the most significant figures in the history of women's physical development. As for the women that he has chosen to feature, they too will be looked upon as representatives of female resistance much like the Amazons that came many hundreds of years before them. Of course, that vision depends upon your perspective. Can you see it? I've included a link to Bill's website, along with pictures from the book, to show my support for what he has done and continues to do for the women of female bodybuilding. Projects like this inspire others to think about how they can contribute to the sport's future success using their own personal strengths and skills. Myself, I'd like to create a collection of pictures that compares the physiques of female bodybuilders with current mainstream models. If we really do require a comparison in order to determine how we perceive women's bodies, then I believe it's time we start contrasting the extremes at both ends of the spectrum. However, I would provide a written analysis with each set of pictures to educate my audience as to how the same pictures can be viewed from another critical perspective, namely mine. So, yes, I am suggesting that you buy the book, because the success of one leads to the success of many. And I'm just getting started. |
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