Product Review

For thousands of years, the muscular male body has been an object of admiration and a primary subject of art. Women, on the other hand, have rarely been celebrated for their physical strength or muscular development. But in the late 1970s, women discovered the sport of competitive bodybuilding and began doing the same kind of muscle-specific weight training as their male counterparts. As a result, we are seeing the emergence of a cultural phenomenon without precedent--women attempting to develop the ultimate degree of muscle size, shape, definition and proportion primarily for aesthetic, rather than athletic, purposes. The fact that many women are now both willing and able to devote themselves to creating muscular bodies is one indication of our changing perception of the potential of the female body as we begin the 21st century. This is the story of the pioneers of the sport of women's body building,filled with dozens of photos. By the authors of Pumping Iron.