Construction of Masculinity Through Bodybuilding a Qualitative Study (original) (raw)
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The Journal of Visual Culture and Gender, 2014
This autoethnographic study examines the social history of bodybuilding along with personal testimonies of those with experience in weight training and bodybuilding in order to sharpen the awareness of aesthetic experiences found within the culture of physique. The author explores aesthetic experiences in both the formal and performative sense as frames for reflecting on his adolescent pursuits as an amateur bodybuilder in order to deconstruct the visual archetypes of bodybuilding and their impact on his formative notions of maleness.
Gender Capital and Male Bodybuilders
Cultural capital and hegemonic masculinity are two concepts that have received intense attention. While both have received serious consideration, critique and analysis, the context or field-specificity of each is sometimes ignored. They have been used in a diversity of ways. Using ethnographic and interview data from a US male bodybuilding community, this study highlights one useful employment. Hegemonic masculinity takes different shapes in different fields of interaction, acting as a form of cultural capital: gender capital. Inherent in this discussion are the cultural contradictions apparent among individuals striving for either physical or ideological embodiments of gender capital. Individuals can attempt to embody hegemonic idealizations, but bodies are not only inscribed with gender, inscriptions are read, and read differently by different social actors and in different settings. The capacity of gender capital to remain elusive is precisely what enables gender practices and projects like bodybuilding to retain passionate participation.
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Muscularity is an ever-growing concern and desire for both men and women in modern society. When we think of muscular desires we are instantly drawn to images of large, lean, attractive physiques. A want for a muscular physique, however, is potentially more complex and may be interpreted and expressed differently by various individuals. To better understand this potential diversity, the purpose of this current thesis was to explore the personal meanings of muscularity in those invested in weight training. The research questions that helped address this aim were: What different muscular projects are the participants invested in? How do the participants frame their muscularity in the context of their lives and identities? How do the participants’ stories of muscular desire develop over time? Three qualitative studies were conducted to answer these questions; an autoethnography, a life-history study, and an ethnography. Across the studies, 22 participants (including myself) were interv...
Bodybuilding has generated debate and controversy for its position in the sporting world, with research having largely focused on pathologizing the sport. This study aimed to gain insight from the accounts of bodybuilders regarding their personal meanings, experiences, and motivations for engaging in the sport within Greece. Semi-structured interviews with six elite competitive bodybuilders were conducted. The emergent themes, using interpretative phenomenological analysis, were 1. the need to stand out vs toll of being different, 2. self-affirmation through challenges and personal sacrifices, 3. the importance of the mind in bodybuilding, and 4. the impacts of a transformational body. In conclusion, bodybuilding was referred to as a lifestyle choice which enhanced their self-confidence, their attunement with their own bodies and minds, and reinforced their state of being. Suggestions for future research and theoretical implications of these findings are outlined.
Lucas Graduate Journal, 2023
This paper presents a peculiar approach of escaping the dual gender-identity conceptualization, using bodybuilding—which is both a sports and corporeal practice—as a tool to shatter gender stereotypes. The bodies that are transformed as a result of this practice will be analysed and interpreted as a way to develop a relevant distinction between those bodies that are objectified on stage, due to the sport’s regulations, and those bodies that are located within an artistic and activist frame as “critical flesh.” This analysis looks at the bodies of three artists involved in the practice of bodybuilding to develop their artworks in order to discuss whether or not this corporeal identity built through muscle development creates a split in the gender discourse and in the expectations that this discourse generates. This approach is developed through the visual and conceptual support from the following artists: Cassils [they/them] (Canada-USA), Francesca Steele [they/them] (UK), and the author of this paper [she/her].