Advices Radio: Muscle & Society

Advices Radio with Scott McNally #69

I had the pleasure of chatting with my good friend Scott McNally from Advices Radio to discuss social aspects of muscle. Going deeper, I was able to talk about the social and historical background on muscle, and provide context why in 2018 female muscularity is still considered as taboo in contemporary culture. 

Click the links below or search "Advices Radio" on podcast apps.

EPISODE LINK:

https://advicesradio.com/track/episode-69

 

ITUNES: 

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/advices-radio/id1104299645?mt=2#

 

STITCHER: 

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/scott-mcnally/advices-radio/e/55263302

RESOURCES:

The H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sport, 
Located at University of Texas, Austin (see also online archive) 
https://www.starkcenter.org/
(For a glimpse of the center, check out the beginning of this clip: https://vimeo.com/86556787)

History of Physical Culture Library:
Online archives
https://www.davidgentle.com/

"Venus with Biceps: A Pictorial History of Muscular Women"
Book by David Chapman & Patricia Vertinsky:
http://www.arsenalpulp.com/bookinfo.php?index=323

"American Hunks: The Muscular Male Body in Popular Culture, 1860-1970"
Book by David Chapman & Brett Josef Grubisic
http://www.arsenalpulp.com/bookinfo.php?index=299

"Universal Hunks: A Pictorial History of Muscular Men around the World, 1895-1975"
Book by David Chapman & Douglas Brown
https://www.amazon.com/.../15515.../ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_1...

VIDEOS:
The Rogue Legends Series - Chapter 1: Eugen Sandow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-nPD2__e0E

Vice Sports: SWOLE
P2 - The Last of the Iron Sisters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfcJVJwRgEA

The 90lb Weakling
www.nfb.ca/film/i_was_a_ninety_pound_weakling

FIT: Episodes in the History
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0331493/reference
(it's hard to find but worth a watch if you do find it) 

Pumping Iron II: The Women
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089852/

MORE BOOKS:
"Women of steel: Female bodybuilders and the struggle for self-definition," Maria Lowe (1998)
https://www.amazon.com/Women-Steel.../dp/081475094X

"Physical culture and the body beautiful: Purposive exercise in the lives of American women, 1800-1870," Jan Todd (1998)
https://www.amazon.com/Physical-Culture.../dp/0865545618

"Building Bodies (Perspectives on the Sixties)," Pamela Moore (1997)
https://www.amazon.com/Building-Bodies.../dp/0813524385

"Bodymakers: A Cultural Anatomy of Women's Bodybuilding," Lelsie Heywood (1998)
https://www.amazon.com/Bodyma.../dp/0813524806/ref=sr_1_1...

"Critical Readings in Bodybuilding," ed. Adam Locks & Niall Richardson (2012)
https://www.amazon.com/Critic.../dp/0415878527/ref=sr_1_1....

"Making the American Body: The Remarkable Saga of the Men and Women Whose Feats, Feuds, and Passions Shaped Fitness History," Jonathan Black (2013)
https://www.amazon.com/Making-American-Body.../dp/0803243707

"Little big men: Bodybuilding subculture and gender construction," Allen Klein (1993)
https://www.amazon.com/Little.../dp/0791415600/ref=sr_1_1...

"Gorilla suit: My adventures in bodybuilding," Bob Paris (1997)
https://www.amazon.com/Gorill.../dp/0312168551/ref=sr_1_1...

Learn more about Advices Radio:
www.advicesradio.com
FB: @advices.radio
YOUTUBE: Advices Radio

When bodybuilding is your passion, not your life.

From the VF Vault. 

June 24, 2014,

Time to chat about something that recently has been grinding my gears. No one puts this baby in the corner.

Bodybuilding is my passion, hobby and escape but it is NOT my life. I love to create, sculpt and mold myself into the body that I PERSONALLY please. Does this make me any less of a bodybuilder? Hell no. Simply put, I am NOT a competitive bodybuilder. Last time I checked each meal I eat, every cardio session completed and weight lifted is a part of a collective journey of building-my-body.

I have been a pupil of physique artistry and athletics since age 16. I have had amazing opportunities, learned from many bright, successful people in the industry - combined with my Kinesiology degree and other certifications I am guided both educationally and experientially in this journey. For that I am truly blessed.

I have had my setbacks. I have overcome bulimia and anorexia, and continue to work with the lingering effects of failed adrenals, hypothyroidism and a little autoimmune disease called celiacs. I have battled depression and will always be challenged by my other crazies. Those experiences have helped me become the "bodybuilder" I am today. They are written on my physique, both internally & externally - in doing so they have made me continually rethink my goals and redefine the bodybuilder that I want to be.

I have had the opportunity to work with many amazing athletes, and live vicariously through those who I have helped reach the stage. The relationships I build with them are always built on trust and fostered by respect. I continue to learn and grow with each and every one of them. 

Now to the point of this long rant. Does the fact that I am NOT a competitive bodybuilder make me any less of a "coach"? In my personal and professional opinion the answer is crystal clear. 

For the first time I've revealed what's hidden under my sweaty men's large t-shirts as proof to those that have questioned my abilities and success as a bodybuilder.

This is the life I love. Bodybuilding is my art, not my sport. Lifting weights is my passion, not my sport. I acknowledge and respect all those who may differ in my philosophies and pedagogy - if we all had the same ideas the industry would be rather bland.

In my opinion, bodybuilding isn't just about building bodies. It is about building a lifestyle. It is about building relationships, ideas, passions and knowledge, because I think we all know that how we look on the outside is only a small fraction of who we really are. 

Many years ago I made a commitment to myself to always dream for more, believe in myself and work to inspire others. If I have done anything by showing my backside on social media I sincerely hope that I have done just that. 

Dream, believe and inspire. Never let anyone define who you are and what your passions are.

With love & gratitude, 

Victoria Felkar

Built Both Ways – The Paradox of Muscularity

How can a muscular body be both feared and revered within popular culture at the same time?

Project Overview:

The issue of the relationships among muscularity, body type and criminal behaviour has long intrigued scholars. Criminologists, psychologists, physical educators and the health profession more broadly have enquired into the relationship between body type and criminality, specifically addressing the links between criminal behaviour and a “mesomorphic” or muscular physique (Rafter, 2007; Vertinsky, 2007; Walby & Carrier, 2010; Wright & Miller, 1998). Although early biological theories of crime, such as body profiling, in particular William Sheldon’s somatotyping categories (Sheldon, 1954), have undergone extensive scientific scrutiny and subsequent critique, they continue to persist within contemporary culture. Why has criminology and body typology constructed the muscular body as deviant? What are the implications for linking criminal behaviour to muscularity? What other fields propagate somatotyping’s mesomorphic-delinquency correlation?  

From growing fears about the dangers of muscular prisoners to the enduring stigmatization encountered by female bodybuilders (Shilling & Bunsell, 2009), there remains an open “disdain for the culture of muscle” (Darkes, 2000). At the same time, there is a growing admiration for a muscular appearance and accompanied athletic excellence. This “muscular ideal” and the drive for muscularity in men is well-documented in Western culture (Thompson & Cafri, 2007). In addition to the traditional norms of masculinity that associate the male gender role with a muscular physique (Helgeson, 1994; Mussap, 2008), male and female athletes operate within a context that requires heightened levels of muscularity to achieve sporting excellence and for functional performance-based purposes, such as increased athletic performance and decreased risk of injury (Steinfeldt, Carter, Benton, & Steinfeldt, 2011). How did the dominant and largely negative narratives around the muscular body in contemporary culture develop and what ramifications do they have for those who pursue muscle? Why are there conflicting messages around the pursuit of muscularity in contemporary culture? How are these messages understood and addressed in competitive sport, the recreation and fitness industry, and physical culture?  

Through the perpetuation of somatotyping and the mesomorphic-delinquency correlation, criminology has continued to construct, promote and re-produce knowledge of what a “delinquent” body is. Rafter (2007) argues that in order to “understand the origins, acceptance and maintenance of criminological [theories]” (p. 825) an analytical framework that includes social histories is fundamental. As a result, the proposed research intends to add a historical perspective to enhance our limited knowledge of muscular profiling and highlight the development, impact and influences of criminology’s construction of the muscular body as deviant. The aim of this study is to explore the ways in which criminology and body typology have constructed and reinforced knowledge of the muscular body, and the impact of these beliefs in contemporary thought and practice.

Want to learn more? Contact me for details. 

References

Darkes, J. (2009). Muscular Profiling – Is Muscularity Evidence of a Crime? Retrieved from http://thinksteroids.com/articles/muscle-profiling-steroids/

Helgeson, V. S. (1994). Prototypes and dimensions of masculinity and femininity. Sex Roles, 31, 653– 682.

Mussap, A. J. (2008). Masculine gender role stress and the pursuit of muscularity. International Journal of Men’s Health, 7(1), 72-89.

Rafter, N. H. (2008). The criminal brain: Understanding biological theories of crime. New York: New York University Press

Rafter, N. H. (2007). Somatotyping, antimodernism, and the production of criminological knowledge. Criminology, 45(4), 805-833.

Sheldon, W. H. (1954). Atlas of men: A guide for somatotyping the adult male at all ages. New York: Harper & Brothers.

Shilling, C., & Bunsell, T. (2009). The female bodybuilder as a gender outlaw. Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise, 1(2), 141-59.

Steinfeldt, J. A., Carter, H., Benton, E., & Steinfeldt, M. C. (2011). Muscularity beliefs of female college student-athletes. Sex Roles, 64, 543–554.

Thompson, K. J., Cafri, G. (Eds.). (2007). The muscular ideal: Psychosocial, social, and medical perspectives. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association

Vertinsky, P. (1990). The eternally wounded women. Women, doctors, and exercise in the late nineteenth century. New York: Manchester University Press.

Vertinsky, P. (2007). Physique as destiny: William H. Sheldon, Barbara Honeyman Heath and the struggle for hegemony in the science of somatotyping. Canadian Bulletin of Medical History = Bulletin Canadien d'Histoire De La Médecine, 24(2), 291-316.

Walby, K., & Carrier, N. (2010). The rise of biocriminology: Capturing observable bodily economies of ‘criminal man’. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 10(3), 261-285.

Wright, R. A., & Miller, J. M. (1998). Taboo until today? The coverage of biological arguments in criminology textbooks, 1961 to 1970 and 1987 to 1996. Journal of Criminal Justice, 26(1), 1-19.