Muscles

For today we read four pieces about muscles and how they can relate to the body as a project. The Tyranny of Buffness by Brandon Ambrosino and The Cost of Becoming a Superhero by Adam B. Vary showed negative aspects of the social construct of male buffness. These two articles also expressed the fact that overtly muscular bodies are not needed for all strength or athleticism, as Ambrosino said he was in pretty good shape but his body didn't reflect his diet or exercise in the way one would expect or stereotype as a healthy athletic male body, or represent the body ideal.

I felt this related to the images in Comparing Vastly Different Body Types of Olympic Athletes by Pinar. In the image article you see dozens of world class Olympic athletes but almost no two look alike. Depending on event and how the athletes need to use their bodies each individual their bodies are altered and constructed in different ways. “Referring to a body as an athletic build is often thought to be a perfect, rippling mass of muscle boasting a six pack, but Schatz's series reveals the wide varity of heights, widths, body shapes, and muscle mass that make up the physques of champion athletes across an array of Olympic sports.”- Pinar. Just as Ambrosino felt that he didn't fit the athletic build or ideal many of these athletes don't fit the stereotypical image either- but this doesn't make them any less athletic or powerful.

The superhero article went further into depth about what it takes to become the mass of muscle type of body. It is a lot of work and its dangerous to produce an over muscular physique. So if muscles aren't necessary for world class athletes or healthy normal individuals and producing these six pack abs and huge arms can be as much work as a full time job and can be dangerous, eating every 2-3 hours working out 4-5 hours a day etc, then why would someone aspire to this?

The main piece for today was 'Holding Back':Negotiating a Glass Ceiling on Women's Muscular Strength by Shari L. Dworkin. Dworkin's article provided further evidence to the idea of muscles and the “athletic build” as a social construct, the majority of women- even in the fitness community, don't want to be too muscular and set limits on their athletic body development. Women tend to either avoid the weights at the gym, or if they do lift they keep the weight they train with the same, reduce the frequency of lifting, or hold back when they start to see muscular development. This article shows that biological differences do not fully explain muscular differences in women and men.

Men use muscles to show power, health, and athleticism using their body. Women set limits on muscles in favor of “feminine” builds that are socially expected to be less muscular. Muscles have taken on a very social role and convey messages silently. Muscles for men are a social status symbol and for women, unless limited an monitored, are the opposite- they are looked at as deviant.