- Culture
- 20 Mar 01
Read 'em and weep? More like look at 'em and be afraid, be very afraid.
Read 'em and weep? More like look at 'em and be afraid, be very afraid.
Muscling its way onto the shelves in your local newsagents is an American magazine called Women's Physique World which promises "the best in women's bodybuilding."
At one level, the mag affects a campaigning zeal, arguing that it is "the ongoing education of the masses as to the physical capabilities of the female that makes things just that much more comfortable for women competing in strength sports such as women's bodybuilding, powerlifting and Olympic lifting."
All of which sounds suitably right-on, until you consider that there are, perhaps, certain equal rights that are definitely not worth fighting for - such as, the right to look just as daft as your male counterpart.
Let's face it, bodybuilding is the kind of activity that produces so many grotesque results it really ought not to be allowed go ahead without planning permission. But as this (surprise, surprise) lavishly illustrated mag shows, there is an extraordinary number of women who would appear to have no problem looking like a proper Arnie.
Like 1999 IFBB Ms International contestant Tazzie Colomb. "Chisled, shredded, ripped, shrinkwrapped, whatever, she was all of them," the mag enthuses in the bizarre lingo of the trade. "Sporting very tight skin that surrounded her voluminous muscle groups, the 5'7", 165-pound Louisianan left little doubt that she will be a major player when the Ms O. rolls around in October."
Or how about "tenacious Brit" Andrulla Blanchette who apparently sports "impressive muscle density" and "lats like the wings of a stealth bomber".
Remember kids: Just say no to muscles.