Gabriella Szikszay in Iron Maidens

Iron Maidens: The Celebration of the Most Awesome Female Muscle in the World

The book was controversial upon release for its sometimes blunt assessment of both women's bodybuilding as a sport and female hyper-muscularity in general. The setting is an event of the same name - "The Celebration of the Most Awesome Female Muscle in the World" - sponsored by Laurie Fierstein in 1993, which Kaye was hired to produce.

Of all the excerpted text I most enjoyed the depiction of weight lifter Colleene Colley, who is described as being "a pioneer competing against boys at the age of 15 in 1980 in Georgia. She beat them, but felt guilty because she knew they were humiliated to be beaten by a girl." Ah, the dilemma of being a strong girl.

Featured performers at the 1993 event included:

Iron Maidens was released over two years ago but remains in print - a rare longevity for a book about women's bodybuilding.

[Iron Maidens: The Celebration of the Most Awesome Female Muscle in the World - Amazon.com]

[Strong Women - Smith Magazine]

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