Re: Is FBBing a Mental Disorder?

As far as I can see, it's hard to pinpoint where dedication and love for BBing stops and mental illness starts.  I think the likes of Nicole Bass show that it can give rise to mental illness, but I would agree with Fett that FBBing is probably a manifestation in some women of a deeper problem – Kristy Hawkins said in that programme that BBing helps her to control unhealthy and possibly dangerous issues she has with food.

I'm very pleased that Seldom agrees with me on offseason vs. contest appearance, though.  I really don't care for that ultra-dry look at all.  The women look etiolated, weakened and, as he said, like an anatomy chart.  Defined, conditioned and ripped, yes; pinched cheeks, no thanks.  Even if judging criteria change (as I think they should), I would still prefer the women in offseason trim, as theyllok so curvaceous, powerful, strong, beautiful and sexy.  They embody the attributes of the physically powerful woman that I love so very much. 8)

Thanks Ratlaf!  I'm not quite sure what you meant about the offseason, though – none of the women carry enough bodyfat to have cardiovascular problems, I wouldn't have thought.

Bear in mind that I've only followed the bodybuilding scene from the few magazines that I purchase for art reference…

I do not consider it a mental disorder, as much as I see it as the ambition to succeed that many people show in many different areas of life, but that we notice most clearly in sports.  For example, many baseball players will spend hours lifting weights, running sprints, fielding their position as a coach hits balls to them for hours, batting in a batting cage for hours (or throwing hundreds of pitches in simulated games), watching film of opposing players to discover weaknesses, and so on.  Anything that they can do to get even the slightest edge on an opponent, they will do it, to the point where it is obsessive.

Personally, I agree with those who prefer less sharply defined and striated muscles.  I find the shape and size of a person's musculature to be the most impressive sight, not the winding veins and striated lines that are usually accompanied by a drawn and tight look on the face.  In the case of seeing a female bodybuilder, I find a shapely leg or arm or torso to be very attractive when I can see the general shape and fullness of the muscles, even if there is not much definition and separation.

However, bodybuilding has developed (in my mind, at least) into a competition where you want to have the largest and fullest muscles along with the sharpest possible definition and separation.  Bulging veins are also considered a plus, it seems to me.  And when you combine that aesthetic with the desire to do whatever it takes to be better than the next person, people will go to unhealthy and dangerous lengths to reach that level.  I wish that bodybuilding contests were judged more on the general size and shape of muscles, so that someone who comes in cut to a razor sharp definition might actually be at a disadvantage over someone who dropped just enough fat to produce large and well rounded muscles without having to drain excessive water from their bodies.