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LOL.  Hilarious.

Sorry, I don't understand.  What's hilarious about it?

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At one time, I was a member over at Unreal.  I left because I couldn't express my views without being criticisd heavily.  I started to find certain members insulting me, so I left.  Unfortunately, it seems we are the only non-industry forum dealing with this issue that tries to keep decency and rational behaviour a priority.

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I'm not going to get involved with the main debate.  I just wanted to comment on the linked Dove advert – I've watched it before, but seeing it again reminded me that I think the woman in it is cuter as she is.  To me, the modified version is too "perfect" in some sense.  I suppose I'm wierd, but I prefer characterful beauty to that perfect, airbrushed, girl-group look.  She looks more real somehow before the modifications. 

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Something else came to me, rewatching the linked videos. Being the perennial leg man that I am, the one video I'd love to see is her doing those 1500lb. leg presses for reps she listed in her stats.

Boy, that must be a sight.  😮 😮

There's very little hotter than seeing a buff, cute babe pushing huge weight with her legs. 😮 8)  I've become more of a leg man in the muscle sense since I joined Amaz0ns.  Initially I was fixated on the upper body, but now my attention is much more evenly-spread, and I love Aleesha's legs in addition to the legs of all the other women who I have in my drool list. ;D

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[color=navy][font=tahoma][size=10pt]Now she is nice.  *Sighs*  God almighty, those beefy arms and solid chest make me salivate!

XOXO’s,

[size=14pt][font=times new roman]~Mimi[/font][/size]

She has that effect on me, too. 8)

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I'm not seeing Xander's most recent reply, but he was saying that TV coverage peaked in 1988.  TV viewing figures are cyclical for most sports, and I'm not aware of anything happening in 1989 to trigger a decline.  My point is that I'd be astonished if the decision of TV executives not to screen FBBing had nothing to do with the marketability of the women.  Like it or not, even if we eliminate the sexual aspect, humans are fussy about looks.  People aren't going to watch men or women BBing if they find their appearance unattractive or ugly.  I can assure you that, based on personal internet research, most young women prefer the 100 metre swimmer-type male physique to male BBers in contest shape.  I've read many, many comments about how unattractive the guys look from young women who love buff guys.  That's in the situation where the BBer is male, and is therefore appreciated by society as a whole when he has good muscularity.  If the BBer is female, old prejudice will reduce the attractiveness further (I KNOW it shouldn't, but it does). 

The stereotype in society of muscular women is that they are thought to be unfeminine, unattractive, possibly homosexual, and having "penis-envy" – wanting to be a man.  We here know this is unfair an inaccurate (not that there's anything wrong with being a lesbian, before Mimi comments), but the ugly, unfeminine stereotype is generally incorrect.  That stereotype is hardly assuaged when the women, through a combination of excessive steroid use and extreme low bodyfat (lower than is safe for women – see my earlier fears of FBBers possibly collapsing on stage) have pinched cheeks, raised hairlines, squared jaws, enlarged noses and sound like Ving Rhames.  t only reinforces the anti-femuscle crowd.  Look at the comments on FBBer videos on YouTube if you think I'm exaggerating – many can accept muscles, and many more like or love them – but, if the FBBer has an extremely dry, shredded appearance (I mean veins everywhere, paper-thin skin and striations all over) the proportion of negative comments SOARS.

I have long said that FBBing will go one of two ways.

1.  It will continue to become ever mre extreme at the top professional level.  This will continue the low prizemoney, back-of-the-woods venues, no TV coverage nature of the Pro contests with increased fetish web content to support the women and decreased influx or new talent from the amateur ranks either due to few being able to acheive the ultra-low bodyfat conditioning required, and many more deciding that the side-effects of the highly-virilising steroids needed to be competitive are too extreme forthem to contemplate.  Result?  The same few women dominate, year after year, then retire, and the Pro sport dwindles, or at least becomes stagnant.

2.  Common sense will prevail and the extremes will be toned-down.  The anti-FBB bias and ignorance that leads to the judging criteria treating the women like men in two-piece posing suits will go, to be replaced by a rethink of approch to the women's sport.  Judges would look for conditioning but subtract points for the sake of the health of the competitors for drawn, pinched-cheek appearance.  Muscle fullness, balance, flow and overall aesthetics of the women's physiques would become the important factors, with sheer size being a less important, but still potentially decisive criterion.  There would still be big women around (if the Ralabates and van Akens of this world could acheive the size they did with the training of the 1980s and early 1990s, then the current women could even with a shift in emphasis).  The internet would still be there to provide titilation and a way of supporting one's favourites, and TV, magazines and the press would be more inclined to cover the sport because the athletes would be marketable to a wider proportion of the population.

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Yay!  I can post!  Thanks Lingster!

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Bubble baths eh? 😉

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I'm astonished and ashamed that I haven't commented in this discussion until now – I am a great fan of Jed's work. :-[ 8)

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I never bashed Iris.  Neither did I state that she uses steroids.  I'm sorry that you reacted to what I wrote, but I feel that you've read what you thought I was going to write, not what I did write.

My response to your post would be thus:

You are only really mentioning the online saleability of the women's physiques.  You evidently know more about the business side of FBBing than I do, so I won't argue on that point.  I'm not surprised that the bigger women such as Iris and Colette Guimond have the bigger online following, as they will attract the schmoe crowd, who are pure muscle fetishists.  More power to them, as far as I'm concerned, but you cannot run the Ms O on the gate receipts from those guys, because we're comparing a three-day show with a year's web suscription plus possible extras.  Same goes for the wrestling sites and the likes of Awefilms. 

You also seem to be relatively uncorncerned about the prospect of FBBing contests dying and the business being entirely web-based.  This would kill the sport element stone dead, and would allow the pursuit to end-up as a "who can be the kinkiest on a webcam" activity.  Hardly edifying IMO, but I don't blame women like Heather Tristany for doing it; as you say, it pays better than being an active, competition BBer.

Unfortunately, you forget that any sport needs adiverse audience to thrive.  You can't expect the hardcore guys who are unconcerned with women showing pronounced brow arches, square jaws, enlarged noses and with rough, growly voices to keep the sport thriving.  You need people like me who love buff women but who are interested in more than just how big a woman's biceps are, and you also need the casual sports viewer.  Why do you think FBBing isn't shown on American TV any more?  I get the impression that you are sayiong "good riddance" to TV and magazine coverage; what you'll end-up with ispurely a webcam fetish show that will be viewed by most people as just more web porn, with no access to the sport for the average person (turning the TV on to ESPN, picing-up a magazine from the rack, reading about a local FBBer in your newspaper.

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