Wed. Nov 6th, 2024

So, after much ado with mistiming, I did get to see the program on female bodybuilders on the E! Channel.
All in all….I thought it was pretty good, if not exactly accurate.
First of all – most of the show was mostly about figure competitors – not female bodybuilders as the title suggests. That said, I do not see that as a bad thing. Statements like this aren’t “politically correct” in the muscleworld, but figure is more ‘palatable’ to the general public then female bodybuilding, and as the numbers clearly show – figure is far more popular even within the muscleworld.
The WNBF, the leading natural organization, got some airtime with a focus on their figure competitors which made a change from the general NPC/IFBB saturation.
The Shelly Beattie segment was great, putting a personality behind the muscle.
The Lauren Powers segment, which showed a session taking place, was ‘par for the course’ somewhat what I expected from the mainstream media – sensationalized coverage of a small aspect of the physique world.
One thing I did not personally like – was the segment on the 16 year old. Although I admire her personally and think it’s great young girls are into training, I do not see it as the best face to put forward into the public eye. They showed her supplements lined up, and I can just envision some of the public thinking they are “steroids”. More so – she was a figure competitor, non-national level – surely there were other (grown adults) they could have profiled instead?
All in all though, I thought it showed a fairly positive side of female bodybuilding/figure – whereas so many shows I have seen on female bodybuilding seem to focus so much on the seedy aspects.

Comments are closed.