The Return of Gender Display and Body Naturalization in Competitive Bodybuilding
Abstract
The article presents the results of a study on gender display analysis in competitive bodybuilding. The study based on observation of bodybuilding competitions in St. Petersburg from October 13 to October 15 in 2016 and an analysis of the rules of the Federation for Bodybuilding and Fitness of Russia. Bodybuilding competitions are "a contest for the best physique achieved by athletics", however, in the rules of the competition there are certain femininity criteria for women and masculinity for men. In 2011 and 2012, the categories of "women's Bikini-Fitness" for women and "men’s physique" for men were emerged. These nominations include a more explicit demonstration of the gender display during the competition. In Russia from 2014 to 2016 the number of participants in these categories in the Russian championship has grown more than 3 times. The aim of the study is to analyze how changes in body images take place in competitive bodybuilding and how this can be explained. According to the results of the research, new nominations are in demand, because they bring in a more explicit presentation of the gender display on the stage of the competition. While in other categories such presentation was minimized. Also, these nominations mean more "natural" and physically healthy body models that the athletes want to match.References
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