Over the last one hundred years, the image of the physically
strong, confident, muscular woman has been the object of derision,
fascination, and erotic fantasy; she is often portrayed, in both
photography and illustration, as a sexy dominatrix, sexless
mannequin, or sideshow freak. In this fascinating collection of
rare archival images from the late-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth
century, authors David L. Chapman and Patricia Vertinsky trace the
peculiar yet fascinating history of muscular women in popular
culture.
One of the battlefields in this cultural conflict appeared in
popular imagery: posters, advertisements, comic books, magazine
illustrations, and (most particularly) photography all offered
outlets of expression for many muscular women. Until quite
recently, however, such females were packaged for the general
public as physical monstrosities, lesbian man-haters, kinky sex
objects, or beautiful living statues. At the same time, many women,
including those in the emerging female bodybuilder community, have
had to fight hard to reclaim the image of female muscularity as
their own.
Featuring some two hundred full-color and black-and-white
illustrations, many never before published, "Venus with Biceps" is
a beautiful and historically significant book about gender, image,
social expectations, and female power.
David L. Chapman has written extensively on gay erotic
photography and male bodybuilders.
Patricia Vertinsky is a professor at the School of Human
Kinetics at the University of British Columbia who has written four
previous books on sports and gender.
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