Media Watch

Back in the early days of FMS, the result of a survey for wownews.co.uk claiming that 57% of voters agreed that female bodybuilders were sexy – even adding "the bigger the better", left us "truly gobsmacked" (see Minority No Longer!).

Now, the results of another survey reported in the ever more female muscle friendly Daily Mail are suggesting, if not the very same thing, then something very similar.





The headline reads, THE WOMEN WHO'D RATHER HAVE JESSICA'S FIGURE THAN CHRISTINA'S. "Jessica", of course, is Olympic gold medal-winning heptathlete Jessica Ennis (Ennis-Hill these days), while "Christina" is Christina Hendricks of Madmen fame. And then there's the even more interesting subtitle tells us Both Sexes Prefer Athletic Bodies over Curves.

I should point out that the main focus of the article is the reduction in the size, if not the amount, of breast augmentation women are choosing these days. The survey, of 2,000 Britons, was carried out by an implant manufacturer called GC Aesthetics. Fewer patients now think that big is best, the Mail tells us. Once upon a time when plastic surgery was the preserve of the rich and famous, large breast implants were a status symbol. But now, according to one Cheshire-based surgeon, Aesthetic surgery is no longer done by just a minority. It is done by a lot of people and they don’t necessarily want the world to know what they have done.

However, amid all that there is the very very welcome news that most (it doesn't specify beyond that) women AND most (ditto) men prefer the athletic lines of the likes of Olympian Jessica Ennis-Hill over the cartoon curves of glamour models.




Picture this. You are faced with a row of boxes. The closest to your ideal is the box marked "Athletic". There is also an "Other (please specify)" box. What are you going to do? Tick "Other" and specify hardcore female bodybuilder (densely-muscled vascular physique, steroid-induced clitoral enlargement a plus)? Or are you going to tick the "Athletic" box and leave the specifying to your female muscle lovin' imagination?




Point is, if "most" men say they prefer Jessica's figure over a more traditionally "curvy" one (we'll leave the muscular women have the most curves of all argument for now) then there are bound to be more than a few of the "MOST" (56% according to the 2011 article, remember) for whom "athletic" isn't quite the full story.

Back in 2011, I said that the idea that I was no longer a member of a female muscle lovin' minority would require some adjustment. Now, two years later, I'm quite enjoying getting used to the idea that the freaks are the ones who don't think muscular, or at least "athletic", women are sexier. Bloody freaks.


Mila Kunis, FHM Sexiest Woman Alive 2013 v Alina Popa, FMS Hottest Hard Woman in the World 2013

Maybe us Brits should just start ticking those "Other" boxes and specifying the shit out of it. All signs indicate there might be more of us than even we suspect there are!

Dedicated to Aiden, with thanks