Tuesday 22 November 2016

On Fandom: Chapter 2

We do disappoint me sometimes.

imagebam.com
And Bakhar

I'm not going to name and shame, but recently someone who we've gone into bat for previously on the blog has gone public with his complaints about some of the female bodybuilders he has had dealings with, accusing them of having mental issues - their minds turned to mush by all the steroids is his theory. Real playground stuff.

Think about female muscle pay websites. The successful ones, the ones that have stood the test of time, are run by people who, over a period of years, have built up relationships and contacts and developed know-how within the industry.

However, our man with the beef with the female bodybuilders identifies himself as a businessman and reasons that his success in business previously meant he fully expected his female muscle website would also be successful. Unfortunately, and I mean that sincerely, it hasn't quite gone as smoothly as he would have liked.

Perhaps because he didn't fully understand what he was getting himself into?

Not according to him. It's all the women's fault.

imagebam.com
Don't make her angry!

The irony here though is that in terms of providing female bodybuilders with "support" and helping them "grow as a brand" as we heard Marcie Simmons put it yesterday in her definition of "a real fan", his motives have been absolutely impeccable and the successes that he has had so far have very much achieved those aims.

Let's take another female muscle head who we've championed on the blog.

He's a man with a video camera, and he knows where and how to point it (and how to edit what he's shot into terrific clips that I'm sure we have all enjoyed).

He shoots his footage at the big European expos - FIBO and the Arnold Classic Europe.

imagebam.com
This is a clue

To me, and I think to his many subscribers as well, he's something of a hero - the man who goes where I'd love to go but don't and makes it possible for me to experience on some level what it would actually be like. But if we put what he does to the same test we subjected our pay website moaner to, a different picture of him emerges.

Does his work "support" the women he shoots? Does it help them "grow as a brand"?

Or perhaps he comes across as "an aggressive obnoxious schmoe" with his camera in their faces (without their permission?), getting his "something for nothing"...

Now I don't for a second believe I have painted fully accurate pictures of either of these men, but essentially you have on the one hand a guy who has given not inconsiderable financial support to a number of female bodybuilders, and on the other, a man with a camera who simply gets what he can when he can for free.

imagebam.com
This is another clue

Who's the fan? Who's the schmoe?

Does it matter that the one who most accurately fits the "fan" definition has also behaved poorly towards some of the women he has contact with? Would it make any difference if we knew whether our man with the camera (apparently engaging in "schmoe-like" behaviour) films with or without the express consent of his subjects?

How do you feel about them?

imagebam.com

I did warn you I wouldn't have too many answers!

[Though I'm guessing you will agree I do have some cracking - if not always strictly relevant to the text - pics in the archive that have never been used before!]

But my opinion is this. One of them has revealed himself to be actually obnoxious and prepared to publicly slag off some of the women who he has tried to help. There's no excuse for that. And it's not like he did it in a fit of rage or when he was drunk or something and later apologised for and/or deleted what he had said. No, he has repeatedly gone online to add to the original tirade and defend himself against others who have questioned his take on things. Whatever his good intentions when he set up his female muscle related "business", his recent behaviour has been deplorable.

And our man with a camera? Well, I hope he doesn't overstep the mark with the women he films. None of his videos contain footage of women trying to get out of shot, so if they do, he doesn't share it and that, I reckon, indicates he does approach them with some degree of respect. Moreover, some (not all) of the women he films seem to actually enjoy the fact he's interested in them. They put on a show for him and his camera if you like. Again, this tells me that he's not invading their space.

So, despite the fact that he has probably done much much less than our deplorable businessman to help these female bodybuilders, the blog will certainly continue to champion his work in the future. We remain subscribed to his (free) YouTube channel. There will be no more money spent at a certain female muscle paysite though.

imagebam.com imagebam.com

I don't care if I am, according to Marcie's definitions, supporting the schmoe and condemning the fan. Only one of them has shown a lack of common decency.

to be continued...

No comments:

Post a Comment