Underrated: Tatianna Butler

A new occasional series, Underrated is not intended to be about judging decisions - if it was, we could probably run a post about every single woman who's ever competed! Instead, we aim to (re)focus on women who we think do not enjoy the prominence they deserve in the collective female muscle consciousness - someone a new recruit to the female muscle lovin' world would not necessarily come across.

UNDERRATED?



Less than 30 pics on GwM, and no more than a five-page thread on the forum whose first rule is... and the majority of those pages are taken up with more recent, post-retirement pics (more about that later). It's highly unlikely - as it is with all of the women we feature on Underrated - that you would underrate her if you know her, but with that kind of coverage, then it's also unlikely you have come across Tatianna unless you're old enough to remember her from her turn of the millennium pomp.



She was of that era when the line-ups at the USAs and the Nationals read like a list of all-time favourites compiled by some 40-something muscle head (like me). Sarah Dunlap, Heather Policky, Bonnie Priest, Gina Davis, Colette Nelson, Michelle Tuggle, Lora Ottenad, Sherry Smith... I could go on. She competed with distinction against all of them, she totally looked the part, but ultimately Tatianna - despite a couple of top 6 finishes - never placed high enough to win her pro card and compete at the very highest level. After a (thankfully) brief (and unsuccessful) dalliance with the Figure division, she would only ever get out her posing suits again for paying clients. She went "under the radar" as I believe they say on the dark side.

CAREER



If she was competing now and at her 2001-2002 peak, I'd say she would have won just about all of the IFBB shows so far in 2018, with only the Toronto Pro a possible exception. However, in her time she was just one of a thunderous cohort of soon-to-be greats and others, like her, who would have been greats in another decade.



From Baltimore, we first find her competing locally at the Eastern USA Championships in 1996 as a "novice". Four years later she is at the Atlantic States Championships earning her only class and Overall win.The year after that, at her first national level show - the NPC USAs - she makes the Heavyweight top 6, and then at the North Americans places 4th behind Lisa Aukland, Colette Nelson and Carmen Brady.



Though she undoubtedly looked great in 2001, her peak, I would say, came in 2002 at the NPC Nationals. In a Heavyweight division packed with some of the best female muscle ever (not only compared to today but also any other day) Tatianna placed 4th, a 5'9" ripped ebony Amazon showing off her genetic gifts and exceptional development in all their glistening pumped glory. In the judges' opinions, she was bettered on the day only by Sherry Smith, Alley Miesch-Nie and Overall winner Sarah Dunlap. She never reached such competitive heights again - placing 13th at the Nationals in 2003, and the less said about the return as a Figure competitor in 2005 the better.



If you haven't noticed already though, it's time to point out that as well as being a 5'9" ebony Amazon, Tatianna was (and still is, more about this later), an absolutely gorgeous woman. This muscle + beauty combo was then, as now, much in demand on the schmotography circuit, and while it's not easy to find contest pics of Tatianna, she did more than her fair share of glamour work. WPW/Ray Martin (as always) got in earlier than most, much of their work with her done while she was very much in her voluptuous (and quite frankly f***ing ginormous) off-season shape.



There was work with Physique Art (remember them?!) and others that showcased Tatianna in pretty much a "mainstream" glamour kind of way - a model who just happened to have massive muscles! Awefilms, on the other hand, tended to use her as an "action girl", beating up unfortunate/fortunate (depending on your point of view) male weaklings in mini-movies "Sista Paine" and "Gladiatrix FemMuscle Action".



She was also memorably (in my house) shot by Ivana Ford (again, remember her?!) and perhaps most memorably of all by Bill Dobbins, wearing nothing but some sand.

APPRECIATION



The day after the muscle worship episode of Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends aired, I overheard four women in my office discussing the show, and particularly the Female Bodybuilders it featured. "Yuk!" was pretty much the capsule review - Louis spends most of his time talking to Maria Calo and her (short-lived) husband, you may recall. I expected nothing less, I'd been bitterly disappointed not so much by the portrayal of the world I was so fascinated by, but more the choice of subjects. They could have had Yaz Boyum, but instead we got Maria, and the fans Louis spoke to... embarrassing. But then one of the women says, "except Tatianna" and to my delight they all agreed. She was "lovely" they said, "such a sweet person", "so girly", "yes, very feminine".



And it wasn't just on British TV that Tatianna got noticed. She was a regular on those US chat shows that used to feature FBBs from time to time in a kind of "all woman" pro-female muscle way (those were the days, eh?!). Hardly surprising then that Dobbins selected Tatianna (not, note, Maria Calo) to represent his work on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno when doing publicity for his (racy) book Modern Amazons.



She was - on top of being an outstanding amateur Bodybuilder at a time when future legends were all over the NPC - an articulate, funny, stunningly beautiful, strong woman. And whatever "it" is that makes some muscle women capable of reaching out towards the mainstream and not being mocked, she had that in spades as well.




NOW



As you can see, she has still got most of those qualities today. She's still hot, one forum poster says. She's just not big anymore. Oh really?! That bicep is an illusion, is it?

Watch that (mostly cringeworthy) Louis Theroux episode in full here, or just the "Meets Fans of Female Bodybuilders" segment here. I haven't turned up any of the Jay Leno footage, so if you know where it can be found then please do get in touch.

Underrated will return.

Gone But Not Forgotten: The Street Fighter

Over the years in this forum and others, I thought he was a unique presence. Someone who had an interesting perspective and whose contributions had a consistent point of view. I still remember his coming-of-age encounters with muscular women, which were always fun to read. And of course all those amazing video posts, which must have taken hours of hours of time to construct - and to a Luddite like me, most appreciated! One of the real grown-up presences as opposed to the many trolls.

Reported on the forum whose first rule is... in mid-May, the passing of the man known (most recently) as "the street fighter" has prompted a number of heartfelt tributes.

I'm certainly going to miss hearing from him. He not only spent countless hours editing and posting the vintage [FBBing clips] that we all love seeing here, but he'd make great posts with a lot of enthusiastic insight, which included his own past experiences. He kept things light-hearted and entertaining and the best thing about this board was always reading one of his new video posts with commentary. I had the fortune to exchange several PMs with him over the years. Just a great guy.

His legendary posts brought us edited footage of contests from the entire history of the sport. A 1988 IFBB women's invitational event held in Japan which I'm pretty sure only a handful of devoted heads even knew about, let alone had footage of. The 1990 Iron Maiden, wrong result he reckoned, and complete - as always - with his own technical data: This has been floating around the web and I am unsure who made the original capture. I've attempted to reduce the artifacting from the original compression. I cropped tracking noise and resized the clip with a subtle sharpen. 11:03 Duration 720x540 25fps MKV container X265 compression. Enjoy!

But his love of the sport didn't stop when the moon pose was outlawed. Right up until last year he was still posting his own edits of shows - from Asia, Germany, North America - his love of the contest as great as ever, new divisions and all. Female bodybuilding is my first love, he wrote in 2017, but Physique is my mistress.

Today, we offer just a few of our favourite street fighter gifs, along with some choice quotes. A tiny selection of what he so passionately shared with his fellow heads.

I know there are a number of implant haters on this sight. 

However, if you have never experienced feeling a woman with implants under the muscle flexing her chest you should try it once. 

The reason being is that the because of the pressure on the implant from the contraction of the pectoral muscle the entire chest becomes hard. 

It feels like the entire breast is muscle.

I quickly laid on my back. 

My eyes had started to adjust to the darkness and the way she moved to get on top of me was like that of a powerful lioness. 
Her long golden hair cascading over her muscular body. 

Once again she took my cock in her hand and put me inside her. 
As my dick slowly squeezed in, it felt like it was going to start sweating because she was so hot inside. 
It was then I realized that just like a bodybuilder does before going on stage she had pumped up. She had pumped up her vagina muscles. 

I always watch British competitions with trepidation. I'm worried my estranged wife will show up in the Extreme/Super Body class with the intention of making me regret separating from her. 

However, no Extreme Body class in this event - a double edged sword. 

I love the huge muscle but not sure how I would deal with seeing my wife on stage again. Anyway, lots of muscle flexing in heels and thong bikinis.

Sabine Wick poses really fast on stage and a lot is happening that we miss so I had this idea. I made these gifs from the clip that stitchface posted (the best footage of Sabine Wick I've seen). 

I used software to create tweens (short for in-betweens) making frames based on weighted motion and inverse movement. 

This took the existing footage from 3 minutes to about 12. 

Then I combined the original and extended footage and slowed down her flexing but left her transitions at normal speed.

If you guys think this is cool let me know. 

If you think it sucks let me know too!

I briefly corresponded with him in late 2013, asking for permission to use some of his fantastic gifs. He was only too glad to oblige, and very encouraging about the blog. I particularly remember him saying that "you've really started to find your own voice", which - coming from him, a man whose knowledge of female muscle past and present was so great it was actually kind of intimidating - I found incredibly flattering.

We talked about our love for muscles several times. He seemed like such a nice man and he was sincere in his passion, his love of sharing so cool. I will miss him!

For any forum member to get such a send-off is absolutely unheard of, and probably says more about the way he touched so many with his generosity and skills than any cack-handed attempt from me to eulogise him could. He will, indeed, be missed.

The Return of the Latin Bomb

WARNING!

Those averse to tattoos on their muscle ladies should come back tomorrow

In the early 2000s, "Latin Bomb" Vivianna Requena gained many plaudits from both the female muscle lovin' community and the wider bodybuilding world. What a package! exclaimed Curtis Schultz for Bodybuilding.com back in 2004. Exotic good looks, a striking muscle bod, and Latino charisma written all over her. Vivianna is a bona fide contender for a national level bodybuilding title and a pro card.



She was, at the time, winning titles as a Lightweight Bodybuilder - her Jr. USA class in 2002, the New Jersey Championships in 2003 - but was (and probably is still) best known to female muscle heads for her appearance in (and on the cover of) Muscle Elegance in April 2002. I love being a sex symbol! she said at the time. Transforming myself from a shy nerd to being on the cover of Muscle Elegance makes me feel like a Ms Olympia winner! I am very proud of what I have accomplished so far.



Soon after that Bodybuilding.com article in 2004 though, Vivianna completely disappeared off the radar. She'd just got engaged, but her husband-to-be then (and he's still her husband) was by no means averse to her muscles - they'd met at a show in Rhode Island - nor her penchant for letting us all get a look at her beautiful body in all its naked glory. He is very proud, she told Schultz. He likes to say that the only thing that the guys can do is look at me, but he has the real thing every night.



Well, Vivianna (McAuliffe since her wedding to that lucky - and level-headed - fella) is back. And once again, she is a bona fide contender for a national level title, this time in the Physique division. At the NPC Dennis James Classic in Mesa, Arizona on 26th May she won a two-woman WPD Physique class. It qualified her for a show where pro cards are dished out. Her next stop will be the North Americans at the end of August.



She'll be 50 by the time the North Americans roll around, and she's still chasing that pro dream. Still not shy about showing herself off either. I am a bodybuilder, she says. I want people to see that even with ripped hard muscles a woman can still be sexy and pretty - at the gym, on stage, or even while just at a party. Take a look at me!



Posts on her Instagram in the lead up to her show made their way onto the forums and had many in the female muscle lovin' community doing just that. Of course there was the usual nonsense - What are competition rules regarding tattoos? one hysteric wanted to know. How can a judge tell muscular definition from where they are sitting if a competitor has so many tattoos? The vast majority though were more impressed, and (along with the love from the wider community) Vivianna found herself reconnected with her noughties fan base again. Thank you all for your good luck wishes, messages and texts, she wrote the day before her contest. I’m overwhelmed.



After the show she took a well-earned holiday with her daughter, which pretty much clears up any questions you might have about what she's been doing all these years.



The woman who we once knew as the Latin Bomb is back then. More than a little more muscular than before as far as I can tell, and considerably more inked, but otherwise pretty much where she was before she became "a badass mom", ie. due that pro card. Someone asked 'What now,Viv?' she told her (growing ranks of) Instagram followers after her win. I said, 'Now it's time to train double beast for the North Americans!



Yikes! Can't wait to watch Vivianna going "double beast".

(As well as looking forward to more amusement courtesy of the anti-tat brigade!)



Enjoy!