2016 Review: November

Going Up?

It actually began on the last day of October, a week of posts about female muscle in lifts/elevators. It was all Valerija Slapnik's fault, and yes, that really is her name.



At the time I was a bit down on these posts, all "I'm really scraping the bottom of the barrel" type self-doubt, but now, looking back (and it's only been just over a month) I find myself rather more impressed than I thought I would be because a) I didn't actually write too much more embarrassing nonsense than I tend to do most weeks, and b) there really are some quality pictures of quality women here.





Among them, were two Brazilians whose devotion to the elevator selfie (and revealing skintight gymwear) is seemingly boundless - Suelen Bissolati (below, left) and Claudia Bonavoglia - and they each got a deserving post of their own.



We finished the week acknowledging that Erica Blockman's firefighting skills (among other reasons) would probably make her the ideal female muscle elevator emergency companion, but as we couldn't find any in-elevator snaps of the lovely Erica, we had to settle for a dream elevator date with Dani Reardon. Hard times.



We decided it was time to "reevaluate and recharge", leaving FMS readers hanging for a whole fortnight. Yes, the "elevator selfie" week had not been, we felt, our finest hour, but as well as that, Marcie Simmons, who'd been "telling it like it is" on her YouTube channel for much of the year, had given us cause for some introspection...

On Fandom



Are we a fan, or are we a schmoe? Does it matter? Is there any real distinction between the two? Does being a fan mean being a fan of the sport? What does that even mean?

And who are we anyway, us female muscle "lovers"?



Well, at the outset of our week-long riff on some of the issues raised by Marcie we did say that we would have more questions than answers, and so it proved!

We wondered about how "we" deal with public discussions of our favourite women when the mainstream media runs a female muscle story (and the story - Eleonora Dobrinina, "unidentified female bodybuilder with 0% body fat" - reminds us now of the story we featured in January - Sasha Rudenko's "concerned friends").



So, we wondered, what do you do when an office colleague shows you his phone and it's Ella and he tells you she's got 0% body fat apparently, and clearly wants you to agree with him that she's "unnatural", or "disgusting" or "manly" or whatever?



If there were any conclusions to all my yakking, they were these.

1. That I should be a lot braver the next time something like this happens to me and just proceed to "bore the pants" off whoever is asking because you know I really could go on about Ella for at least a couple of hours (before I even got started about the portrayal of muscular women in the media in more general terms).

2. Perhaps the change in perception towards "strong" women - the fact that it's slowly but surely becoming more common for women (especially young women) to not only go to the gym but also to lift weights while they're there - might also lead to a change in perception towards the men who love them. One reader was not convinced. It's true: "We" are socially awkward, weirdos, perverts; and we have mental issues. It takes some time to accept the way we are. Maybe he's right, but if I have learned anything about "us", it is that we are, just like the women we adore, not all the same.



NPC Nationals & NABBA Universe

For no reason other than I thought it would be interesting to do so (although I couldn't tell you why!) FMS decided to pair seven (FBB & WPD) women from the 2016 NPC Nationals with seven (Toned & Trained Figure) competitors from the 2016 NABBA Universe. One pair per day - a clip from the latter contest, pictures from the former.

In the few days left in November we had three of those pairs.



The legend that is Monica Brant (finishing runner-up in the Toned Figure class at the Universe) with the ever impressive FBB Heavyweight runner-up at the NPC Nationals, Pauline Nelson was our first pair. British NABBA star Lindsey Angel and fan forum WPD favourite Rachael Chaskey (3rd, Physique C) our second.

And we said goodbye to November with big girls Allison Chaidez from the Nationals, and (far too big for NABBA Figure and you have to love her for that!) Australian Aisling Hickey, who got the crowd showing their appreciation, and took Swell back to the days when the really big girls could be seen on the NABBA Universe stage.



A (brief) survey of (pre 2016 Review) FMS in December tomorrow.

On Fandom: Chapter 3

Who are we?


And who is SHE?

In Dr. Tanya Bunsell's and study Strong and Hard Women: An Ethnography of Female Bodybuilding, the popular image of who we are was seriously challenged.

It is unsurprising that males who have been attracted to deviant muscular female bodies have been depicted in a negative light. Stereotypical muscle worshippers have been portrayed in documentaries such as Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends as weedy, nerdy, pathetic, "living with their mothers at 40 and saving every penny for sessions", repressed homosexuals with no social skills and something mentally defective about them. So far, no comprehensive study has taken place which interrogates this common knowledge – it was for this reason that I contacted you with the intention of learning more about males who appreciate female muscle.

Despite huge methodological issues, my research in the UK found that the majority of muscle worshippers were middle-class, university educated, and aged between their late 20s and late 40s. The majority were heterosexual and active gym members. That several trained is perhaps surprising and contradicts with other academics that have claimed that schmoes may deliberately "cultivate flabbiness or lankiness, perfecting a feeble physique incapable of lifting heavy weights... [in order to] better the contrast their bodies with the images of the powerful figures of female bodybuilding".

The demographics of those who took part in my study clearly give a counter-presentation of the stereotypes of muscle worshippers as weak and economically dependent, and a common thread between the muscle worshippers is that their attraction to muscular women developed in their teens.

This is a start in the right direction – but it is only that (my sample size was far too small to make any generalisations). Far more research needs to be conducted in this area – both from the women's perspectives (including the lived embodied experiences of the actual sessions) and from the perspective of the muscle worshippers. Indeed, I actually feel that the male muscle worshippers voice has been severely neglected in research on female bodybuilders (including my own) and I would like to see more work out there that begins to break down these taboos and stigmas and celebrates men who celebrate muscular women in all their complex beauty.

Dr. Tanya Bunsell (in an interview with FMS, July 2013)


Some of that complex beauty?

Sadly, the further research Dr. Bunsell called for at the time has not, to my knowledge anyway, been undertaken. However, I can offer my own observations though I'll not add anything more about the British FMS readers who were quoted in Dr. Bunsell's study, those "middle-class, university educated" readers but rather what I've learned from the virtual encounters I've had during my female muscle lovin' travels.

Call it "Dispatches from Schmoeville" if you like!



The main thing I've learned is there is no "type". I've had contact with guys in their 20s and guys in their 60s and pretty much every age in between. I've also had contact with female female muscle lovers (and I'm not talking about guys who pretend to be female for chat room larks, I'm talking about real women and yes, I'm sure).

We come from all over the world. As well as those who are native speakers of English, I've chatted regularly to female muscle lovers from Holland, Germany, France, Brazil, Argentina and the Czech Republic. The blog has received votes for the Hot and Hard 100 from readers in Europe, from North and South America, from Asia and Australia, and from Africa, and as I type, for example, my "audience stats" tell me there are FMS readers online from Denmark, Singapore, Argentina, Belgium, and Canada.



My own correspondence with fellow female muscle lovers confirms Dr. Bunsell's findings that it is more than likely that we discovered our attraction to muscular women in our teens. Wonder Woman, Gladiators, Pumping Iron II, Cory Everson on the cover of a magazine, chancing upon a female bodybuilder on TV... Common first experiences as recounted many times on the forums or related to me personally.

Is this just normal sexual development? Doesn't the guy who likes large breasts or Asian women or other guys discover his preference in his teens - whether he acts on it or not - too? Isn't this something all men, perhaps all people have in common?

I'm not qualified to answer my question, so let's just say it is, in my experience, something we do seem to have in common, whatever our age or location.


Why WOULDN'T you lift?

Dr. Bunsell also found that we tend to lift. Here I have found a kind of 50:50 split between those who do - often because it is thought to be a good way, perhaps the only way of having a realistic chance of meeting a muscular woman as an "equal" - and those who don't and who conform more closely to the "perfecting a feeble physique" type mentioned in the findings of other academics pre-dating Dr. Bunsell's study.

Our experiences of female muscle is, I've found, also very different. I've corresponded with a few who attend shows, who pay for sessions, some who say they go out of their way to surround themselves with athletic, muscular female friends and/or only have relationships with muscular women. And at the other extreme are those whose experience of muscular women is almost entirely vicarious, who have only rarely, perhaps once or twice in their lives, had chance sightings in public places.



I've come across men who are completely open about their passion for female muscle, who are open with their wives and girlfriends, their friends and their families, and work colleagues and anyone else who cares to know. The majority though keep their love of female muscle to themselves, even if they have a strong desire to "come out".

The internet has provided many of this silent majority with an outlet, a safe place to be open and to explore their love of muscular women with the like-minded without fear of ridicule. I'd say it's a fair bet that "It's so great to finally be able to talk to someone about this" (or words to that effect) is a sentence you have actually typed or read at some point during female muscle related correspondence with a fellow head.

At that point though, at least in my experience, at that moment where you feel the thrill of "connecting" with another female muscle lover, with someone who "gets it"... That's the moment where we truly reveal to each other how different and how spectacularly varied our individual appreciation of female muscle can be.


Are you appreciating?

to be continued...

On Fandom: Chapter 1

Schmoe.

A person, usually male, who...



We all know the word. But do we know what it means?

You can look up definitions in reference books, research the origin of the word in both etymological terms, and in its use within the female bodybuilding world. And you still wouldn't find very much agreement on exactly what "a schmoe" is beyond that it's a negative term for a certain type of female bodybuilding fan.

Many female muscle fans define the word so as not to include themselves. "A schmoe is one of those guys who does those things I don't do" kind of thing. I know of one fellow fan who always used to add "Don't worry, I'm not a schmoe" to his communications with female bodybuilders, for example. Others, however, are happy, proud even, to be identified as schmoes - we featured a thoughtful new blogger from Ireland recently who is so OK with the term that the very title of his blog identifies him as one.



Here's what Marcie Simmons added to the schmoe debate back in August.

The Importance Of Schmoes In The World Of Bodybuilding!!!

8th August 2016

A "schmoe", Marcie confidently tells us, is an individual, typically a man, who is a hardcore female bodybuilding fan.

The difference between a schmoe and "a guy who just likes muscular women" is, according to Marcie, the amount they know. A schmoe will know "she did that contest, she came in that place, she's doing that contest next..." whereas non-schmoes will just say "she looks good, I like her biceps".

Schmoe has a very negative connotation, Marcie continues. You think of a guy who is very socially awkward, he's a weirdo, he's a pervert, he obviously has some mental issue because he's attracted to extremely muscular women.

But, she says, I'm here to let you guys know that is simply not the case. As a matter of fact I would say these guys are a very positive asset to the sport...

And what they provide is financial backing.

A lot of these girls that people admire, that they see on Instagram, on Facebook, all these nice pictures... Had they not had a schmoe behind them to support them financially, they wouldn't be in the position that they're in now.



This financial support, according to Marcie, does sometimes come in exchange for sessions. This side of the industry does exist, she says, and again, many times it's viewed as something that's a negative.

However, Marcie goes on to explain that as far as she can tell, schmoes are just guys with "a fetish".

Is there a difference really between liking the butt, thighs, breasts in comparison to liking biceps or a big back or, you know, nice cut triceps. Is there a difference really? Because schmoes are a little bit obsessed with these female athletes, they're viewed negatively, but when you think about it, many men obsess over women and their bodyparts, their butt, titties, all that stuff, but nobody ever really says anything about that, like there's something wrong with them.



I feel it's not a bad thing at all to the industry. It's something that does exist, and many of the athletes wouldn't be in the position that they are now had they not had a schmoe backing them financially. I think schmoes are good, I think schmoes are actually keeping the industry alive and I don't think it's something that should be viewed as a negative.



So far so good for the schmoes. Schmoes are the unsung heroes of the female bodybuilding world. Damn, we - I'm totally calling myself a schmoe at this point because I'm very very comfortable with Marcie's brave new definition - may be the only reason female bodybuilding still exists as going concern!

Say it loud! I'm schmoe and I'm proud!!!



Oh, hang on.

We'd better look at Marcie's latest take on "The Schmoe"...

Schmoes Vs. Fans!!! What The Difference Truly Is!

25th October 2016

They are very much different from people who are female bodybuilding supporters and fans, because they do stuff that turns people off, that's dangerous, and it's very unsavoury.

This includes "right clicking and saving" Facebook pictures, attempting to gain fitness consultations or to discuss issues related to female bodybuilding without paying Marcie for her time, "wanting to know all this extra stuff about you" such as full name or date of birth, making fake social media profiles in order to make contact and so on.

Where's Schwally? I



It gets very toxic, Marcie says, and goes on to explain how she and her husband have actually been harassed by email and phone, and that she knows other women who have had to change phone numbers and delete social media pages. Later, she also mentions having tyres slashed and being followed to and into the gym. They will strategically place themselves on some workout equipment so that they can stare and take pictures of you so they can go home and masturbate to them. It's pretty crazy.

Where's Schwally? II



These guys, she says, they congregate in an area I call "Schmoeville". She's talking about the forum whose first rule is... though not only there. According to Marcie, in "Schmoeville", anything goes, and a lot of it is invasive and/or hurtful or even downright illegal.

Yes, she says, of course if women are putting up pictures of themselves on social media, comments are to be expected, but it's the two-faced nature of the schmoe - claiming to be a fan on the one hand, acting like "a creepy-assed stalker" on the other - that earns them the title.

The guys who are real life bodybuilding fans and supporters, they don't do those types of things. They actually respect your privacy. They do what they can to actually support you and grow you as a brand.



So, I guess I'm back to not being a schmoe again.

And we're not really any clearer about what a schmoe is, are we?



I think I know why.

The problem is the label itself. "Fan" is just as problematic as "schmoe". Everybody will have an idea of what "a fan" is, but it's such a broad term that what it means really depends on who's using it. Marcie says the fans are people who help her and other women "grow as a brand" in October, but says something similar about schmoes in August. Fans know where their favourite female bodybuilders are competing next.

Or is that schmoes who know that?

If you only have two labels, it's going to be hard to fit everyone in one of the boxes.

So, throw away the labels. Throw away the boxes.

The women, Marcie included, are all individuals, and wish to be seen as such - unusually focused and dedicated individuals, sure, and they certainly have muscles in common, but if you had to fit all the muscular women in the world into one of two boxes, it might be a bit of a struggle, whatever labels you put on them.

By trying to fit those of us who love muscular women into one of two boxes, Marcie, and anyone else who tries to do the same, leaves no room for grey area, and this creates a problem because we, like them, are individuals.

[from off stage a Monty Python voice is heard: I'm not!]

Some of us are not even men.

Our individual expression of our love or appreciation or whatever for women with muscle can take many forms. Mine is mainly, though not exclusively, in the form of this blog. Now, is it a fan blog or just another suburb of Schmoeville?

Or something in between?



Whatever Marcie's shortcomings in terms of intellectual consistency, I applaud her for actually talking about this (and other issues). She may not have made it any clearer to me whether I am a schmoe or not, but she has certainly made me think.

to be continued...

Marcie Madness

Marcie Simmons isn't competing this year. Instead, she's on a break, enjoying her off-season "full-time superhero" body, unable to resist flexing while out shopping, feeling "huge and beautiful" and, in the summer sun, like a "bronzed queen".



She's never been backwards in coming forwards about how sexy her muscles make her feel (see FMS passim), but in the last few weeks on her "reloaded" YouTube channel Marcie Madness, she's been offering her opinion on a number of issues.



They include R.Kelly's 19-year-old girlfriend, how to be pro-black without being anti-white, and male bodybuilders who go "gay for pay". But the majority of her pronouncements are of more specific interest to the female muscle fan. In fact, female muscle fans themselves are the subject of more than one of her clips - for example, What Are Some Possible Causes Of Sexual Attraction To Muscle, Strength, & Power?? and The Importance Of Schmoes In The World Of Bodybuilding!!!



Well if that's the definition of a schmoe, then yours truly is...

She's even used the picture on my Blogger profile to illustrate the clip!



Great to have an FBB's perspective, and even better that perspective is almost completely positive. Sure, the "script" could be a little tighter - let me say right here that if you need an editor, Marcie, I'm here for you - but it's wonderful that she's discussing this and other "taboo in the FBB world" subjects so frankly.



Ever wondered what the pros and cons of being a female bodybuilder in daily life are? Marcie wants to tell you. Want an FBB perspective on "The Dark Side of Female Bodybuilding" or how getting involved in the adult entertainment industry can affect how an FBB's placing in a competition? You can find out at Marcie Madness.



Enjoy!

The FMS 12 Days of Christmas

   Day 6

   Halfway. You get a treat.

  ELENA OANA HREAPCA

   "The Nugget"

    I think she likes webcam. A lot.

    Don't go blind (or spend all your prezzie money on webcams) now.

    Enjoy!

Clip of the Week

ULTIMATE MUSCLE LOVE

From my new favourite YouTube channel, the prolific and original Fran Muscle, our Clip of the Week is an edit that is short, sweet, and above all ridiculously sexy, a riot of biceps and muscle worship set to the White Stripes' Fell in Love with a Girl.

FMS fave Tarna Alderman features among the cascade of women in the breathless opening sequence, and there's even a brief but beautiful sight of Dani Reardon backstage, her perfect abs all oiled and tanned. Oana Hreapca dominates the middle section, big and beautiful, muscles popping, bulging, stretching her skin, Oana lovingly adoring herself as well as being muscle worshipped by her sister, Julieta Fit.

But beautifully put together as that all is, it's when the music stops - at around the 1.50 mark - that the clip ceases to be merely great and enters the realm of genius.

Get comfy, and enjoy...



More female muscle gold on Fran Muscle's channel.

Lisa G Is...

MUSCLE FREAKY



The phrase "muscle freaky" might mean different things to different readers. Equally, readers might give a different name to what I call "muscle freaky". A long-winded explanation of my own definition, though, would take today's post off on a tangent away from the lovely Lisa (and probably bore you as well!) so instead, I'll just say that to me it is the biggest turn-on, the highest compliment I can give, and leave you with some of my favourite examples of Lisa G at what I think is her most "muscle freaky".



Last year, Awefilms shot Lisa Giesbrecht bulging out of a tight and tiny red dress - to say she was wearing it would, I think, be somewhat misleading because that thing is fighting for its life. The location was a public place, a coffee shop it seems, and for the first five minutes or so, Lisa sits in a booth not exactly posing, more like surreptitiously rippling. The camera closes in on her calves, her traps, her thighs, her arms, her shoulders. She looks huge, freakishly vascular, and every muscle reveals itself in glorious detail. With ice blue eyes she gazes long and deep into the camera... The effect the clip so successfully creates for the viewer is that it's YOU who are sitting there next to Lisa in that coffee shop. The show she is putting on is a private one - just for you - but it's the fact it's all taking place in public that, in my opinion anyway, takes this clip into the realm of greatness, nailing a fantasy of being with a female bodybuilder in public. In my imagination, this scenario tends to play out in the evening and in a restaurant, but the location is less important than the fact that Lisa (or the Lisa she is playing in the clip, anyway) loves, or even can't help herself, putting on a display that is both secretive (just for you) and public at the same time.

It was a meeting with a professional female bodybuilder that inspired her to compete. I just loved the whole muscle look, she says. Lisa - big though she undoubtedly is - may not be the biggest female bodybuilder around, but, as the Awefilms clip shows, in contest shape her body is certainly one of the most freakishly vascular, those "road map" legs in particular. And both in the pictures of herself she posts, as well as in the clip described and many many others, Lisa seems to take genuine delight in displaying her unique physique - forever "intense and seductive", as one fan puts it. She's still in love with that "muscle look", it's just now the look and the muscle is her very own.
FMS, April 2015, Hot and Hard 100 #36



Oh wow! Look at that! If you don't like that... Come on. See that? Seriously. That is awesome. I do that in the gym... Actually, I DO do that in the gym. I'm training with people, I'm training with a guy and I'm like, "Look at THIS!"



Lisa doesn't do sessions. She is, after all, happily married and (amazing as it may seem) a mother of two. On Annie Rivieccio's Muscle Angels, however, Lisa brought her fans' ultimate fantasy to life (well, perhaps not the ultimate Lisa fan fantasy, but you know what I mean). In perfect post-contest shape, as trademark vascular and gloriously glamorous as ever, Lisa invites you to admire her perfect muscles...



As with the Awefilms clip described above, the power of this piece of work lies in Lisa's ability to play the role so well, so naturally. She revels in the sensual display of her muscles. She knows the sexual effect her body has, the power it has over you. And, crucially, this in itself is arousing to her, and it is this that I call "muscle freaky".

And finally...

At about the one-minute mark, Lisa and the interviewer are looking at a close-up of her arm, her HUGE, RIPPED, VASCULAR arm. How do you feel about that? asks the interviewer. Lisa's response is immediate, and loud... I LOVE THAT!



When the interviewer responds, I love that you love that too, that could be me talking. It's not just the muscle itself, it's how Lisa feels about it. She LOVES it. And it seems that the more massive, ripped, pumped, veiny and freaky it is, the more she loves it. And I LOVE that she loves it. I LOVE that Lisa is so damn "muscle freaky".



A week's worth not enough?

Lisa's on Twitter, Facebook, and her Ironworks personal training website.

Enjoy!