Venus with Biceps: A Pictorial History of Muscular Women

by David L. Chapman, Patricia Vertinsky (Introduction)

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.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Fitness, Feminism

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2010

Reviews

[Audra · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a woman who has focused on weight-lifting as her main source of exercise for the past year and a half (and who as a consequence has built up a certain amount of muscle strength and definition), this book was a very interesting read.

It is a pictorial history, so other than a couple of introductory essays and then a short essay at the beginning of each section, the captions that go with the illustrations and photographs are the book's only text. These are drawn largely from one of the authors' own (rather extensive) collection, and trace some large portion of the representation of women as strong and/or muscular from the 1800s to the present.

The authors found that traditionally (at least in North American and Western European culture of the last few centuries), physical strength in women has not been emphasized or had much mainstream representation. In the early-mid 1800s, physical exertion or exercise was often considered bad for women, and it was only in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that that view began to change. Even then, light weights or more cardiovascular exercise were emphasized as being better for women, and even in more modern times there remains a trend that tends to de-emphasize heavy weight lifting for women (although this is changing, at least in some circles).

The visual representations of muscular women from the 1800s are largely those of women who performed in the traveling circuses, fairs and vaudeville stage acts of the time. Even these strongwomen (some of them legitimate, others accomplishing their feats through stage tricks) and acrobats were often photographed in softer poses wearing very frilly or feminine costumes, and do not show off the muscles that they clearly had to have in order to accomplish their acts. Images of some of these women actually flexing their muscles exist, but are much rarer. Pictures or illustrations of women exercising (either as instructions or as advertising) began to increase in the early 20th century, but still often did not show or emphasize muscularity. Throughout this early period, there are also a number of cartoons or illustrations that mock women who built up their strength in a way traditionally considered to be appropriate only for men; the other historical shifts regarding female independence and responsibility (voting rights, etc.) were also occurring in this time period, though, so that is not surprising. The first modern day female body-builders began lifting and showing off their muscles in the mid-20th century, and there are more images available from this time period showing such women either flexing their muscles for the camera or actually performing their lifts or other feats of strength. Even throughout this more modern period, there was still an effort in publications sometimes to also emphasize the more "feminine" aspects of a female weight lifter's life.

So, it's an interesting presentation of some of the clash between more traditional views of what is feminine, and the actualities of female physical strength and muscularity. My own (somewhat limited) observations regarding this are mixed. At some of the gyms where I have worked out, I've felt very much as though I was the only woman doing any serious weight lifting, either with free weights or on machines; other women tended to stick to some form of cardio exercise, be that running or treadmill or stationary bike, etc. On the other hand, at the company gym where I first started working out there were several women who would lift regularly, and I have several female friends who do lifting for their workouts, or even pursue it more seriously through CrossFit or similar programs. I think that heavier weight lifting is becoming more widely acknowledged as being a good and healthy form of exercise for women (as well as men) to pursue, and I certainly know that I have felt much better (and think that I look much better) since I started lifting as my main workout.

The historical perspective provided by Venus With Biceps was very appealing to me, and I think that it touches on an aspect of history relating to women and excercise that isn't very common. It has expanded my thinking about what weight lifting and being strong/muscular mean to me personally, and has given some of my personal observations in the gym a fuller context. It also is chock full of interesting, lovely and delightful images, and I think that I will enjoy coming back to it in the future.

If you are interested in history relating to women, history of exercise, or body-building, strongman acts/vaudeville shows, you will likely enjoy this book.

[Tess · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book had potential to be an interesting look at historical & modern fitness, specifically stength based sports, for women but it misses the mark. Many of the captions seem like they're written by a dude with a boner for bodybuilders.

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The correct way to read this book is to ignore the "analysis" and "history" and look at the pictures, then Google the names, and be impressed.

[Darcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am so jealous of Kati Sandwicha's husband, my new goal in life is to marry a woman who can lift me with one arm over her head

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this for someone as a gift and ended up reading it before it got wrapped. The photos and descriptions for each are really good just on their own, but the text itself is not as engaging.

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 4 out of 5]

not a bad overview, but certainly an impressionistic one, given that DLC was working with his own collection of images...a collection that seems less "stacked" on the distaff side than it was on the "hunks" side. also, although DLC is a fine historian and knows the literature, some of the stuff on exercise properly so-called is just plain off, as are other non-fitness history factoids (e.g., lana lang isn't lois lane's sister, p. 314). i'm nitpicking here, though i'm much nicer about it than other SMEs. glad DLC put this together, for sure.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked this book alright. It was very educational, especially in how the sport of women's weightlifting has changed over the years. It seemed to me that the fashions involved in the early years (1800s) were more daring than those from the early 1900s, which I found curious. At least, you could more easily see the body shapes of the women in the earlier period.

One thing I am still unclear on, though, is what the difference is between weightlifting and bodybuilding. The former is about strength, while the latter is about muscle [sculpting]? But doesn't muscle equal strength? That's the part that I'm still confused about. I don't recall reading anything about this, though it's possible that I overlooked it. I mostly just read the captions and didn't so much read as skim the more "texty" parts (mainly just looking for information on the few photos included in these texty parts).

Some of the captions were offensive, in my opinion, and a few (very few) had poor grammar. Serious points got knocked off for these. But it truly was what it promised: A Pictorial History of Muscular Women. Note though, that the history focuses on just the last 200 years, with any history before that being mentioned just in the forward and introductions, with few pictorial representations.

[Frankie Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Venus with Biceps--very educational! great vintage pictures!--but I wish it focused more on these strongwomen's lives and careers than the public's reactions to their careers. Also: Patricia Vertinsky's introduction was the most elucidating and dynamically written part of the book. The rest spent a disappointing amount of time analyzing how strongwomen chose to pose in pictures. I know it's a pictorial history -- but I was hoping it'd be about the history behind the photographs. Not just the photographs. Other than that quibble, I really enjoyed it! I love strong women. It's wonderful to see them glamorized.

[Yvonne · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has some pretty photos and some good anecdotes, but I found it "meh" overall. The timeline ended *just* as things started to really interest me - in the 1980s, when female bodybuilding just started getting legit. Oh well.

[Malcolm · Rating 3 out of 5]

review to follow