LEARNING CONTRACT PROJECT
ARDA ALTUNIGNE
WOMEN AND POLITICS
SPRING 2013

WOMEN AND BODY BUILDING

Women have been struggling and suffering from segregation , inequality since past and today still at some countries. Not only in countries but also in public. Men underestimate women always and think that they are not capable as much as men. Women in the states , they fought for their rights for a long time and they received their rights. We can not think a democracy without women’s rights. Women are not only our sisters but also the ones who take care the house , food , cleaning therefore women think more and care more about basic life necessities. Men are physically more powerful than women but that does not mean that women is not strong. Actually the struggle that women have been going through is tougher than men because women are more responsible on things in life more than men.
In the past , women were not able to go out even that much but now they drive , they lift and carry at their jobs , some of them became president of a country , they teach and even they fight professionally. Years have been showing us that women and men have no difference that we can say ‘’ one cannot do it ‘’. In the world , today women still see violence from men and this is totally unfair. Its Unfair because men are the ones always who start the violence because they don’t have a proper answer to women’s reasonable questions. God created women less powerful than we are , but it does not give us a specific right to hit women. Women need to protect themselves. Today , we have women fighters , army officers , pilots and body builders. Women and body building have been recently growing up especially in the states. I feel that women are not in fact a resistance. In their initial purpose, women attempt to be a form of resistance. Society has women involved in an activity that is completely dominated by men. Even though bodybuilding is a sport, many people do not view it as one. Body building is a rather ridiculous form of activity whose sole purpose is to show off an individuals physique and muscles. For many people, this is not a favorite past time. Female bodybuilders are examples of technological transgressions. As examples of transgressing boundaries that are set up by the dominant social order , women bodybuilders are the resistance against this dominant society. Women believe that they are crossing boundaries and are finally becoming equal with men. When in fact if you look at things, women are not in charge and will never be in charge because it is a male dominated society. Some people feel that the reason for white women bodybuilders desiring to compete in this sport is to break down society’s idealization of the white male body. I don’t agree at all. I feel that women being body builders are for their own personhood. Women feel that they are crossing boundaries and paving the way for future women bodybuilders. The fact that the rules and judges of these competitions are men and look for different things in women body builders than in men body builders is a result of a male dominated society. Instead of trying to erase the structures of the bodybuilding competitions and the rules which are set in place for women bodybuilders, women are just concerned with competing. I do not think women have realized this fact of the system yet. Women bodybuilders have not confronted the system of bodybuilding. The most important aspect [of female bodybuilding] is shape, a feminine shape. Our society tells us that a feminine shape is one in which a women has curves, a slim waste, large breasts as well as the women weighing around 120-135 pounds. Women are in fact embracing society’s assessment of them. As seen in the article, with the two white women competitors who in fact embody what the ideal women bodybuilders strive to accomplish, a film about their ultimate goal of winning an important bodybuilding competition. These women play right into