Venus: IFBB Pro & Badass

        While reading Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis and discussing in class some of the possible “masculine” traits she has, I was constantly reminded of an old friend who keeps appearing on my Facebook newsfeed. This friend is a female body builder and has won competitions all over the country. She is an IFBB (International Federation of Body Builders), she’s jacked and has worked extremely hard to be where she is today. But, some people in society still feel as though women body builders are “too masculine” and maybe even “ew she luks so nastie.” (I found these comments on a site that had photos of body builders as I was researching, the misspellings show you just who is commenting on these photos! Ha.) Are female body builders taking on a male role like Venus did in this poem?

As we know from Shakespeare’s version of the tale, Venus seems to take over some of the traits society may see as masculine. Richard Ramuss says in his article, “What it feels like for a boy: Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis,” “Shakespeare’s Venus appears to dwarf Adonis, whom she freely manhandles throughout the poem” (242). It seems as though many critics have questioned if the roles in this version of the poem are reversed. This is also a question many people ask of female body builders. Are they too manly? Is Venus the man in this poem?

Here’s a little bit of fun history behind female body building (which I found at bodybuildingpro.com) --à

·         Origins began in European vaudeville acts and circus strong women acts. (Really?... In the circus? This is probably a factor is society not taking female body builders seriously…. Just sayin’)

·         During the 1950’s through the 70’s, some men’s competitions held women’s beauty or bikini conests.

·         The first official female completion was held in Canton Ohio after the Feminist Movement in November 1977.

·         Gina LaSpina (No idea if that’s a real name but if it is, it’s awesome) was the first champion.

·         Now, hundreds of thousands of women compete all across the world!

As Shakespeare’s tale continues, we see Venus “pluck him [Adonis] from his horse,” and gather him under her arm. He even says to her, “You hurt my hand with wringing.” Does this make Venus a man and Adonis a woman?

Definitely not.

It makes Venus a bad ass because she knows what she wants and it’s Adonis. It also helps that she’s larger than him because she can just pick him up and carry him away, no matter how creepy that may be. (That’s not my point in this blog though…) Just because society feels a certain way about masculine and feminine traits, doesn't mean it has to stay that way. The evolution of female body building is proving that. While it is not for me, I will continue to like away at the Facebook photos of my friend and her bronzed, sparkly bikini, and killer abs because she’s doing what she wants, just like Venus was trying to do.