ding because she dislikes the femaleness of her body, or because she values the "masculine" characteristics of the sport, one would have to concede that weightlifting is not, for her, a liberated or liberating act. Indeed, it smacks of identification with the aggressor, internalization of unhealthy values, and self-hatred. Similarly, if a woman participates in bodybuilding only to become more attractive to males, according to the standards of the time, the action is also not a particularly liberated one.
But, if she engages in bodybuilding because she wants to be the strongest, most physically fit, independent woman she can be, it is clearly a feminist act. Feminism seeks to promote the concept and actuality of physically competent women and has always been in favor of gender-crossing activities, such as women participating in a traditionally male sport.
I think it is also important to note that when we see female bodybuilders as trying to be/look like men, we are operating on some intrinsically sexist assumptions, like the following:
1. Only men are strong and muscular.
2. Real women do not desire to be physically fit, only to be physically attractive.
3. Women who step outside their approved sex-role boundaries are no longer feminine are probably lesbians; that is, sport has the power to affect sexual identity (Cheska, 1980).
When these implicit assumptions are made explicit in this manner, they are obvious falsehoods produced by a fearful, rigid, and genderized society. "For in this sexist society, for a woman to be independent means she can't be a woman, she must be a dyke. That in itself should tell us where women are at. It says as clearly as can be said: woman and person are contradictory." (Radicalesbians, 1970, p.2).
The fact that there remains psychosocial resistance to the idea of a female being both a
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