Special groups that must be addressed are athletes and their experiences with meeting society’s expectations of what the physical form must look like.
Many sports are heavily influenced by society’s slenderness ideal. Although most sports require a certain level of body fat to muscle ratio for mechanical and physiological efficiency, there are other sports which have scoring factors directed mainly toward physical appearance and aesthetic. A study conducted on college cheerleaders revealed that females and males were expected to fit into socially-constructed groupings which define what it means to be feminine and masculine (Reel & Gill, 1998, p.83). Females were expected to be slender and strong. However, tall and heavy participants were excluded from ever joining the team. Males on the other hand were expected to be “extremely masculine”, with well, muscularly-defined bodies. As a result, skinny, short males were barred participation from the team’s activities. It is no surprise that coaches, in this study, under varying environments and differing schools, pressured their female athletes to lose weight in addition to their male athletes gaining weight. It is clear that there is an underlying requirement for college cheerleaders to meet what has been socially demanded on their bodies. Males are supposed to be bigger than females. They should be able to ‘look’ strong and supportive for their female team members. Although a short, slim male would easily be able to lift the small, minutely-massive frame of their female partner with the same ease as their tall, muscular counterparts, these males are refused participation. Similarly, females are expected to be slim and small in stature. This enforces the ideal that femininity equates to slenderness. And although ‘strong’ male cheerleaders would be able to lift tall and heavy females, if matched appropriately according to weight and strength capabilities, these ‘unconventional’ body types like their short and skinny male counterparts are outcast from enjoying competition. Mind you, the restrictions, of individuals who do not meet the ‘ideal’ male and female body type, are in place as a means of enforcing and showing exactly what a man or a woman should look like and how a man and woman should interact with each other. Because cheerleading displays are usually in the view of large crowds, the societal ideologies surrounding the male and female body are dictated and reinforced to the audience. Like cheerleading, differences in expectations among gymnasts and figure skaters, both male and female, are similarly oppressive. In all cases, the male and female forms are required to act and look masculine and feminine as imposed by western beliefs.
Finally, a special group of individuals who deserve special investigation are female bodybuilders. Because this sport is based solely on aesthetic, individuals are judged dependant on components such as: muscular mass, muscular definition and body symmetry. Often to ‘make gains’ and succeed in these areas, athletes engage in abnormal fitness routines and diet regimens. In severe cases, bodybuilders turn to the aid of anabolic steroids and growth hormone to accelerate unnatural muscle hypertrophy and therefore, desired results. As stated earlier, in affluent western culture, muscularity is associated with masculinity. Where, then, do female bodybuilders place themselves along the continuum of the idealized gendered body? In this sport, according to Gohan, many female participants use bodybuilding as a tool of empowerment (Gohan, 2002, p.415). The reasoning behind this mentality is that by increasing mass and definition in their muscles, these females are breaking away from the social guidelines of how a female form should appear. Instead of the conventional “model” type, with their frail stature, minimal muscle and fat or the “athletic” type with their ‘toned’, undefined bodies, female bodybuilders shape and form their physical selves into what is usually considered masculine. In a sense, bodybuilding for these women “symbolically challenges the male monopoly of physicalities” (Gohan, 2002, p.418). In actuality, however, there is a strong contradiction for women who participate in bodybuilding competition. Because ‘pose-offs’ are a means of displaying the body to the judges, and what are predominately male audiences, the female bodybuilder’s form is objectified, rather than applauded for its capabilities and strength. The showcasing and display of the female form to a male audience, as is the case in female bodybuilding, swimsuit contests and beauty pageants, reasserts the gender order. Women are held subordinate to males and in effect, seek approval from men through the advertisement of their body. Also, female bodybuilders are pressured to wear make-up, style their hair, and perform their ‘pose-offs’ in a dance-like, ‘feminine’ manner. In this case, rather than breaking away from social constructs that dictate the shape and manner of the female form, women’s bodybuilding enforces it. It is clear, therefore, that bodybuilding for women is not counter-hegemonic. It, too, reasserts and defines social ideologies of what the physical form of men and women should look like.