Sports from the past week.

Past sports article for the week of 12/5/05

High Ideals of Femininity Challenged in Contest
By, Grey Sports

A recent bodybuilding competition looks set to challenge the world with an all-new approach to the women’s section.
Traditionally bodybuilding for both genders has been oriented on muscle tone, definition and now small amount of presentation. The result is highly intriguing, though admittedly there are times it is difficult to tell the men from the women, no length of hair is not a means and no one, and I mean no one is willing to check the package.
With this in mind the organizers of the Fifth Seattle Body Sculptors Competition added a few new events to their line up. The intention was to add a little flavor to an event that is traditionally very dry and wound up with something that could revolutionize every aspect of body building.
There was little change to the men’s lineup, mostly flexing, posing, geek bending and tearing phonebooks. A new “talent” section felt poorly tacked on to the traditional events, though many competitors had clearly tried their best from the beginning, with a high degree of innovation present. All the same this felt very out of place.
Perhaps this is why the segment unfairly received little attention.
Balancing acts, real time computer construction, many times over a body builder challenged the concept of their kind being big and dumb.
The collaboration of three contestants to perform a section of “Waiting for Godot” while unlikely to win awards showed daring and courage.
Admittedly this makes the contest sound like a failure, however much more effort was put into the women’s events.
Not only did female body builders face off in the traditional areas, displaying truly impressive muscle mass in all the right areas, they also challenged perceptions in the centerpiece of the new events, the Most Feminine Body Builder contest.
Initially there was criticism that this was sexist and derogatory to an event that challenged female stereotypes. However these came largely from outside of the community, the majority of women body builders found the new event challenged the stereotype of their kind as overly masculine.
While there were a few disastrous French Maid outfits, and quite a few women who should not be allowed within spitting distance of pigtails, their own or anyone else’s, there was some genuine effort, thought his time it was recognized and rewarded.
There was flower arrangement, high-speed crochet and several dance performances that held a strange, powerful grace.
While one show of this sort is not enough to judge the effort it does bode well for any future innovations in this area. Even if the most feminine body builder judged on the day was a man.