Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #520729 in Books
• Published on: 1993-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 326 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Sociologist/anthropologist Klein ( Sugarball: The American Game, The Dominican Dream ) spent seven years hanging out at four elite West Coast bodybuilding gyms, and his observations of this strange, hyper-masculine subculture, though sometimes shackled by academic jargon, are telling. He tracks bodybuilding's roots in Charles Atlas ads and the film Pumping Iron , then offers a taxonomy of gym characters, from onlookers to professional bodybuilders. He savvily analyzes "the political economy of bodybuilding," describing how a few entrepreneurs and promoters control the sport, and how competitors find jobs--as bouncers, bodyguards and the like--at which they can put their muscle to use. Klein finds much irony in the view that one's body is entirely in one's control, since genetics affect potential, and steroids destroy more than they add. Moreover, though bodybuilding is enshrined in the minds of its practitioners as heterosexual, large numbers of competitors survive by homosexual hustling. In contrast to male bodybuilders, female ones see the sport more as a means than as an end in itself; and many male bodybuilders, Klein suggests, find support for misogyny and homophobia in their barbell world.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Readable format, intriguing study.
Insightful examination of an extreme manifestation of societal tendency, and how this reflects on gender construction in our society as a whole.
I purchased this book for use as one of the (many!) references for my thesis (on gender role traits and food selection.)
While probably not for a lay audience, this book is written in a very easy-to-read style for a study. Although I have to do hours and hours of reading every single day, I still found that this book held my interest.

Big Words
I found this book to be interesting and true when it comes to bodybuilding. It is not always an easy read. It may be better suited for someone in the industry or at least an anthropologist