In 1985, filmmakers George Butler and Charles Gaines produced Pumping Iron II: The Women. It followed women bodybuilders at a bodybuilding show in Las Vegas during 1983, but mainly focused on two vastly different competitors to explore the expressions and understandings of femininity in the masculine-coded sport. Rachel McLish, the reigning Ms. Olympia champion, performed a socially accepted version of bodily femininity in the film; she was very lightly muscled with some body fat that contoured her body. On the other end of the film’s gender continuum was Bev Francis, a powerlifter-turned-bodybuilder who carried more muscle mass than female bodybuilding had ever seen.
Gender subversion was embodied in Bev Francis. Francis was far more muscular than the other competitors, and the film used her subversive body to drive the plot forward. Conversations between competitors, judges, and onlookers were often in reference to Francis’ body; it is unlikely that femininity would have been as intensely debated had Francis not been a competitor. She challenged women’s bodybuilding so much so that the judges and officials called an emergency meeting to discuss the competition’s ruleset after seeing Francis’ body.
By Owen Griffiths and Andrew Nurse Another baseball season upon us so it seems like a good time to revisit some of the best baseball books ever written. No sport is as connected to — or immersed in — history as baseball and no sport can boast as powerful a lineup of literary figures. From Ring Lardner, Roger Angell, and… Read more »
By Zahra McDoom Ball is never just ball, it tells the story of anti-black racism, defiance and community. The photograph above is significant. This 1920s image is the only known picture of a Black women’s softball team in Ontario.[1] Showing London’s Elite team, several of these women, played important roles in shaping Ontario’s Black histories over the course of the… Read more »
Jon Benson From its early embrace as a recreational activity upon its arrival in the 1800s to hosting a world champion at a race downtown in the 1990s to a community of folks working diligently to build up and maintain an infrastructure making commuting here safe and enjoyable for everyone year-round, Winnipeg has a long history with the bicycle. But… Read more »
by Roger P Nason In the 1890s, efforts by women to bring equality into Maritime sporting activities were met with mixed results. Most noticeable was the emergence of ladies’ hockey in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Sheldon Gillis at Saint Mary’s University surveys the state of hockey within women’s sporting activities in his 1994 Master’s thesis with sources almost entirely focused on… Read more »
