Can you believe 2014 is finally upon us? I could have sworn the world was supposed to end on Dec. 21, 2012. But that’s old news.
Let’s discuss what happened in 2013 for a moment. I don’t know about the rest of you, but 2013 was a groundbreaking year for me as a female muscle fan.
No, my female muscle fandom didn’t start in 2013 (nor did this blog), but I did experience a whole bunch of “firsts” during the past calendar year that truly solidified my identity as a female musclehead.
The biggest accomplishment was scheduling and experiencing my first ever muscle worship session with a real living, breathing female bodybuilder. You can read all about my exploits in previous blog posts. Since meeting “GFBB” (as I’ve come to call her for privacy reasons), I’ve actually had a couple of other muscle worship sessions with two very attractive and strong women. One was local and the other travelled here from her home in Europe.
Let me tell you. All three experiences taught me a lot about life, sexuality and my own personal desires that I never thought I’d ever explore this time last year. If you asked me in December 2012 that I would – in a few short months – be able to kiss, fondle and lick the muscles of three gorgeous, strong women…I’d call you insane.
But insane you would be! I did do these things and would enthusiastically do them again if the opportunity ever came up.
Moving on toward 2014, late December is around the time we all start to contemplate our New Year’s Resolutions. I’ve never really been one for making official resolutions, but I suppose it’s better late than never. As female muscle fans from all corners of the world, we should collectively make a joint New Year’s Resolution that could very well benefit us all.
We should all make a concerted effort to support female muscle as much as we possibly can in 2014.
I don’t need to explain in great detail how marginalized the business of female bodybuilding has become in recent years. Everyone here should be at least somewhat familiar with what’s going on right now. Legitimate female bodybuilders are getting pushed further and further away from the mainstream. The sport is going more towards “figure” and “fitness” on the female side and farther away from celebrating the achievements of those who have gained larger muscle mass.
Too bulky? Sorry, but we don’t want you. Go somewhere else. People don’t want to see that anymore. The Average Joe and Jane don’t want to see gross, protruding veins coming out of a female body. That’s…just plain nasty.
Obviously, not too many of us agree with these sentiments. We like our ladies bulky and beautiful. They’re not gross. They’re strong, confident and hardworking. Some of us guys like that.
This is why I believe we (the first-person plural “we,” which includes myself) need to show stronger support for the sport of female bodybuilding in 2014 and beyond. If industry insiders calculate that female bodybuilding isn’t lucrative anymore, then we need to respond with our wallets, mouse clicks and do whatever we can to demonstrate that male interest in the sport truly exists.
Money talks. Loudly. So does CTR (click-through rate), page views, search engine strength and other analytics that corporate advertisers love.
This means buying tickets to bodybuilding shows and enthusiastically watching the “big girls” compete. This means not flaking out after you set up a muscle worship session with a travelling FBB (this happens so often that many FBBs refuse to travel to certain cities. Unfortunately for me, Seattle is starting to become one of them). This means spreading the love for female muscle across the blogosphere, social media and Internet forums whenever possible. This means buying products endorsed by FBBs. This means watching movies, TV shows and documentaries that features strong women as often as you can.
You get the idea. Prove to society that we care. Prove to the decision-makers (who also carry the power of the purse) that there is a viable market for female muscle out there. We don’t want women who are proud of their hard-earned bulk force themselves to “downsize” because that’s where the money is going. We want female muscle to be profitable. I believe we have a fiduciary responsibility to openly support the very Goddesses we so much adore.
This includes me. This includes you. This includes all of us. We share this responsibility. Realistically, female muscle will never become mainstream. Shannon Courtney will never reach the level of popularity of Jennifer Lawrence (despite the fact they are roughly the same age, are both beautiful and have two first names in their names). Every little bit helps.
To be fair, look at how quickly Ronda Rousey and Lolo Jones became household names. They’re not bulky by any stretch of the imagination, but they’re without a doubt more muscularly defined than Kristen Stewart, for example. If they can capture our national attention, why couldn’t Kris Murrell or Angela Segovia?
I hope 2014 is an awesome year for all of you. So far, so good for me! 2014 probably won’t be the Year of Female Muscle, but we can all do our part to ensure 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 are even better than the year before it.
Here’s to our shared New Year’s Resolution!
(Down an imaginary shot of Scotch whiskey)
To Female Muscle! To Strong Women! To Gorgeous Muscle Goddesses! Hurrah!
(Gulp!)
The Adventures of Ryan Takahashi 
May U write something about Deidre Pagnanelli?,and new photos!!!Please, I´m a big fan of her.
Wow! It never ceases to amaze me Ryan how you hit the nail on the head. Trying to throttle back is not easy for many of us. The deeper I go the more outrageous the fantasy becomes as if there is no end to just how far female bodybuilding can go (MY OPINION).
If there is to be a revival in the ranks of those who celebrate both their strength and their muscle it will come from them directly not the fan base and obviously not the sponsors. I’m thinking the powers that control are not about to give up their power to up grade female bodybuilding, because a few could actually be threatening to the whole. The excuse is always the same, there is no money in the sport as it is. Maybe bodybuilding isn’t a sport after all, like soccer or feminine boxing where outcomes are determined by the elite when there is no clear winner? Yet bodybuilding both male and female are judged by a panel of judges who ultimately shape their opinion based on sponsorships. If the sponsor wants something more palatable then tone it down so main stream will buy their products. The problem as I’m now beginning to see it, if bodybuilders both men and women are going to move forward they are either going to toe the line or turn to the fringe, guys like us to wave the banner of bigger, stronger, more muscular is better.
Can that happen? I don’t think so, most admirers are afraid to come out openly and freely admit female bodybuilding is a “turn on”. If they won’t do it, then who? I think in the end the female bodybuilders themselves must make the stand. Judges don’t listen to the audience the competitors might but at the end of the day, it’s always about sponsorship and goody goody that takes home the Grand Prize.
The Women need to set up their own division, separate from the Men’s division beginning at the local, to national to international, it’s a progression, just like any business grows. That or compete head to head with the men on the men’s level, AINT GONNA HAPPEN!
Personally I think there are women who could compete with men in an open category but would the men allow it? NEVER! For obvious reasons. Agree or disagree that’s how I’m seeing it. They, the powers in control have no idea how big this hidden supply of fans really are, it’s sort of like non documented citizens, how many are there if there is no documentation? We don’t know much actually. If I had my way female bodybuilding would be all about bigger most muscular and the strongest regardless of male or female. What female bodybuilding needs is an Arnold type female representative who can stop the conversation and just let it be what it is.
Some very interesting points there, Garrett, in response to Ryan’s NY article. You appear more knowledgeable than I in the way the competitive female bodybuilding world works and I agree further leadership from female bodybuilders themselves would be good. However, I disagree with your lack of faith in ‘us’ doing anything about the female bodybuilding world.
The issue that Ryan seems to address is to provide further support for the female bodybuilding world as a whole (the industry, which includes the competitions as only a part of the whole). You say that men who think muscular women is a ‘turn on’ would be ashamed to speak out and assert their passion. I completely understand where you’re coming from (indeed I refer to this point in my reply to Ryan’s article at: https://ryantakahashi.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-muscle-worship-but-were-afraid-to-ask/#comments). But as I also mention in my elongated comment, the problem for female bodybuilders is society’s conditioned understanding of ‘what is beautiful’. People are conditioned to find certain women attractive (take Beyonce, Jennifer Aniston, JLO, Nicole Scherzinger for examples). But this social norm can change. More potently, it must change if ‘we’, the muscle admirers, and ‘they’, the female bodybuilders or bodybuilders-to-be, are to feel more comfortable in asserting our/themselves. I believe it may well be the case that female bodybuilders may find it just as difficult as us to be that ‘Arnold figure’ who in a superhero-like way restores the female bodybuilding world to it’s deserved value.
How do ‘we’ change the female bodybuilding way then? Simple, by speaking about it. If we, as a community consisting of female bodybuilders and female muscle admirers alike, speak more openly about our interests here, then, people and society as a whole will be more aware and in an easier position to reconsider social norms. I’m not saying that we should all exclaim our love for female muscle from the rooftops, but perhaps next time you’re discussing your favourite type of girl to your friend down the pub (or bar as I suppose are more common in the US), maybe just say how you like your women athletic and a bit bigger than your average woman. What’s the harm in that? Furthermore, if we feel as a community that we are doing this together, then we have strength in numbers and will have more impact.
I turned 25 last week. On the day before my birthday, I treated myself to my first ever female muscle worship session. Before I headed home I mulled over how amazing it was over a few drinks. Taking advantage of my inebriation when I got home, I sat my mum down and told her that I have a love of highly muscular women (a secret I had held for at least 13 years). She wasn’t shocked or disappointed. She even thought it was good and that I should not feel bad for telling people. She’s right, I need to keep the ball rolling. Will you or anyone else care to join me?