Why Do We Love Muscle Girls?

What do you think it is that makes us attracted to girls with big muscles?  I honestly don't know why I love buff girls... I remember literally in kindergarten, fantasizing about women with big muscles.

Anybody have any insight to the psychology of it all?

It natural, law of nature. Men pick women who are strong, like women pick men who are strong. The buffed gals have good shape and look healthy.  Only those who are intimadated by them are anti-fbb.  I love them all and those who are trying!

It's a fetish. Just like it doesn't make sense for me that someone might like girls' feet, it might not make sense to lots of other people that I might like a girl with muscles.

Now, as to why fetishes arise, that's a different matter... also, some of us have it to a greater extent than others.

Yeah, I think Chainer said it best. One person's disgust could be another's delight. I've heard that there is a term called sthenolagnia that describes it best. Personally, I've found powerful women to be an attraction since I was a kid. I remember sneaking looks at WW and Supergirl comics and being totally enthralled that a female could have such strength that was usually only reserved for the male superheroes. As I got older I was quick to notice and admire the athletic girls in high school. When women entered the bodybuilding scene in the late seventies, pre-steroid era, I was totally hooked. When the steroids came into play, at first I was amazed and then a bit turned off as the women were becoming freakishly huge and losing their feminine aspects. I am pleased to see that they are in decline and being replaced with a more "natural" look as the supplements now available offer a much better alternative to the detriments of steroid use. I am also happy to see that more women are hitting the weights in a general trend to improve overall body conditioning. Vindicator also said it well. Muscles on a woman should be as natural as on a man. And nothing is finer than having a website like GWM to appreciate them. ;D

I am like you guys, I have always loved muscles on girls. In 3rd grade, I boxed a girl named Randus. She had shoulder length blond hair, muscular arms, ripped abs as most girls that age do and thick thighs and matching calves. She kicked my butt and was extremely strong which suprised me. I loved it! In 6th grade, it happened again at a city park I was visiting by a extremely musclular girl who wanted to fight me since I was a stranger.  I tried to avoid it since I had been brought up not to hit or fight girls.  We ended up fighting- which went to the ground quickly and was a wrestling match.  It was a hard fought fight and I was extremely turned on by it. She was total muscle and hard as a rock, it ended in a tie.  Then in junior high I dated a girl that loved to wrestle and we did all the time. Later I dated a extremebly buffed basketball player and again later dated an even more muscular tennis- basketball- softball-player and water skier-cheerleader who I married and had extremely hard wrestling matches for years, who has lifted weights for years and is stronger than hell!  I love the look, the attitude, the competition ----just everything about it.  I have met numerous buffed gals and liked them all!  Just somthing about the athletic types, just fun people.

Sorry to bump, but I thought I could add a different view to the topic (namely my own).

I've not always loved muscles. With me, it started some time ago not as a fetish, but as general admiration of biological organisms - anything from a plant up to the most complex of all: the human body. This must've started around the age of 15 or so. I remember sitting in the biology classroom staring at one of those posters indicating all muscles of the human body, just in awe of its complexity. It is such a wonderful, astonishing piece of nature. From the moment this dawned on me, I started paying attention to what can be seen of these inner workings from the outside, e.g. when you can see tendons and muscles move around. Obviously, on a built, muscular body we can even better observe how the system works: how all individual muscles flex and relax to together form smooth movement of the body, or just from a picture, see the muscular structure of the human body.
So combining this awe I have for the biological shape with my innate love for women and their form (I trust that this needs no further substantiation), well... Here I am. And that's the theoretical explanation I have for my fetish.

Sorry if this sounded overly lyrical, I'm not usually like that. :p

Here's my take on things - and I don't mean to be confrontational in the slightest - I'm just pushing you guys to consider opening your minds further by offering this food for thought:

Like gungadin, my interest in muscular girls also started when I was very young - around 1st grade (5-6yo).  Also, I agree that the argument CAN BE MADE (but is not necessarily the true explanation) that there is a natural selection type phenomenon happening.  I certainly think this argument appeals to the mind that wants to rationalize what society deems inappropriate or strange by saying: "Actually, I prefer superior women."  But, are they truly superior women, or did they just become obsessed with working out?  Did they take steroids in which case their physiques aren't even attributable to genetic/natural superiority?  Of course, some muscular girls truly do have incredible genes and natural talents and beauty.  But, based on natural selection in the modern era, wouldn't being the most intelligent be the best way to ensure survival?  Surely Bill Gate's has a better chance at surviving that Joe Shmoe living in poverty wherever?

And, finally, like Arcanus, I of course like to see innards (in the form of muscles) protruding through the the skin.  I'm going to challenge Arcanus to consider delving deeper, however, because I'm not buying the "I find complexity beautiful" thing very convincing.  I think you took an overly analytical approach at the explanation rather than delving further into yourself - but your analysis was superficial and in my humble opinion did not truly illuminate anything more than the presupposed fact that you indeed like muscles.  Pointing out that they are internal organs and complex belies the point of this discussion which is "WHY?"  I'm not just saying this to be argumentative, but Arc, you wouldn't be on this site if it was featuring girls with engorged spleens sticking out of their sides, or swollen lymph nodes popping out of their necks or wherever.  Am I right about that?  So, assuming you agree that this is something specific to seeing muscles (and perhaps veins) popping out, and not merely organs - you don't have a sexual interest in your anatomy diagrams - where does the appeal TRULY lie?

POWER.  All sexual desires and fetishes boil down to power.  People get off either feeling powerful themselves (hence guys wanting to thrust hard, be considered huge-cocked, and why ask they girls "Who's your Daddy?!" just to name a few simplistic examples.)  On the other hand, some people get off on feeling weak and powerless by exaggerating and admiring/worshipping etc. the power of their lover - in other words they get off on seeing someone else's power.  Pushed to the extreme, this becomes the BDSM fetish.  If you read through the stories posted on another section of this forum, you'll find that strength and power and domination are key themes which consistently recur in practically every single story.  Now, different people like different types of power:  Some like the idea of wrestling; some like the idea that a girl can BEAT them at running, cycling, jumping, sit-ups, lifting; some like gigantic girls who have larger and stronger muscles than they do; some even like monster-sized fantasy women crushing oppressive men's heads like so many ripened grapes.  Some people like it when a girl defecates on them (yuck!)...

OK - so point is, I think the majority of men who like muscular women like to see physical power and prowess in their partner.  The protruding, rock-hard, vein-laden muscles are merely the outwardly visual/aesthetic cues which signal this power and superiority (in terms of strength etc.).  If you want to get spiritual, you could also say that the outward appearance is a manifestation for how powerful the girl's spirit/determination/will/soul/whatever is - and that sort of personality power goes a long way too i sexual appeal.  Illustrating this point:  Imagine two otherwise equal girls one who wants to throw you down on the bed and rip your shirt off, and one who is timid and shy and rather boring - I'm guessing the one with the attitude and spunk appeals to 99% of guys.

On the other hand, we often like to see younger females with muscles.  This may be a hybrid situation of both types of appeal.  So, for example some teenaged girl - 18, let's say - has larger-than-average muscles - so she's worthy of worship and admiration and what I call "vicariously enjoying someone else's strength/power."  At the same time, we can imagine she's a virgin, with a very tight...umm "body" and her innocence and youth etc simultaneously would make us powerful, big-cocked sex gods - or something remotely like that - she'll call us "Daddy" so to speak.

So, finally getting to the point.  This all begs the question WHY WHY WHY?  Why muscle on girls?  Yeah we know it has something to do with power, but why is this particular BRAND of power in the object of our desire, appealing to us.  Yeah, the aesthetics appeal to us, the tactile hardness, the strength, but as discussed above:  that's describing the symptom and not the root CAUSE.

This is where it becomes less clear for me but here goes a list of attitudes/causes I've observed and reflected upon:

1.  Compensating - Person lacks feelings of power and strength in himself, is of slight build or overweight, average.  Of course he knows that in an ideal situation he himself would have a perfect toned muscular body, but is unable or unwilling to try to obtain it.  He can't fantasize about muscular guys of course - that would be (very) gay, and I suppose he could if he were gay, but that's another story - so in order to obtain his body without actually having to go to the gym, he feasts his eyes on images of girls with perfect bodies and thinks to himself "wow, that sure is perfect."

2.  Submissive (possibly a subset of compensation??) - So many people with an interest in muscular women also have an interest in BDSM, specifically in the submissive and masochistic aspects of it (the domination and sadism, obviously, is left for the women).  Again, the guy feels weak, average, normal, etc. and wants to experience strength vicariously through the woman whom he allows to torture him, defeat him in wrestling, etc.  Basically, he views the situation as though from outside his body as a fly on the wall.  He is gratified by knowing the woman's strength and superiority - he claims it for himself.  The physical pain and resistance he feels he merely attributes back to her as a signal for what power/pain she can inflict.  He, of course, probably couldn't, wouldn't, or shouldn't even try to hurt a fly in the real world.

3.  Non-vicarious (exceedingly rare, probably not anyone reading this) - This would be like a male bodybuilder* or male athlete or something along those lines.  For this guy, finding a truly superior chick is a necessity simply to find someone on his own level who can keep up and be an ideal perfect mate.  A really good example of this is Deione Sanders and his wife Pilar (she's 6' tall, a model, and quite naturally fit and buff - in fact I should post some pics of her perhaps) - he has it all, so to settle for anything less would just lead to the woman being perpetually insecure and a crappy relationship - it must be this way for him.  A guy like that does not need her to dominate him (she can't anyway), he doesn't need her to be muscular (has his own perfect body), and if anything, he's still the dominant one in the bedroom - generically speaking - or perhaps they take turns, who knows!

*Note:  body types refer to archetypical examples - it's possible to get into shape and retain the skinny weakling mentality, or to be obese (having once been muscular, say, after an injury) and retain the confident non-vicarious dominant type.

Hopefully this doesn't come off as harsh or anything, but I think that's pretty accurate and scarily honest (considering I'm one of you).  It sounds worse than it is - but basically you're either MOSTLY into being dominated, or MOSTLY into dominating, and I think for MOST guys with a muscular gal fetish, MOST of you lean towards the desire to be dominated and live vicariously (in this respect, at least) through the woman.  It's not as bad as it sounds because the alternative is to fetishize your own dominance which pushed to extreme can lead to rape fantasies and other crazy stuff.

I think it's simply the way we are hardwired.I guess it can be a learned response,but I know that I have found muscles on women sexually attractive for as long as I can remember and most of the guys I have seen comment on it at other sites are the same. Further, aside from it being out of the societal norms I don't think being attracted to female muscle is any different than being turned on by a big bust etc...so I reject the "fetish" label.

Hey MM, I appreciate you saying "MOST" and not "ALL"! ;D

In response to MuscleMaster:
I don't think your argument concerning organs etc. holds a lot of water. If I admire the bodywork of a train, and appreciate the workings of the engine inside, it does not mean I would also have to admire the sight of the engine itself. A well-developed musculature does two things to the body: it gives it (a) more pronounced shape(s), and in doing so/on top of that, emphasises certain aspects of the inner workings. I appreciate all living things (in a biological sense - I could name a few things I'd appreciate more if they were dead), but that does not mean I find them all attractive.
I said I love the female form. I don't think there's much else I can say about that. But muscles add to this form in several ways, including a way that with me, invokes admiration for the biological foundations of mankind and nature itself on top of regular sexual attraction.

As for power... I'm having trouble finding the relevance of it in my own situation. I realize that there's certainly something about a girl having the potential to exercise enormous amounts of force, but how exactly that plays a role in my attraction to them I cannot say. I am not interested in shows of strength or anything of the sort. Perhaps it's just the apparent paradox of a cute girl being so... "dangerous" at the same time? I really don't know. As far as I am consciously aware of it though, I can at least rule out the three causes you listed. There's something about power (as in strength), but I don't quite know what.

Furthermore I cannot deny the possibility that there's something "special" about liking something most people don't like. Of course this plays only a superficial role, and does not influence the attraction itself, but yeah... There's something special about being special, so to say.

I love moderately muscular girls because I am tired of both the morbidly obese and the morbidly skinny.   A little athleticism suggests strength, stamina, health and fertility.   

The Ancient Spartans had the right of it - if you want healthy children, you need healthy women.  And if you want healthy women, they need a dedicated exercise regimen. 

I don't know why I love muscular/strong girls, but it dates back to when I was in 6th grade. Back then I was attracted to a tom-boyish girl in my school who used to play with the boys. She was of average height and built but was ultra-energetic. I remember an instance when a few of the more muscular boys were arm-wrestling each other and she challenged them. She won against all the boys except one which was a tie. And I am sure she could have beat him also but she got tired after arm-wrestling so many boys. I was so impressed with her that I wanted her to see her flex and wanted to kiss her then and there, but I never had enough courage  :'(

I just wanted to tell my story. I feel odd because I hear my buddies and other guys talking about girls chests and butts all the time. It seems as if those are the two main points of attractiveness about women these days, other than their face. While I do get very turned on when I see a hot "36X42X36" girl I get much more turned on when I see a fit or muscular girl in person. This is a little embarrasing but at first I thought it meant I had gay tendencies. That's not at all true, I've learned. Anyway, I remember in late elementary school years when certain activities like climbing wall and stuff showed that the two strongest kids in my class were girls. In High school I had a close friend who played lacrosse and was pretty muscular for a high school girl. She was much bigger than me, and a little heavy set around the waist. The only thing that ever happened was she asked me to feel her calves one time. Those are two events that I can remember that hooked me on muscle girls. It's funny, I think feet worship and bondage and stuff like that is so gross. I assume there are guys that find girls with any muscle repulsive. I should have payed more attention in psychology.  :)

Me too - it's just a preference, for me anyway.  I love all women.

I don't.  I hate fatties.

Don't hate... it drags everyone down :-[ Whenever I see a "fat" woman, I like to think that there's a slender woman wanting to come out.

When I see a fat woman, I'd like to think there are several slender women trying to get out. 

Well played, sir.

Touche' ;)

cuz i dont like fat girls.

 :D :D that fat women thing is funny... >:D

in the summer of 1980, when i was 18 years old, a bunch of buddies and i went to Wildwood, NJ, for "senior week" right after graduating high school.  it just so happened they were holding a bodybuilding competition there including (for the first time) women.  my best friend and i didn't know about it and were just hanging out at the south end of the boardwalk near the convention center one morning scoping the babes on the beach...  he turned around and nudged me... and when i looked, i came face-to-face with a very sleek, very muscular, and incredibly beautiful Rachel McLish in a bikini.

she smiled at him and gave a little wave, then took off jogging up the boardwalk.  that is an image that has burned itself into my memory for all time.  the feminine panther-like grace, all sinuous and muscular power, as she loped away (at a speed i could not then, nor now, hope to duplicate) had a profound effect on my teenage libido as well as me tripping over my own tongue for an hour afterwards.  i was literally shocked into speechlessness.

since that day over 30 years ago, a woman with a similar physique ALWAYS catches my attention.  i admire accomplishment more than static imagery, hence my affinity for athletic women over supermodels.... and the primary reason why i've always passed over the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue until this past year, when they FINALLY started using athletes instead of supermodels.  being pretty is something a woman is born with or not.  becoming a star athlete - in fitness, bodybuilding, soccer, volleyball, whatever - requires effort and commitment.  THAT i can respect.

i'm STILL disappointed that ESPN no longer covers female fitness events to the extent that they once did.