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I think it wasn't as polarizing as it ended up being in the 90's and early 2000's. Women were less roided out, and so their level of muscularity wasn't such a far stretch from what the average person was used to seeing. The people that were into it liked it obviously, and the people that weren't were pretty much indifferent so they had no reason to vocalize any dislike for it, or bully those who did like it. I think the culture was in the right place and right time to allow for muscular women to gain popularity too, as we saw in several films from the 80's. Again, I think attitudes shifted once the roided look took over and the negative opinions people started to have became more prevalent.
It was huge in 1980 when Lisa Lyon started to appear on TV talkshows and then in Playboy:
Look at this on eBay:
VINTAGE PLAYBOY MAGAZINE OCTOBER 1980 LISA LYON, MARDI JACQUET W/ BAG & BOARD
I recently watched the 1986 Ms Olympia that took place at the Felt Forum, and I was shocked by how many people were in the audience. Contrary to how women's bodybuilding seems to be viewed now, it seemed to be a big deal back in the day. For anyone that grew up in the 80s, was that true? What did people think of women's bodybuilding and ladies like Cory Everson and Rachel McLish?
Female bodybuilders suddenly started getting mainstream media attention right around 1980, and for me it was as if flying saucers had landed — I mean it was beyond my wildest dreams. By the mid-1980s college girls were hitting the weight rooms like crazy. At the University of North Carolina, for example, there was a very well-organized — and very well attended — bodybuilding contest for female students in 1985. Too good to be true! Rachel was one of my very favorites back then — I always felt there was something boring/unsexy about Cory.
Most important in 1985: The release of the movie Pumping Iron II — Rachel vs. the impossibly muscular Bev Francis. The dam had been broken! Just about any muscle girl fantasy was now mainstream, or close. Time magazine started doing articles — with lots of color photos — about Rachel and Bev and co.! Unbelievable! Do you understand that getting into Time magazine back in 1985 was the biggest media deal possible?
And things got only better from there …
Another wonderful blast from the past: the brilliant 1990 novel Body — about an imagined Rachel vs. Lenda showdown — by the late Harry Crews:
Look at this on eBay: Signed 1st paperback edition BODY by HARRY CREWS (1992, Paperback)very good
I think it wasn't as polarizing as it ended up being in the 90's and early 2000's. Women were less roided out, and so their level of muscularity wasn't such a far stretch from what the average person was used to seeing. The people that were into it liked it obviously, and the people that weren't were pretty much indifferent so they had no reason to vocalize any dislike for it, or bully those who did like it. I think the culture was in the right place and right time to allow for muscular women to gain popularity too, as we saw in several films from the 80's. Again, I think attitudes shifted once the roided look took over and the negative opinions people started to have became more prevalent.
I've been into athletic women and bodybuilding since the 1970s and think this is very accurate cgsweat. Completely agree.
I recently watched the 1986 Ms Olympia that took place at the Felt Forum, and I was shocked by how many people were in the audience. Contrary to how women's bodybuilding seems to be viewed now, it seemed to be a big deal back in the day. For anyone that grew up in the 80s, was that true? What did people think of women's bodybuilding and ladies like Cory Everson and Rachel McLish?