Muscle Mania
by Claire Zulkey

Apparently, the female body is running out of parts to be coveted. Women throughout the country are obsessing about a certain element of their body, and it's not their face, their hair, their breasts or even their butt.

We're talking muscles.

It may have all started back in 1991, with Linda Hamilton fiercely performing pull-up after pull-up in "Terminator 2". Audiences were wowed by this sweaty, rock-hard, yet attractive female. At the time, it didn't seem that many women ran out and bought themselves chin-up bars, but it set a precedent: Muscles on women can be sexy.

In just the last few years, however, female muscles have become de rigueur. In 1997, during my freshman year of college, pumping big-time iron wasn't the thing to do; girls worked out, maybe a little 'body sculpting,' but that was it. Sophomore year, everybody seemed to be reading "Self." Junior year it was Tae-Bo. Suddenly, in fall of 2000, I had a roommate who took Hydroxy-Cut, spent two hours a day at the gym and lamented that she only had a visible four-pack gripping her abdominal muscles, instead of the desired full six. And she was far from alone; the gym was packed with weight-lifter women.

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And, suddenly, the athletic female is everywhere. Extreme sports shows are no longer the province of crazy he-men. Where Hollywood used to mock, now it praises, putting muscular actresses like Angelina Jolie and Sarah Michelle Gellar on a pedastal. We've got Charlie's Angels kicking ass, Lara Croft gunning people down and three female fighters in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." And, happily, our culture is slowly beginning to appreciate female athletes. They are starting to get endorsement deals, their controversies and tantrums are starting to get coverage, and some soccer and basketball players are actually household names. It's a part of our latest round of worship for the young and strong, only this time it's an equal-opportunity cult.

However, is this muscular trend in gear because women are encouraged to become more physical, or is it the more shallow end, where athletic women are praised simply because their physical style is what's in? If the focus on muscles goes away, will the focus on female athletes fade as well?

Unfortunately, in our society, sheer female physical strength is typically not its own reward. It is no coincidence that the majority of female athletes who receive press coverage are also easy on the eyes, posing nearly-nude in the pages of men's magazines. There are others out there besides Mia Hamm, Anna Kournikova and Marion Jones.

In Newsday, Barbara Walder points out that female athletes are not analyzed the way men are, writing that, "the formula that has long guided the coverage of women in sports is still firmly in place today: Sensationalize and patronize, underestimate and overpraise, and then suspend all standards."

As the trend spreads, it mixes with its forebearers to create a double standard. Women are encouraged by magazines and television to build strong, showy, capable muscles, but they are also expected to maintain a slim waist, small yet shapely behind, generous breasts and on top of all that, practically rid themselves of hair everywhere on their body, except, of course, on their head, where it should grow as thick and lustrous as possible.

This female body image, while providing a strong statement, is also that of a mutant: male muscles, female form, completely lacking natural, breeding-friendly female fat.

It is ironic that many women may be eyeing the new ideal, thinking to themselves, "I'm going to beat the popular perceptions of women and get strong!"; and it's this thinking that ensures they're still prisoners of trendy ideals. "Like many chronic dieters and new yoga enthusiasts, a good deal of the new muscle-conscious women seem to be doomed to picking up the habit only for as long as the trend is in style."

Being healthy and, in whatever way it is defined, attractive, should be for one's own benefit; it should not be according to society's demands. It will be interesting to see what female body images will be revered in the future. Perhaps Rosie the Riveter, in all her Michelangelo mannish-glory, will come back en vogue. We'll be finding all the supermodels drinking egg whites and doing bench presses.