Amazons International # 72 ************************** Contents: Picturing the Modern Amazon Daniel Thomas: Degradation of the Superheroines Date of publication: 17.04 1999 ********************************************************************* From: New Museum of Contemporary Art Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1999 15:05:37 -0400 Subject: Picturing the Modern Amazon Picturing the Modern Amazon Co-edited by Joanna Frueh, Laurie Fierstein, and Judith Stein This catalogue will unlock ideas about contemporary women's power by looking at the representation of the hypermuscular and physically strong woman and by exploring both their image and their reality. Using the bodybuilder as a prototype of the strong woman, the catalogue will present modern Amazons as a culture with a history, as a dazzling and transgressive current phenomenon, and as avatars of the future. Published in conjunction with the New Museum's exhibition in March 2000, this will be the first exploration of the bodybuilder as seen through archival and historical materials, comic books, and contemporary art. Description and Table of Contents Although academics and artists have produced much work dealing with the body -- especially the female body -- over the past twenty-five years, no substantive book has been published on female bodybuilders whose particular physicality resonates with the significance of large social issues such as female corporeality, female pleasure -- in appearance and in strength -- and the dynamics of bodily and social power. Today, as well as historically, the female form has been manufactured. A recent example in fashion was the waif, a construction of feminine frailty, vulnerability, and soulful childlikeness. Concurrent with recent manufacturing of female form is the development of a physique phenomenon as yet virtually unaddressed by artists and scholars. This phenomenon is the creation of the modern Amazon, the woman of muscle. In the past two and a half decades, politics, medicine, theoretical discourse, the law, art, and many other cultural arenas have called into question traditional definitions of women and power. Many of these questionings concern issues of gender, beauty, and women's agency. In light of this history and ongoing discussion, Picturing the Modern Amazon considers the questions below. Discussions of these questions will be developed in foundational topics and concepts necessary to an understanding of the modern Amazon: * How does the strong female relate to women's empowerment? Might a woman's muscle and the strength derived from that muscle be considered a metaphor for social, political, and economic empowerment? * Does the muscular woman merely mimic male muscularity in yet another cultural and psychological forfeiture of women's identity, or does the emergence of the modern Amazon signify more complex aspirations? * If some women create a muscular body in order to display it, to be looked at and appreciated, what does bodily exhibition imply in relation to women's general obsession with their bodies and to the (required) display of women's body in today's society? * How is bodybuilding related to a woman's bodily pleasure? * What is the relationship between narcissism and a muscular woman's attention to her body? * How does the representation of strong women combat stereotypes of women as victims? * What are the aesthetic and erotic nature of female muscle? Do the race and age of the hypermuscular woman affect their aesthetic and erotic nature? * Is woman's bodybuilding a feminist enterprise? Is the hypermuscular female a feminist body? * How are the ancient Amazons a heritage for the contemporary woman bodybuilder and strength athlete? Contents o Acknowledgements o Preface: The Body Artist Irving Lavin o Introduction The Modern Amazon Laurie Fierstein Object Lessons Judith Stein The Real Nude Joanna Frueh o Bring on the Amazons: An Evolutionary History Jan Todd o Women's Bodybuilding: A Contemporary History Steve Wennerstrom o Ghettos of Obscurity: Individual Sovereignty and the Struggle for Recognition in Female Bodybuilding Leslie Heywood o Toward a New Aesthetics of Body for the Modern Woman Al Thomas o Dream Girl Michael Cunningham o Hardcore: The Radical Self-Portraiture of Black Female Bodybuilders Carla Williams o My Muscles, Myself: Selected Autobiographical Writings Nathalie Gassel o Title to Come (essay on female muscle in comic books) Maxine Sheets-Johnstone o Interviews with Women Bodybuilders (Pudgy Stockton, Bev Francis, Lenda Murray, Andrulla Blanchette, René Toney) Joanna Frueh o Amazons in Fiction: A Bibliography Pierre Samuel Contributors Michael Cunningham is the author of the novels Flesh and Blood and A Home at the End of the World, both published by Farrar Straus & Giroux. Michael Cunningham's most recent work, The Hours (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) was the winner of the 1999 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. His work has appeared in the "New Yorker," the "Atlantic Monthly," and the "Paris Review." He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. Laurie Fierstein, a bodybuilder and social activist, is a central figure today in pioneering creative expression for and new discourse about muscular and physically powerful women. Fierstein produced the watershed performances of female bodybuilders and strength athletes, "Evolution F: A Surreal Spectacle of Female Muscle" (1995) and "Celebration of the Most Awesome Female Muscle in the World" (1993). Joanna Frueh is an art historian, art critic, and performance artist who has written extensively on the female body and contemporary art. Erotic Faculties (University of California Press, 1996) is her most recent book, and she is a co-editor of New Feminist Criticism: Art, Identity, Action. She is Professor of Art History at the University of Nevada, Reno. Nathalie Gassel is a Belgian writer who loves to train with weights, to display her muscles and her strength, and to wrestle men. Born in the late 1960's, she wanted to do all that boys her age were doing. Her daring spirit did not please her mother, who wanted her to become "feminine". At age 16, Gassel left her family and was attracted to Thai boxing. Then, at age 20, she discovered bodybuilding, and she developed sizeable muscles, a very hard body, and a strength in which she takes great pride. Gassel's essays describe her feelings both when she trains and exerts her strength. Leslie Heywood's most recent books are Bodymakers: A Cultural Anatomy of Women's Bodybuilding (Rutgers 1998) and Pretty Good for a Girl: A Sports Memoir (The Free Press/Simon & Schuster, 1998). She is currently competing in powerlifting, and teaches cultural studies at State University of New York, Binghamton. Irving Lavin has been Professor of the History of Art at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, since 1973. Best known for his many works on Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), his research and publications cover a wide range of subjects from Late Antiquity to Jackson Pollock. For many years he taught at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and has lectured at the Collège de France, the American Academy in Rome, the University of California, Berkeley, and Oxford University. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member and past-President of the US National Committee for the History of Art (CIHA), and a Foreign member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rome, and of the Accademia Clementina, Bologna. Among his books are Bernini and the Unity of the Visual Arts, New York and London, 1980, Past-Present. Essays on Historicism in Art from Donatello to Picasso, Berkeley, 1993, and Erwin Panofsky. Three Essays on Style, Cambridge, MA, and London, 1995. Pierre Samuel is a French mathematician who has written numerous books and papers in his field. He is now Professor Emeritus from the Université de Paris-Sud. He is fascinated by Amazons and female strength and muscles, and his extensive research in these areas was published in his book Amazones, Guerrières et Gaillardes (1975). Maxine Sheets-Johnstone is an independent scholar who teaches periodically in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Oregon. Her research and publications center on the evolutionary, psychological, ontogenetical, and philosophical dimensions of the tactile-kinesthetic body and on the significance of animate form -- in broad terms, on what it means to be the bodies we are. A phenomenological methodology informs much of her research and writing. She has published six books -- The Phenomenology of Dance, Illuminating Dance: Philosophical Investigations, The Roots of Thinking, Giving the Body Its Due, The Roots of Power: Animate Form and Gendered Bodies, and most recently, The Primacy of Movement. She has numerous articles as well in philosophy, art, and science journals. Her current research aims at completing what was promised in The Roots of Power: a further (and final) Roots book titled The Roots of Morality. This book continues to take the question of origins seriously. It attempts to elucidate the experiential basis of our moral sense and, in turn, to lay out a viable evolutionary and psychological ethics. Judith Stein is a curator and art critic. As curator of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts from 1981-1994, she organized over 90 exhibitions of contemporary art. Stein writes frequently for national art publications and was a contributor to The Power of Feminist Art (Abrams, 1994). She is president of the International Art Critics Association (AICA), American Section. Al Thomas is recognized as the foremost contemporary pioneer in heavy weight training for women. His contributions are analytic and literary as well as in the field of training techniques. Thomas began writing on women and muscle in 1952 as the editor of a Navy newspaper. Since then his controversial articles on muscular women and female bodybuilders and strength athletes -- as well as male strength athletes and physical culturists -- have been published nationally in numerous magazines including Ironman, Strength & Health, Muscular Development, Body and Power, Power and Fitness, The Sports Reporter, Pallas Journal, Women's Physique World, and Iron Game History. Thomas co-authored, with Steve Wennerstrom, the first book on women's bodybudilding, The Female Physique Athlete: A History to Date; 1977-1983. With a Ph.D. in American Literature, Thomas taught that subject and others for thirty-six years. At Kutztown University, from which he retired in 1992, he was also adviser to the school's powerlifting team, which won national collegiate championships in 1981 and 1982. Jan Todd, Ph.D., teaches in both Kinesiology and Health Education and American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of Physical Culture and the Body Beautiful: Purposive Exercise in the Lives of American Women (Mercer University Press, 1998), the founder and co-editor of Iron Game History: the Journal of Physical Culture, and has published numerous articles on the history of women and exercise. With her husband, Terry Todd, Jan also serves as the co-curator of the Todd-McLean Collection, the largest archive in the world in the field of physical fitness, strength training and bodybuilding. Todd's interest in the academic study of strength and exercise grew from her personal involvement in the sport of powerlifting. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Todd was considered by both Sports Illustrated and the Guinness Book of Records to be the "strongest woman in the world." Steve Wennerstrom is editor of Women's Physique World magazine and editor-at-large for FLEX magazine. In addition to his editorial duties, he is the official historian on women in bodybuilding for the International Federation of Bodybuilding (IFBB). Considered without rival in his area of expertise, Wennerstrom possesses an encyclopedic knowledge about the competitive years of women's bodybuilding. Carla Williams is a photographer and writer. She is co-author of "Look at 'Miss Thing'": The Black Female Body in Photography, 1839 to the Present (forthcoming, 1998). Her publications include "Naked, Neuter, or Noble: Extremes of the Black Female Body and the Problem of Photographic History" in The Black Female Body in American Culture (forthcoming, 1998). New Museum of Contemporary Art 583 Broadway New York, New York 10012 www.newmuseum.org P: 212-219-1222 F: 212-431-5328 [Note: This sounds terrific, doesn't it? So, who'd like to join an Amazons International gathering in New York during the time of the exhibition? -- Editor] ********************************************************************* Date: Fri, 27 Nov 1998 10:21:12 PST From: Daniel Thomas Subject: Re: The Degradation of the Superheroines in Comics After reading Thomas's comments about Artemis in AI # 70, I got to thinking, just what makes a superheroine an Amazon in the first place? There are several very powerful characters whom I don't consider to be Amazons. First and foremost is Meggan of Marvel Comics. Meggan is a changeling, a faerie born to human parents. Originally, she was covered in fur, which led her parents to abandon her. She was a monster, roaming the British countryside until a battle with England's premier super hero, Captain Britain and his sister, Psylocke, showed her that normal looking people don't have to be cruel to her. She discovered her other abilities: Flight, shape-shifting, and Empathy, and became a beautiful elfen creature who fell madly in love with Captain (Brian Braddock) Britain. Later, she discovered that she was also capable of using her empathy offensively, controlling the elemental forces of nature, and projecting blasts of mystical force. My favorite Meggan moment ever was in Excalibur 56, where she (and the rest of Excalibur) were prisoners of Brian and Betsy (Psylocke) Braddock's insane brother Jamie (who had the power to warp organic matter into whatever form he chose) and an alternate dimensional version of Brian's old flame (Excalibur was one of the most confusing comic books of all time, but it was also the most fun). Meggan's words to Jamie are a perfect example of Amazon virtue: Meggan: "I am a shape-changer. The threads of order cannot bind me. I was drugged before, so my power made me become what you desired -- Brian says I'm 'Empathic' -- But NOW my mind is clear and free. You cannot affect me." Jamie: "NO! This is MY dream! I am in control, you stupid bimbo!" Meggan: "You think me stupid because I cannot read or understand clever words. But life is bigger than words. Words are just small noises that hide the truth. I see more than you could know. (Meggan backfists Jamie.) You have the power to return my friends to normal. This is not a dream. It is real. As real as the pain (punches Jamie again). I will hurt you (and again) until you return my friends (and again) to their true forms. (Meggan is standing over the broken and bruised Jamie:) I take no joy in causing you pain. But you are an evil man, and pain is all you understand." Now this is an Amazon, right? I don't think so. Meggan has her moments, such as the above. Unfortunately, she has other moments, ones which occur far more frequently. The fact that for most of her superheroic career, she fought solely for Brian, and that when she believed Brian to be dead, she went catatonic, and then insane. Despite his frequent infidelity, alcoholism and callous, uncaring actions towards her, when she discovered that her "Dead" lover was alive and attempting to return to her, she nearly killed her teammate Rachel "Phoenix" Summers (who had always been far more caring towards her than Brian had) in order to force her to bring Brian back. (Phoenix, incidentally, died as a result of rescuing Brian and neither CB or Meggan expressed any remorse about it.) Then, after Brian left her, Meggan began forming a relationship with another teammate, Colossus. After several months together, Brian returned and begged Meggan to marry him, which she accepted, leaving Colossus (who had also been much more caring towards her than Brian). Other characters too, had attempted to intervene for Meggan. Nightcrawler grew outraged by Captain Britain's treatment of Meggan, and attempted to form a relationship with her, only to be beaten senseless by Brian. So here we have this character with enormous potential, incredible power, and an abusive relationship. Truly degrading of a super- heroine. Other characters, such as the Scarlet Witch, are in similar situations. Other problems with female characterizations: we'll use Wonder Girl of DC Comics, and Jubilee and Deathcry of Marvel Comics as examples. These are teenaged characters, all of whom are (while fun) endlessly irritating. Sadly, they are the template for teenaged female characters. They're giggly, extremely giggly. I've never known a woman so bubbly. Jubilee with crack bubblegum, rollerblades through houses and goes out of her way to be irritating. Wondergirl is so hyperactive that other characters have to resist the urge to beat her into pulp. She's so obsessed with being like Wonder Woman (not a bad thing, by any means) that she ignores things that would be important in her own life. Deathcry started out fine, being tough, competent, strong, fierce, until she let down her facade and became Jubilee. Still we have characters who the artists got right. Magdelene of the Mighty Avengers and Barda of the Justice League. These women fight physically and *Gasp* wear effective ARMOR!!!! Magdelene's resembles the typical look of science fiction/role playing game battle suit, except in these mediums, it's usually worn by a male (the female's armor designer feels that the nipple is the most vulnerable part of the body, the rest is a moot point and can be exposed). Barda, although she has a cape, which is something I never understood about super heroes, wears a medieval type of garment, with a breastplate, shoulder pads, gauntlets, and a -- Lord help us all -- HELMET that COVERS HER HAIR!! (What's a superheroine without long, flowing hair that somehow never manages to get grabbed?). Unfortunately, these wonderful characters are given absolutely no characterization. They're just there. Finally, there are female characters that I like. Unfortunately, they fall into my aforementioned (in AI # 70) tragic character archetype. Marrow of the X-Men and Kymaera of the New Warriors. Kymaera (also known as Namorita or Nita for short) is the cousin of the more famous Namor -- the Sub Mariner and a Princess of Atlantis. Originally, Nita was tall, strong, blonde with pointed ears and little wings on her ankles. She also wore a green bathing suit (this I did not object to, as Namor wears a green speedo. If both genders feel no need to cover their bodies, I don't have a problem with women being scantily clad. But if Superman is covered from head to toe, I object to Wonder Woman's bathing suit and Supergirl's mini-skirt). Nita's character went through a problem period, and the end result was a terrible physical mutation. Her skin turned blue, her eyes black, she had four fingers on each hand instead of five. the fingers became webbed claws, and little dorsal fins grew from her calves. After some horrible depression, Nita determined to return to the surface world and resume her role as a superheroine. The character grew once she mutated! She became a full person! How wonderfully different in comics! She had a challenge and she didn't quit! Marrow, on the other hand, is just learning to allow people into her life. Her power is well...disgusting. In addition to superior strength and fighting ability, Marrow also grows bones at an alarming rate. These are diamond hard and she can rip them out without pain and use them as clubs, knives or projectile weapons. But since all the other X-Men are so beautiful, she feels left out and hurt by their presence. Marrow collects artwork and photographs of beautiful things, and the beginnings of a relationship with Colossus (yeah, Meggan's old boytoy) are being built. We can always hope. Before I go, Artemis has an acceptable outfit. Jeans with a haltertop and a leather jacket. It's so much nicer than the thong. She also chopped off her hair (not all the way, but she's no longer in danger of tripping over it) Daniel Thomas http://members.tripod.com/~FirestarArtemis/index.html "...But I do not enjoy the killing... I AM NOT VIOLENT!! And I will put an arrow through the brains of anyone who says I am!!!" -- Artemis (Artemis Requiem #4-DC) "Dress to kill. Not to just maim." --Elvira ***************************************************************** * Amazons International * * Thomas Gramstad, editor: thomasg@ifi.uio.no * * Administravia/Listserver: amazons-request@ifi.uio.no * * Submissions: amazons@math.uio.no * * http://www.math.uio.no/~thomas/lists/amazons.html * * * * The Amazon Connection -- Links to Amazon web sites: * * http://www.math.uio.no/~thomas/lists/amazon-links.html * ***************************************************************** "A Hard Woman is Good to Find" -- The Valkyries