Little big men : bodybuilding subculture and gender construction

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
Deutscher übersetzter Titel:Kleine, große Männer: Bodybuilding-Subkultur und Geschlechtskonstruktion
Autor:Klein, Alan M.
Veröffentlicht:New York (N.Y.): State University of New York Press (Verlag), 1993, IX, 326 S., Lit.
Format: Literatur (SPOLIT)
Publikationstyp: Monografie
Medienart: Gedruckte Ressource
Sprache:Englisch
ISBN:0791415600
Schriftenreihe:SUNY series on sport, culture, and social relations
Schlagworte:
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Erfassungsnummer:PU199912403503
Quelle:BISp

Abstract

A study of competitive bodybuilders on the West Coast, this book examines the bodybuilders' everyday activities, offering insightful descriptions of an important and understudied subculture that has risen to widespread popularity in today's mass culture. The author conducted his field study of bodybuilding in some of the world's best-known gyms. In studying the social and political relations of bodybuilding competitors, the author explores not only gym dynamics but also internal and external pressures bodybuilders face. Central to his examination is the critique of masculinity. Through his study of "hustling" among bodybuilders, the author is able to construct a social-psychological male configuration that includes narcissism, homophobia, hypermasculinity, and fascism. Because they exist as exaggerations, these bodybuilder traits come to represent one end of the continuum of modern masculinity, what the author terms comic-book masculinity. This study is a rare foray into the critique of contemporary American macho. Buchrücken