IMAGES OF JOSEPHINE - Card #70 - PROPHETIC BIRD - Julie Bell - 1997

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Seller: jamesmacintyre51 ✉️ (6,499) 100%, Location: Hexham, GB, Ships to: WORLDWIDE, Item: 325833055527 IMAGES OF JOSEPHINE - Card #70 - PROPHETIC BIRD - Julie Bell - 1997.

IMAGES OF JOSEPHINE (MAISONET) by Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell - Individual Card from the base set of 72 cards issued by Comic Images in 1997

Julie Bell (born October 21, 1958) is an American artist, illustrator, photographer and bodybuilder. She is an award winning fantasy artist and a wildlife painter. She is the main representative of the so called heroic fantasy and fantastic realism genres. Julie Bell has won two Chelsea Awards and was the designer of the popular and award-winning Dragons of Destiny series. She also has won numerous first place awards in the Art Renewal Center’s International Salon and has been named as a Living Master. Julie Bell married scientist and writer Donald E. Palumbo. During this marriage she gave birth to two sons, Anthony and David Palumbo, who subsequently also became professional artists. Later, she married Boris Vallejo.

Early life

Julie Bell was born 1958 in Beaumont, Texas. She attended six schools studying painting, drawing and photography. Her idols in the world of painting was Peter Paul Rubens, Michelangelo Buonarroti and Norman Rockwell. In her youth she was fond of bodybuilding. She took part in various competitions and received national recognition, which later influence her to portray beautiful and muscular women. She applies the same discipline and intensity to her art career. Her knowledge of anatomy has allowed her to imbue her figures of humans and animals with grace and strength. At the heart of her work is a deep curiosity, honor, and respect for the world of emotions. In the 1980's, Julie Bell married a scientist and writer Donald E. Palumbo. During this marriage she gave birth to two sons, Anthony and David Palumbo, who subsequently also became professional artists. The artist’s life was forever changed when, in 1989, she met Boris Vallejo, who later she married. Currently they both collaborate on projects, produce paintings for the highly anticipated Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell Fantasy Calendar published by Workman.

Career

Julie has also turned her attention to painting wildlife, earning a place among the top wildlife and western painters, winning awards and showing her work in exhibits throughout the USA and Europe. In the 2014 Art Renewal Center’s International Salon, she won seven awards and two purchase awards, including 1st and 3rd in the Animal Category and 1st place in the Imaginative Realism Category. In November of 2015, she was awarded the Mountain Oyster Club’s Denise McCalla Memorial Top Choice Award. She was named a Living Master by the Art Renewal Center and was recently invited to show her equine paintings at the American Academy of Equine Arts Invitational Salon in conjunction with the Kentucky Derby.

“When I’m painting animals with all their beauty and wild nature, I experience the kind of at-one-with-the-universe feeling described by people who meditate. It’s both soothing and exciting, the way nature itself is. I know without a doubt that this is what I was meant to do.”

Julie has made a large contribution to the Fantasy and Science Fiction genre and her artwork has appeared on hundreds of book covers, comic books, trading cards, and various collectibles. Her work can be seen worldwide in major advertising campaigns, album covers, posters, and collectibles of all kinds.

Julie shares her life and her studio in Pennsylvania with her husband, Boris Vallejo.

Julie Bell has painted the cover illustrations of more than 100 fantasy and science fiction books and magazines since 1990, including more than 90 in the 20 years to 2009. In the early 1990s, she illustrated painted covers for video games as well as best-selling trading cards for the superheroes of Marvel and DC. A cover art image from the Sega Game Gear video game Ax Battler: A Legend of Golden Axe would depict the semi-barbaric world that the game took place in; thus being entitled Savage Land by Bell herself. She designed the award-winning Dragons of Destiny sculpture series, Mistress of the Dragon's Realm dagger series, as well as the Temptation Rides sculpture series produced by The Franklin Mint.

She designed the cover art for Meat Loaf's albums Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose and its first single "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", the album Hang Cool Teddy Bear , and the album "Crossroads".

Julie sometimes collaborates on art with her husband, Boris Vallejo, and they have done many paintings for worldwide advertising campaigns such as Nike, Inc., Coca-Cola and Toyota.

In 2007, Bell and Vallejo illustrated the poster for Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters .

A yearly calendar of 13 paintings by Bell and Vallejo is produced by Workman Publishing.

Her personal fine art work would best be defined in the realms of contemporary imaginative realism, equine, and wildlife art.

Style "I had just started my career as an illustrator and I told them that "I want to be a Heavy Metal-ballerina-cowgirl". I think the spirit of these different parts of myself has always been at the core of my work. I just love that combination of gracefulness and badass, completely in tune with nature. So I don't see myself moving away from fantasy because the fantasy world is so open and allows for experiment."

Honors

Bell's work has won many awards including:

  • Art Renewal Center, Multiple 1st place awards & honorable mentions.

  • NJEAA, Art of the Horse, Best In Show.

  • Mountain Oyster Club, People's Choice.

  • Portrait Society of America.

  • Named a Living Master, Art Renewal Center.

  • Chelsey Award, Multiple Awards.

  • Society of Animal Artists Southwest Art Editors Choice Award.

Books
  • The Julie Bell Portfolio (1994)

  • Hard Curves: The Fantasy Art of Julie Bell (1995), with Hank Rose and Nigel Suckling

  • Soft As Steel: The Art of Julie Bell (1999), with Brian Aldiss and Suckling

  • Titans: The Heroic Visions of Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell (2000), with Suckling, Bell, and Vallejo; also issued 2000 with main title Superheroes

  • Sketchbook (2001), with Suckling, Bell, and Vallejo

  • Twin Visions (2002), with Bell and Vallejo

  • Fantasy Workshop: A Practical Guide: The Painting Techniques of Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell (2003), with Bell and Vallejo

  • Boris Vallejo/Julie Bell: The Ultimate Collection (2005), with Suckling, Bell, and Vallejo

  • The Fantasy of Flowers (2006), with Bell and Vallejo

  • The Fabulous Women of Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell (2006), with David Palumbo, Anthony Palumbo, Bell, and Vallejo

  • Imaginistix: The Art of Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell (2007), with Palumbo, Palumbo, Bell, and Vallejo

  • Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell: The Ultimate illustrations (2009), with Bell and Vallejo

  • Dreamland: The Fantastic Worlds of Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell (2014), with Bell and Vallejo

Boris Vallejo (born January 8, 1941) is a Peruvian painter.

Vallejo works almost exclusively in the fantasy and erotica genres. His hyper-representational paintings have appeared on the covers of numerous science fiction and fantasy paperbacks and are featured in a series of best-selling glossy calendars. Subjects of his paintings are typically sword and sorcery gods, monsters, and well-muscled male and female barbarians engaged in battle.

Artwork

Vallejo began painting at the age of 13, in 1954, and had his first illustration job three years later, in 1957, at the age of 16. He attended the Escuela Nacional Superior Autónoma de Bellas Artes on a five-year scholarship, and was awarded a prize medal. After emigrating to the United States in 1964, at the age of 23, he quickly garnered a fan following from his illustrations of Tarzan, Conan the Barbarian, Doc Savage and various other fantasy characters (often done for paperback fiction works featuring the characters). This led to commissions for movie poster illustration, advertisement illustration, and artwork for various collectibles - including Franklin Mint paraphernalia, trading cards, and sculpture. Along with Julie Bell, Vallejo presents his artwork in an annual calendar and various books. Vallejo's work is often compared to the work of Frank Frazetta, not only because it is similar stylistically, but also since Frazetta painted covers for paperbacks of some of the same characters.

Vallejo's preferred artistic medium is oil on board, and he has previously used photographs to combine discrete images to form composite images. Preparatory works are pencil or ink sketches, which have been displayed in the book Sketchbook . He and Julie Bell have worked on collaborative artworks together, in which they sign the artwork with both names.

Vallejo has created film posters for numerous fantasy and action productions, including Knightriders (1981), Q (1982), and Barbarian Queen (1985). He has also illustrated posters for comedies, notably National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), European Vacation (1985), Nothing But Trouble (1991) and Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters (2007), co-created with Bell. He created the 1978 Tarzan calendar.

Awards

He received the British Fantasy Award as best artist in 1979 for his painting The Amazon Princess and her Pet .

Publications

Vallejo's published works include:

  • The Fantastic Art of Boris Vallejo (1980)

  • Mirage (1982, reprinted 1996 and 2001)

  • Enchantment. Stories By Doris Vallejo, Illustrated by Boris Vallejo (1984)

  • Fantasy Art Techniques (1985)

  • Ladies: Retold Tales of Goddesses and Heroines. By Boris and Doris Vallejo (1992)

  • Bodies: Boris Vallejo: Photographic Art (1998)

  • Dreams: The Art of Boris Vallejo (1999)

  • Titans: The Heroic Visions of Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell (2000)

  • Sketchbook (2001)

  • Twin Visions (2002)

  • Fantasy Workshop: A Practical Guide (with Julie Bell) (2003)

  • Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell: The Ultimate Collection (2005)

  • The Fabulous Women of Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell (2006)

  • Imaginistix (2006)

A yearly calendar of 13 paintings by Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell is produced by Workman Publishing.

Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction set in a fictional universe, often inspired by real world myth and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became literature and drama. From the twentieth century it has expanded further into various media, including film, television, graphic novels, manga and video games.

Fantasy is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the absence of scientific or macabre themes respectively, though these genres overlap. In popular culture, the fantasy genre predominantly features settings of a medieval nature. In its broadest sense, however, fantasy consists of works by many writers, artists, filmmakers, and musicians from ancient myths and legends to many recent and popular works.

Traits

Most fantasy uses magic or other supernatural elements as a main plot element, theme, or setting. Magic and magical creatures are common in many of these worlds.

An identifying trait of fantasy is the author's use of narrative elements that do not have to rely on history or nature to be coherent. This differs from realistic fiction in that realistic fiction has to attend to the history and natural laws of reality, where fantasy does not. In writing fantasy the author creates characters, situations, and settings that are not possible in reality.

Many fantasy authors use real-world folklore and mythology as inspiration; and although another defining characteristic of the fantasy genre is the inclusion of supernatural elements, such as magic, this does not have to be the case. For instance, a narrative that takes place in an imagined town in the northeastern United States could be considered realistic fiction as long as the plot and characters are consistent with the history of a region and the natural characteristics that someone who has been to the northeastern United States expects; however, if the narrative takes place in an imagined town, on an imagined continent, with an imagined history and an imagined ecosystem, the work becomes fantasy with or without supernatural elements.[dubious – discuss ]

Fantasy has often been compared to science fiction and horror because they are the major categories of speculative fiction. Fantasy is distinguished from science fiction by the plausibility of the narrative elements. A science fiction narrative is unlikely, though seemingly possible through logical scientific or technological extrapolation, where fantasy narratives do not need to be scientifically possible. Authors have to rely on the readers' suspension of disbelief, an acceptance of the unbelievable or impossible for the sake of enjoyment, in order to write effective fantasies. Despite both genres' heavy reliance on the supernatural, fantasy and horror are distinguishable. Horror primarily evokes fear through the protagonists' weaknesses or inability to deal with the antagonists.

History

Early history

Main article: Early history of fantasy

Elements of the supernatural and the fantastic were a part of literature from its beginning. Fantasy elements occur throughout the ancient Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh . The ancient Babylonian creation epic, the Enûma Eliš , in which the god Marduk slays the goddess Tiamat, contains the theme of a cosmic battle between good and evil, which is characteristic of the modern fantasy genre. Genres of romantic and fantasy literature existed in ancient Egypt. The Tales of the Court of King Khufu , which is preserved in the Westcar Papyrus and was probably written in the middle of the second half of the eighteenth century BC, preserves a mixture of stories with elements of historical fiction, fantasy, and satire. Egyptian funerary texts preserve mythological tales, the most significant of which are the myths of Osiris and his son Horus.

Myth with fantastic elements intended for adults were a major genre of ancient Greek literature. The comedies of Aristophanes are filled with fantastic elements, particularly his play The Birds , in which an Athenian man builds a city in the clouds with the birds and challenges Zeus's authority. Ovid's Metamorphoses and Apuleius's The Golden Ass are both works that influenced the development of the fantasy genre by taking mythic elements and weaving them into personal accounts. Both works involve complex narratives in which humans beings are transformed into animals or inanimate objects. Platonic teachings and early Christian theology are major influences on the modern fantasy genre. Plato used allegories to convey many of his teachings, and early Christian writers interpreted both the Old and New Testaments as employing parables to relay spiritual truths. This ability to find meaning in a story that is not literally true became the foundation that allowed the modern fantasy genre to develop.

The most well known fiction from the Islamic world was One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights) , which was a compilation of many ancient and medieval folk tales. Various characters from this epic have become cultural icons in Western culture, such as Aladdin, Sinbad and Ali Baba. Hindu mythology was an evolution of the earlier Vedic mythology and had many more fantastical stories and characters, particularly in the Indian epics. The Panchatantra (Fables of Bidpai ), for example, used various animal fables and magical tales to illustrate the central Indian principles of political science. Chinese traditions have been particularly influential in the vein of fantasy known as Chinoiserie, including such writers as Ernest Bramah and Barry Hughart.

Beowulf is among the best known of the Nordic tales in the English speaking world, and has had deep influence on the fantasy genre; several fantasy works have retold the tale, such as John Gardner's Grendel . Norse mythology, as found in the Elder Edda and the Younger Edda, includes such figures as Odin and his fellow Aesir, and dwarves, elves, dragons, and giants. These elements have been directly imported into various fantasy works.The separate folklore of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland has sometimes been used indiscriminately for "Celtic" fantasy, sometimes with great effect; other writers have specified the use of a single source. The Welsh tradition has been particularly influential, due to its connection to King Arthur and its collection in a single work, the epic Mabinogion.

There are many works where the boundary between fantasy and other works is not clear; the question of whether the writers believed in the possibilities of the marvels in A Midsummer Night's Dream or Sir Gawain and the Green Knight makes it difficult to distinguish when fantasy, in its modern sense, first began.

Modern fantasy

Although pre-dated by John Ruskin's The King of the Golden River (1841), the history of modern fantasy literature is usually said to begin with George MacDonald, the Scottish author of such novels as The Princess and the Goblin and Phantastes (1858), the latter of which is widely considered to be the first fantasy novel ever written for adults. MacDonald was a major influence on both J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. The other major fantasy author of this era was William Morris, an English poet who wrote several novels in the latter part of the century, including The Well at the World's End .

Despite MacDonald's future influence with At the Back of the North Wind (1871), Morris's popularity with his contemporaries, and H. G. Wells's The Wonderful Visit (1895), it was not until the 20th century that fantasy fiction began to reach a large audience. Lord Dunsany established the genre's popularity in both the novel and the short story form. H. Rider Haggard, Rudyard Kipling, and Edgar Rice Burroughs began to write fantasy at this time. These authors, along with Abraham Merritt, established what was known as the "lost world" subgenre, which was the most popular form of fantasy in the early decades of the 20th century, although several classic children's fantasies, such as Peter Pan and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , were also published around this time.

Juvenile fantasy was considered more acceptable than fantasy intended for adults, with the effect that writers who wished to write fantasy had to fit their work in a work for children. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote fantasy in A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys , intended for children, though works for adults only verged on fantasy. For many years, this and successes such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), created the circular effect that all fantasy works, even the later The Lord of the Rings , were therefore classified as children's literature.

Political and social trends can affect a society's reception towards fantasy. In the early 20th century, the New Culture Movement's enthusiasm for Westernization and science in China compelled them to condemn the fantastical shenmo genre of traditional Chinese literature. The spells and magical creatures of these novels were viewed as superstitious and backward, products of a feudal society hindering the modernization of China. Stories of the supernatural continued to be denounced once the Communists rose to power, and mainland China experienced a revival in fantasy only after the Cultural Revolution had ended.

Fantasy became a genre of pulp magazines published in the West. In 1923, the first all-fantasy fiction magazine, Weird Tales , was published. Many other similar magazines eventually followed, including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction ; when it was founded in 1949, the pulp magazine format was at the height of its popularity, and the magazine was instrumental in bringing fantasy fiction to a wide audience in both the U.S. and Britain. Such magazines were also instrumental in the rise of science fiction, and it was at this time the two genres began to be associated with each other.

By 1950, "sword and sorcery" fiction had begun to find a wide audience, with the success of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian and Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories. However, it was the advent of high fantasy, and most of all J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings , which reached new heights of popularity in the late 1960s, that allowed fantasy to truly enter the mainstream. Several other series, such as C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia and Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea books, helped cement the genre's popularity.

The popularity of the fantasy genre has continued to increase in the 21st century, as evidenced by the best-selling status of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series and George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series.

Media

The term "Fantasy Art" is closely related, and is applied primarily to recent art (typically 20th century onwards) inspired by, or illustrating, fantasy literature. It can be characterised by subject matter—which portrays non-realistic, mystical, mythical or folkloric subjects or events—and style, which is representational and naturalistic, rather than abstract—or in the case of magazine illustrations and similar, in the style of graphic novel art such as manga.

Several fantasy film adaptations have achieved blockbuster status, most notably The Lord of the Rings film trilogy directed by Peter Jackson, and the Harry Potter films, two of the highest-grossing film series in cinematic history. Meanwhile, David Benioff and D. B. Weiss would go on to produce the television drama series Game of Thrones for HBO, based on the book series by George R. R. Martin, which has gone on to achieve unprecedented success for the fantasy genre on television.

Fantasy role-playing games cross several different media. Dungeons & Dragons was the first tabletop role-playing game and remains the most successful and influential. According to a 1999 survey in the United States, 6% of 12- to 35-year-olds have played role-playing games. Of those who play regularly, two thirds play D&D . Products branded Dungeons & Dragons made up over fifty percent of the RPG products sold in 2005.

The science fantasy role-playing game series Final Fantasy has been an icon of the role-playing video game genre (as of 2012 it was still among the top ten best-selling video game franchises). The first collectible card game, Magic: The Gathering , has a fantasy theme and is similarly dominant in the industry.

Classification

By theme (subgenres)

See also: List of genres § Fantasy

Fantasy encompasses numerous subgenres characterized by particular themes or settings, or by an overlap with other literary genres or forms of speculative fiction. They include the following:

  • Bangsian fantasy, interactions with famous historical figures in the afterlife, named for John Kendrick Bangs

  • Comic fantasy, humorous in tone

  • Contemporary fantasy, set in the real world but involving magic or other supernatural elements

  • Dark fantasy, including elements of horror fiction

  • Epic fantasy, see "high fantasy" below

  • Fables, stories with non-human characters, leading to "morals" or lessons

  • Fairy tales themselves, as well as fairytale fantasy, which draws on fairy tale themes

  • Fantastic poetry, poetry with a fantastic theme

  • Fantastique , French literary genre involving supernatural elements

  • Fantasy of manners, or mannerpunk, focusing on matters of social standing in the way of a comedy of manners

  • Gaslamp fantasy, stories in a Victorian or Edwardian setting, influenced by gothic fiction

  • Gods and demons fiction (shenmo ), involving the gods and monsters of Chinese mythology

  • "Grimdark" fiction, a somewhat tongue-in-cheek label for fiction with an especially violent tone or dystopian themes

  • Hard fantasy, whose supernatural aspects are intended to be internally consistent and explainable, named in analogy to hard science fiction

  • Heroic fantasy, concerned with the tales of heroes in imaginary lands

  • High fantasy or epic fantasy, characterized by a plot and themes of epic scale

  • Historical fantasy, historical fiction with fantasy elements

  • Juvenile fantasy, children's literature with fantasy elements

  • Low fantasy, characterized by few or non-intrusive supernatural elements, often in contrast to high fantasy

  • Magic realism, a genre of literary fiction incorporating minor supernatural elements

  • Magical girl fantasy, involving young girls with magical powers, mainly in Japanese anime and manga

  • Paranormal romance, romantic fiction with fantasy elements

  • Romantic fantasy, focusing on romantic relationships

  • Sword and sorcery, adventures of sword-wielding heroes, generally more limited in scope than epic fantasy

  • Urban fantasy, set in a city

  • Weird fiction, macabre and unsettling stories from before the terms "fantasy" and "horror" were widely used; see also the more modern forms of slipstream fiction and the New Weird

  • Wuxia, Chinese martial-arts fiction often incorporating fantasy elements

By the function of the fantastic in the narrative

In her 2008 book Rhetorics of Fantasy , Farah Mendlesohn proposes the following taxonomy of fantasy, as "determined by the means by which the fantastic enters the narrated world", while noting that there are fantasies that fit none of the patterns:

  • In "portal-quest fantasy" or "portal fantasy", a fantastical world is entered through a portal, behind which the fantastic elements remain contained. A portal-quest fantasy tends to be a quest-type narrative, whose main challenge is navigating a fantastical world. Well-known examples include C. S. Lewis's novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) and L. Frank Baum's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900).

  • In "immersive fantasy", the fictional world is seen as complete, its fantastic elements are not questioned within the context of the story, and the reader perceives the world through the eyes and ears of the protagonist, without an explanatory narrative. This narrative mode "consciously negates the sense of wonder" often associated with speculative fiction, according to Mendlesohn. She adds that "a sufficiently effective immersive fantasy may be indistinguishable from science fiction" because the fantastic "acquires a scientific cohesion all of its own". This has led to disputes about how to classify novels such as Mary Gentle's Ash (2000) and China Miéville's Perdido Street Station (2000).

  • In "intrusion fantasy", the fantastic intrudes on reality (unlike portal fantasies), and the protagonists' engagement with that intrusion drives the story. Normally realist in style, assuming the normal world as their base, intrusion fantasies rely heavily on explanation and description. Immersive and portal fantasies may themselves host intrusions. Classic intrusion fantasies include Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897) and the works of H. P. Lovecraft.

  • In "liminal fantasy", the fantastic enters a world that appears to be our own, but this is perceived as normal by the protagonists, although it disconcerts and estranges the reader. It is a relatively rare mode, and such fantasies often adopt an ironic, blasé tone, as opposed to the straight-faced mimesis of most other fantasy. Examples include Joan Aiken's stories about the Armitage family, who are amazed that unicorns appear on their lawn on a Tuesday, rather than on a Monday.

Subculture

Professionals such as publishers, editors, authors, artists, and scholars within the fantasy genre get together yearly at the World Fantasy Convention. The World Fantasy Awards are presented at the convention. The first WFC was held in 1975 and it has occurred every year since. The convention is held at a different city each year.

Additionally, many science fiction conventions, such as Florida's FX Show and MegaCon, cater to fantasy and horror fans. Anime conventions, such as Ohayocon or Anime Expo frequently feature showings of fantasy, science fantasy, and dark fantasy series and films, such as Majutsushi Orphen (fantasy), Sailor Moon (urban fantasy), Berserk (dark fantasy), and Spirited Away (fantasy). Many science fiction/fantasy and anime conventions also strongly feature or cater to one or more of the several subcultures within the main subcultures, including the cosplay subculture (in which people make or wear costumes based on existing or self-created characters, sometimes also acting out skits or plays as well), the fan fiction subculture, and the fan video or AMV subculture, as well as the large internet subculture devoted to reading and writing prose fiction or doujinshi in or related to those genres.

According to 2013 statistics by the fantasy publisher Tor Books, men outnumber women by 67% to 33% among writers of historical, epic or high fantasy. But among writers of urban fantasy or paranormal romance, 57% are women and 43% are men.

Analysis

Fantasy is studied in a number of disciplines including English and other language studies, cultural studies, comparative literature, history and medieval studies. For example, Tzvetan Todorov argues that the fantastic is a liminal space. Other work makes political, historical and literary connections between medievalism and popular culture.

Related genres
  • Science fiction

  • Horror

  • Superhero fiction

  • Supernatural fiction

  • Science fantasy

Female bodybuilding is the female component of competitive bodybuilding. It began in the late 1970s when women began to take part in bodybuilding competitions

History

Origins

Female bodybuilding originally developed as an outgrowth of not only the late nineteenth-century European vaudeville and circus strongwomen acts, Bernarr Macfadden's turn of the century women's physique competitions, and the weightlifting of Abbye "Pudgy" Stockton, but also as an outgrowth of the men's bodybuilding. The contest formats of men's events during the 1950s to the mid-1970s had often been supplemented with either a women's beauty contest or bikini show. These shows "had little to do with women's bodybuilding as we know it today, but they did serve as beginning or, perhaps more properly, as a doormat for the development of future bodybuilding shows." Physique contests for women date back to at least the 1960s with contests like Miss Physique, Miss Body Beautiful U.S.A., W.B.B.G. and Miss Americana, I.F.B.B.. Maria Elena Alberici, as listed in the Almanac of Women's Bodybuilding, won two national titles in one year: Miss Body Beautiful U.S.A. in 1972, promoted by Dan Lourie and Miss Americana in 1972, promoted by Joe Weider. Mr. Olympia, Arnold Schwarzenegger was a judge at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York when Maria Elena Alberici (aka) Maria Lauren won Miss Americana. It was not until the late 1970s, after the advent of the feminist movement and female powerlifting events that women were seen as capable of competing in their own bodybuilding competitions.

1977 – 1979

Prior to 1977, bodybuilding had been considered strictly a male-oriented sport. Henry McGhee, described as the "primary architect of competitive female bodybuilding", was an employee of the Downtown Canton YMCA, carried a strong belief that women should share the opportunity to display their physiques and the results of their weight training the way men had done for years. The first official female bodybuilding competition was held in Canton, Ohio, in November 1977 and was called the Ohio Regional Women's Physique Championship. It was judged strictly as a bodybuilding contest and was the first event of its kind for women. Gina LaSpina, the champion, is considered the first recognized winner of a woman's bodybuilding contest. The event organizer, McGhee, told the competitors that they would be judged "like the men," with emphasis on muscular development, symmetry, and physique presentation. In 1978, McGhee organized the first National Women's Physique Championship, along with the short-lived United States Women's Physique Association (USWPA), which he formed to help organize women interested in competing in bodybuilding. The USWPA became defunct in 1980.

On August 18, 1979, promoter George Snyder organized a "female bodybuilding" contest known as The Best in the World contest, which was the first IFBB-sanctioned event for women that awarded prize money to the top finishers, with the winner receiving $2,500. It was considered the forerunner for the Ms. Olympia competition. Although sanctioned as a bodybuilding contest, women were required to appear on stage in high heels. Doris Barrilleaux found the Superior Physique Association (SPA) in 1978, the first women's bodybuilding organization run for women and by women. She also began publishing the SPA News, a newsletter dedicated exclusively to female bodybuilding. SPA disseminated information to women about contests and proper training and dieting. On April 29, 1979, SPA held Florida's first official women's contest in which thirteen women competed. The contest was held in Brandon Florida and promoted by Megas Gym and Doris Barrilleaux. The winner of the show was Laura Combes. Also in 1979, the IFBB formed the IFBB Women's Committee; Christine Zane was appointed the first chairperson to serve as head of the newly formed committee. One of the significant differences between the SPA and the IFBB was that while the IFBB was organized and run by men, the SPA was run by women and for women.

More contests started to appear in 1979. Some of these were the following:

  • The second U.S. Women's National Physique Championship, won by Kay Baxter, with Marilyn Schriner second and Cammie Lusko third.

  • The first IFBB Women's World Body Building Championship, held on June 16, won by Lisa Lyon, followed by Claudia Wilbourn, Stella Martinez, Stacey Bentley, and Bette Brown.

  • The Best In The World contest, held at Warminster, PA on August 18, featuring a $5,000 prize fund, with $2,500 awarded for first place. Patsy Chapman was the winner, followed by April Nicotra, Bentley, Brown, and Carla Dunlap. (Levin, 1980)

  • The Robby Robinson Classic, held at the Embassy Auditorium in Los Angeles on August 25. Bentley finished first, also winning best legs and best poser, followed by Brown, Lusko, and Georgia Miller. (Roark, 2005)

Although these early events were regarded as bodybuilding contests, the women wore high-heeled shoes, and did not clench their fists while posing. Additionally, they were not allowed to use the three so-called "men's poses" — the double biceps, crab, and lat spread. The contests were generally held by promoters acting independently; the sport still lacked a governing body. That would change in 1980.

1980 – 1989

The 1980s is when female bodybuilding first took off. The early 1980s signified a transition from the fashionably thin "twiggy" body to one carrying slightly more muscle mass. The National Physique Committee (NPC) held the first women's Nationals in 1980. Since its inception, this has been the top amateur level competition for women in the US. Laura Combes won the inaugural contest. The first World Couples Championship was held in Atlantic City on April 8. The winning couple was Stacey Bentley and Chris Dickerson, with April Nicotra and Robby Robinson in second. Bentley picked up her third consecutive victory in the Frank Zane Invitational on June 28, ahead of Rachel McLish, Lynn Conkwright, Suzy Green, Patsy Chapman, and Georgia Miller Fudge.

In 1980, the first Ms. Olympia (initially known as the "Miss" Olympia), the most prestigious contest for professional female bodybuilders, was held. Initially, the contest was promoted by George Snyder. The contestants had to send in resumes and pictures, and were hand-picked by Snyder based on their potential to be fitness role models for the average American woman. The first winner was Rachel McLish, who had also won the NPC's USA Championship earlier in the year. The contest was a major turning point for the sport of women's bodybuilding. McLish turned out to be very promotable, and inspired many future competitors to start training and competing. Stacey Bentley finished in fifth place, in what turned out to be her final competition. Also in 1980, the American Federation of Women Bodybuilders was also founded, representing a growing awareness of women bodybuilders in America. Winning competitors such as Laurie Stark (Ms. Southern States, 1988) helped to popularize the federation.

Rachel McLish became the most successful competitor of the early 1980s. She lost her Ms. Olympia crown by finishing second to Kike Elomaa in 1981, but regained the title in 1982. A new major pro contest, the Women's Pro World Championship, was held for the first time in 1981 (won by Lynn Conkwright). Held annually through 1989, this was the second most prestigious contest of the time. McLish added this title to her collection in 1982. George Snyder lost the rights to the Ms. Olympia in 1982, and after this the contestants were no longer hand-picked, but instead qualified for the Ms. Olympia through placings in lesser contests. Women's bodybuilding was officially recognized as a sport discipline by the 1982 IFBB Congress in Brugge, Belgium.

As the sport grew, the competitors' level of training gradually increased as did the use of anabolic steroids (most of the competitors in the earliest shows had very little weight training experience or steroid usage), and the sport slowly evolved towards more muscular physiques. This trend started to emerge in 1983. With McLish not competing in the big shows, Carla Dunlap took both the Pro World and Ms. Olympia titles. Dunlap possessed a more muscular physique than either McLish or Elomaa, and though she never repeated her successes of 1983, she would remain competitive for the rest of the decade.

In 1984, a new force emerged in women's bodybuilding. Cory Everson won the NPC Nationals, then defeated McLish to win the Ms. Olympia. At 5'9" and 150 pounds, Everson's physique set a new standard. She would go on to win six consecutive Ms. Olympia titles from 1984 to 1989 before retiring undefeated as a professional, the only female bodybuilder ever to accomplish this.

During this period, women's bodybuilding was starting to achieve some serious mainstream exposure. Pro competitor Anita Gandol created a stir by posing for Playboy in 1984, earning a one-year suspension from the IFBB. Erika Mes, a Dutch competitor, posed nude for the Belgian issue of Playboy in September 1987, also earning a one-year suspension. Lori Bowen, winner of the 1984 Pro World Championship, appeared in a widely broadcast commercial for Miller Lite beer with Rodney Dangerfield. Additionally, competitors Lynn Conkwright (1982) and Carla Dunlap (1984) were included in ABC's Superstars competition.

In 1985, a movie called Pumping Iron II: The Women was released. This film documented the preparation of several women for the 1983 Caesars Palace World Cup Championship. Competitors prominently featured in the film were Kris Alexander, Lori Bowen, Lydia Cheng, Carla Dunlap, Bev Francis, and Rachel McLish. At the time, Francis was actually a powerlifter, though she soon made a successful transition to bodybuilding, becoming one of the leading competitors of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The main theme of the movie pitted the sultry and curvaceous Rachel McLish, the current champion; against the super-muscular Bev Francis. This "rivalry" brought to light the true dilemma of Women's Bodybuilding and exposed the root of all the controversy (aesthetics vs size) which was the focal point at that time and which still continues today. In 1985, the National Women's and Mixed Pairs Bodybuilding Championships were held in Detroit, Michigan by promoter/bodybuilder Gema Wheeler (Long). It was the first amateur bodybuilding event televised internationally by ESPN Sports.

For several years in the mid-1980s, NBC broadcast coverage of the Ms. Olympia contest on their Sportsworld program. The taped footage was telecast months after the contest, and was usually used as secondary material to fill out programs featuring events such as boxing. Typically, the broadcasts included only the top several women. Nevertheless, Rachel McLish and some of her leading competitors were receiving national TV coverage. McLish authored two New York Times best-selling books - "Flex Appeal" (1984) and "Perfect Parts" (1987) – and was also starring in action films. The popularity was growing and women were being empowered and inspired to train. In 1983, the top prize money for the women bodybuilding was $50,000, equal to that of male bodybuilding.

The Ms. International contest was introduced in 1986, first won by Erika Geisen. In 1987 the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), who were sanctioning amateur bodybuilding at the time, positioned the International as a premiere amateur event. It was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The AAU brought Serge Nubret (a former Mr. World, Mr. Universe and Mr. Europe) from France to be the featured guest poser. Since 1988, the competition has been sanctioned by the IFBB. Since the demise of the Pro World Championship after 1989, the Ms. International has been second in prestige only to the Ms. Olympia. The 1989 Ms. International was noteworthy for the fact that the original winner, Tonya Knight, was later disqualified for using a surrogate for her drug test at the 1988 Ms. Olympia contest. Consequently, runner-up Jackie Paisley received the 1989 title. Knight was suspended from IFBB competition through the end of 1990, and was forced to return her prize money from the 1988 Ms. Olympia and 1989 Ms. International, a total of $12,000 (Merritt, 2006).

1990 – 1999

Normally, competitors must qualify for the Ms. Olympia by achieving certain placings in lesser pro contests. However, the cancellation of the Women's Pro World contest in 1990 left only the Ms. International as a Ms. Olympia qualifier. Consequently, the IFBB decided to open the Ms. Olympia to all women with pro cards, and a field of thirty competitors entered. Lenda Murray, a new pro from Michigan, earned a decisive victory and emerged as the successor to Cory Everson. Murray became the next dominant figure in the sport.

A new professional contest, the Jan Tana Classic, was introduced in 1991. The contest was named for its promoter, a marketer of tanning products, and ran annually until 2003 with the departure of Wayne Demilia (it was later briefly revived in 2007). The inaugural event was won by Sue Gafner. The Jan Tana filled the void left by the Women's Pro World contest, and occupied the number three slot on the pro circuit throughout its lifetime. 1991 also saw Tonya Knight return to competition, winning the Ms. International.

The 1991 Ms. Olympia contest was the first to be televised live. Lenda Murray faced a serious challenge from the 1990 runner-up, Bev Francis. Francis had started bodybuilding in the mid-1980s, converting over from powerlifting. Over the years, she had gradually refined her physique to be more in line with judging standards. However, she came to the 1991 contest noticeably larger than in previous years. Francis was leading going into the night show, with Murray needing all of the first place votes to retain her title. Murray managed to do just that, winning a somewhat controversial decision by one point.

In 1992, there was more controversy, this time at the 1992 Ms. International contest. In response to the increased size displayed by Murray and Francis at the previous Ms. Olympia, along with increasing drug abuse and androgenic side effects, the IFBB made an attempt to "feminize" the sport. The IFBB, led by Ben Weider, had created a series of "femininity" rules; one line in the judging rules said that competitors should not be "too big." Since extreme size generally requires extreme AAS usage, with more women gaining more androgenic (masculine) side effects, this was clearly an attempt to retain a higher level of female aesthetics and maintain the standard. The judges’ guide to the competitors stated that they were looking for a highly feminine and optimally developed, but not emaciated physique. The contest winner was Germany's Anja Schreiner, a blue-eyed blonde with a symmetrical physique who weighed 130 pounds at 5'7". The announcement of her victory met with so much booing from those who prefer size over aesthetics that Arnold Schwarzenegger had to step on stage to address the audience, saying "the hell with the judges". Many observers felt that the IFBB had instructed the judges to select the most marketable aesthetic physique, not the most muscular.

The 1992 Ms. International is also famous for an incident involving British competitor Paula Bircumshaw. Bircumshaw was the same height as Schreiner and possessed a similar level of symmetry and definition, but carried significantly more muscle, weighing in at 162 pounds. She was the clear audience favorite, but was relegated to eighth place. Normally, the top ten contestants are called out at the end of the show when the winners are announced, but the judges only called back the top six, hoping to keep Bircumshaw back stage. This resulted in an uproar from the crowd. With the audience chanting her name, Bircumshaw returned to the stage along with the top six competitors.

Advertising in Muscle & Fitness for the 1992 Ms. Olympia featured Schreiner prominently, relegating two-time defending champion Murray to a small "also competing" notice. Nevertheless, Murray also apparently met the "femininity" requirements, and managed to retain her title; Schreiner finished sixth, and promptly retired from competition.

Following the 1992 debacles, the judging rules were rewritten. The new rules retained provisions for aesthetics, but allowed the contests to be judged as physique contests. Lenda Murray continued to dominate the sport from 1990 to 1995, matching Cory Everson's record of six consecutive Ms. Olympia titles. Murray's closest rival was probably Laura Creavalle, who won the Ms. International title three times, and twice was runner-up to Murray at the Olympia. During this time, some additional professional shows were held, in addition to the three mainstays. The 1994 schedule included the Canada Pro Cup, won by Laura Binetti, and the first of three annual Grand Prix events in Prague, won by Drorit Kernes. In 1996, the Grand Prix in Slovakia was added. Besides providing the competitors with extra opportunities to win prize money, these contests also served as additional Ms. Olympia qualifiers.

The mid-1990s of bodybuilding was known as the "Dorian Era", AKA the "drug years". In 1996, Kim Chizevsky-Nicholls would win the Ms. Intentional and dethroned the Ms. International champion, Laura Creavalle. Also in 1996, she would unseat six-time defending champion, Lenda Murray. This was the first time a pro female bodybuilder would win both the Ms. International and Ms. Olympia in the same year. She would retain her Ms. Olympia title in 1997 against Lenda Murray, who retired afterwards. At the 1997 Ms. Olympia, she competed at 157 pounds (71 kg). In 1998, she again won the Ms. Olympia title. The 1998 contest was held in Prague, Czech Republic, the first time the competition had been held outside the United States.

At the 1998 EFBB British Championships, Joanna Thomas won the lightweight and overall title, becoming the youngest woman in the world to ever to win an IFBB pro card at the age of 21.

The 1999 Ms. Olympia was originally scheduled to be held on October 9 in Santa Monica, California. However, one month before the scheduled date, the IFBB announced that the contest had been cancelled. The main cause was the withdrawal of promoter Jarka Kastnerova (who promoted the 1998 contest in Prague) for financial reasons, including a low number of advance ticket sales for the 1999 event. The backlash following the announcement led to a flurry of activity, with the contest being rescheduled as part of the Women's Extravaganza (promoted by Kenny Kassel and Bob Bonham) in Secaucus, New Jersey on October 2. Last minute sponsorship came from several sources, most significantly in the form of $50,000 from Flex magazine. Amid all the turmoil, Kim Chizevsky-Nicholls won her fourth consecutive title. Chizevsky-Nicholls decided to retire from bodybuilding after winning the 1999 Ms. Olympia. According to Bill Dobbins, she retired due to gender discrimination guidelines set up by the IFBB that advocated for more "femininity" and less "muscularity" in the sport.

2000 – 2010

The IFBB introduced several changes to Ms. Olympia in 2000. The first change was that Ms. Olympia contest would no longer be held as a separate contest, instead became part of the "Olympia Weekend" in Las Vegas and held the day before the men's show. The second change was when heavyweight and lightweight classes where added. The third change was the new judging guidelines for presentations were introduced. A letter to the competitors from Jim Manion (chairman of the Professional Judges Committee) stated that women would be judged on healthy appearance, face, makeup, and skin tone. The criteria given in Manion's letter included the statement "symmetry, presentation, separations, and muscularity BUT NOT TO THE EXTREME!"

Of the three pro contests held in 2000, only the Ms. International named an overall winner - Vickie Gates, who had won the contest in 1999. The Jan Tana Classic and the Ms. Olympia simply had weight class winners. With Kim Chizevsky-Nicholls retiring from bodybuilding to pursue fitness competition, the Ms. Olympia title was shared by class winners Andrulla Blanchette and Valentina Chepiga.

The 2001 pro schedule opened routinely enough, with Vickie Gates winning the Ms. International title for the third consecutive year. However, the Ms. Olympia featured a "surprise" winner, as Juliette Bergmann returned to competition at age 42. Bergmann, the 1986 Pro World champion, had not competed since 1989. Entering the Olympia as a lightweight, she defeated heavyweight winner Iris Kyle for the overall title. In the five years that the Ms. Olympia was contested in multiple weight classes, this was the only time that the lightweight winner took the overall title.

In 2002, six-time Olympia winner Lenda Murray returned after a five-year absence. Bergmann (lightweight) and Murray (heavyweight) won the two weight classes in both 2002 and 2003. Murray won the overall title both years, setting a new standard of eight Ms. Olympia titles.

Murray was unseated as Ms. Olympia for the second time in 2004. Iris Kyle, a top pro competitor since 1999, defeated Murray in a close battle in the heavyweight class, and bested lightweight winner Dayana Cadeau for the overall title. Kyle became only the second woman to win both the Ms. International and Ms. Olympia titles in the same year, matching Kim Chizevsky-Nicholls's feat of 1996.

In a memo dated December 6, 2004, IFBB Chairman Jim Manion introduced the so-called '20 percent rule', requesting to all IFBB Professional Female Athletes. It read, “For aesthetics and health reasons, the IFBB Professional Division requests that female athletes in Bodybuilding, Fitness and Figure decrease the amount of muscularity by a factor of 20%. This request for a 20% decrease in the amount of muscularity applies to those female athletes whose physiques require the decrease regardless of whether they compete in Bodybuilding, Fitness or Figure. All professional judges have been advised of the proper criteria for assessing female physiques.” Needless to say the directive created quite a stir, and left many women wondering if they were one of “those female athletes whose physiques require the decrease”. On April 20, 2005, the IFBB adopted, by a 9 for, 1 against, and 3 no votes for Resolution 2005-0001, which announced that starting with the 2005 Ms. Olympia that the IFBB was abolishing the weight class system adopted in 2000.

The 2005 contest season saw another double winner, as Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia won her third Ms. International title, then edged out defending champion Iris Kyle to win the Ms. Olympia. Also notable in 2005 was the return of Jitka Harazimova, who had last competed in 1999. Harazimova won the Charlotte Pro contest in her return to competition, qualifying her for the Ms. Olympia where she finished fourth. Also in 2005 the documentary Supersize She was released. The documentary focused on focused on British professional female bodybuilder Joanna Thomas and her competing at the 2004 GNC Show of Strength and the 2004 Ms. Olympia.

In 2006, Iris Kyle won both the Ms. International and the Ms. Olympia, repeating her accomplishment of 2004. Iris won the Ms. International and Ms. Olympia for a third time in 2007. Also in 2007 saw the brief revival of the Jan Tana Classic, which featured two weight classes for the female competitors. The class titles were won by Stephanie Kessler (heavyweight) and Sarah Dunlap (lightweight), with Dunlap named the overall winner.

There was a bit of a controversy in the 2008 Ms. International. Iris Kyle was placed 7th due to "bumps" on her glutes, which according to head IFBB judge, Sandy Ranalli, was “distortions in her physique.” Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia went on to win the 2008 Ms. Olympia. Iris made up for this by winning the 2008 Ms. Olympia.

2010 – 2014

Iris Kyle continued her success by winning both the Ms International and the Ms. Olympia in 2009, 2010, and 2011. In 2012, Iris suffered an injury to her leg and thus couldn't attend the 2012 Ms. International. Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia won the 2012 Ms. International. Iris went on to win the 2012 Ms. Olympia and winning her seventh consecutive Olympia win and surpassing Lenda Murry's and She went on to retake the 2013 Ms. International after not being able to attend the 2012 Ms. International due to leg injury. At the 2013 Ms. Olympia, Iris won her ninth overall Olympia win, thus giving her more overall Olympia titles than any other bodybuilder, male or female.

In 2012, Venezuelan Adriana Martin won the National Physique Committee's South Florida Bikini Championship in the over-30 category. At the time, the bikini division was a new element of the competition.

On June 7, 2013, event promoter of the Arnold Sports Festival, Jim Lorimer, announced that in 2014, the Arnold Classic 212 professional men's bodybuilding division would replace the Ms. International women's bodybuilding competition at the 2014 Arnold Sports Festival. Lorimer, in a statement, said “The Arnold Sports Festival was proud to support women’s bodybuilding through the Ms. International for the past quarter century, but in keeping with demands of our fans, the time has come to introduce the Arnold Classic 212 beginning in 2014. We are excited to create a professional competitive platform for some of the IFBB Pro League’s most popular competitors.”

At the 2014 Ms. Olympia, Iris Kyle won her tenth overall Olympia win, beating her own previous record of nine overall Olympia wins. She also won her ninth consecutive Olympia title in a row, beating Lee Haney's and Ronnie Coleman's record eight consecutive Olympia titles in a row, thus giving her more overall and consecutive Olympia wins than any other bodybuilder, male or female, of all time. After winning she announced that she will be retiring from bodybuilding. The 2014 Ms. Olympia was the last Ms. Olympia competition held.

2015 – present

On March 8, 2015, Wings of Strength announced the creation of the Wings of Strength Rising Phoenix World Championships. Regarded as the successor to the Ms. Olympia, Wings of Strength Rising Phoenix World Championships adopted the point qualification system that the Ms Olympia had. On August 22, 2015, Margaret Martin won the title and best poser award for the first 2015 Wings of Strength Rising Phoenix World Championships.

IFBB Hall of Fame

The IFBB established a Hall of Fame in 1999. The following women have been inducted:

  • 1999 – Carla Dunlap, Cory Everson, and Rachel McLish

  • 2000 – Bev Francis, Lisa Lyon, and Abbye Stockton

  • 2001 – Kay Baxter, Diana Dennis, and Kike Elomaa

  • 2002 – Laura Combes

  • 2003 – Lynn Conkwright

  • 2004 – Ellen van Maris

  • 2005 – Stacey Bentley

  • 2006 – Claudia Wilbourn

  • 2007 – Laura Creavalle

  • 2008 – Kim Chizevsky-Nicholls

  • 2009 – Juliette Bergmann

  • 2010 – Lenda Murray and Vickie Gates

  • 2011 – Tonya Knight and Anja Langer

Competitions

International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness (IFBB) competitions

Professional competitions

In order to become an "IFBB Pro" you must first earn your IFBB Pro Card. In order to win a bodybuilder looking to do this must first win a regional contest weight class. When a bodybuilder wins or places highly they earn an invite to compete at their country's National Championships contest for that year. The winners of each weight class at the National Championships will then go head to head in a separate contest to see who is the overall Champion for the year. Depending on the federation, the overall Champion will be offered a pro card. Some federations offer Pro Cards to winners of individual weight class champions. This can mean that each year more than one bodybuilder may earn a Pro Card.

In the United States, the NPC (National Physique Committee) is affiliated with the IFBB and awards IFBB Pro Cards. The following competitions award IFBB Pro Cards:

  • NPC Women's National Championships has three weight classes: Lightweight, middleweight, and heavyweight. All three class winners in the contest are eligible for professional status.

  • NPC USA Championships has three weight classes. The overall winner is eligible for professional status.

  • IFBB World Championships, each weight class winner is eligible for pro status.

  • IFBB North American Championships, the overall winners is eligible for professional status.

Pro qualifier competitions 2018 Pro Qualifier Pro Card Winners

Qualifications for national level competitions

In order to qualify for national level competitions a competitor must place in one of the following:

  • Rank in the top three in their weight class of the Women's open division in a contest that has been sanctioned as a national qualifier.

  • First overall in an area championship of the open division.

  • Top two in a weight class from an area level national qualifier

  • Overall winner in a district level competition designated as a national qualifier.

  • Winner of the weight class in a regional competition designated as a national qualifier.

  • Weight class winners from the Armed Forces.

Qualifications for Junior USA, Teen and Masters Nationals

To qualify for Junior USA, Teen or Masters Nationals a competitor must place in one of the following:

  • Top five in a weight class from a national level competition

  • Top three in a weight class in the Teen or Masters Nationals

  • Class winner in the Armed Forces

  • Top three in a weight class from an Area national qualifier

  • Top two from a district level national qualifier

Qualifications for USA and Junior Nationals

In order to qualify for USA and Junior Nationals a competitor must place in one of the following:

  • Top five in a weight class from the Nationals, USA, Team Universe or Junior Nationals

  • Top three in a weight class from the Teen, Collegiate Masters Nationals

  • Class winner in the Armed Forces

  • First overall in an area level national qualifier

  • Top two in an area level national qualifier

  • Weight class winner from a district level competition designated as a national qualifier

Qualifications for Nationals and North American Championships

In order to qualify for Nationals or North American Championships a competitor must place in one of the following:

  • Top five in a weight class from the Nationals, NPC USA or North American Championships

  • Top five in a weight class from the Team Universe, Junior Nationals or Junior USA

  • Top five in a weight class from Teen Collegiate Masters Nationals

  • Top two in a weight class in the Armed Forces

  • Top two in a weight class in an area level national qualifier

  • Overall winner in a district level competition designated as a national qualifier

  • Class winners at the US and Nationals will be given five years of eligibility.

National Amateur Bodybuilders Association (NABBA) Competitions

Main article: National Amateur Bodybuilders Association

  • NABBA European Championships

  • NABBA Universe

Fitness and figure competition

There are two other categories of competition that are closely related to bodybuilding, and are frequently held as part of the same event. Fitness competition has a swimsuit round, and a round that is judged on the performance of a routine including aerobics, dance, or gymnastics. Figure competition is a newer format, which combines female bodybuilding and gymnastics altogether, is judged solely on symmetry and muscle tone, with much less emphasis on muscle size than in bodybuilding.

In a competition, each woman poses in a bikini. She must strike different poses, while facing forward, to the side, and to the rear. During her poses, she must emphasize her arms, shoulders, chest, stomach, buttocks, and legs by flexing them. The judges carefully observe, evaluate, then numerically grade the firmness and shapeliness of the woman's physique.

The Wellness Category

In 2005 in Brazil also an important fact occurred for the female bodybuilding, Gustavo Costa at the time President of the IFBB-Rio created the Wellness Category that subsequently gained global proportions becomin one of the official categories

Sexism and discrimination

Since the sport of female bodybuilding was organized, gender discrimination has been an issue. People recognize that part of the feminine identity is sculpting their physical appearances and they usually associate the common feminine identity with slenderness and a trim figure. In Studies in Popular Culture A.J. Randall and colleagues describes this as the result of the patriarchal society which emphasizes that femininity is created by altering the body for society's gendered expectations When women venture away from the gender expectations, society's view of their femininity begins to slip. Female bodybuilders experience this criticism of their body, as they build bodies which are commonly associated with the masculine identity. Despite this there is a very dedicated female bodybuilding fan base.

The International Federation of Bodybuilding & Fitness has made several rules changes on the sport of female bodybuilding that relate to expected feminine identity. In 1992, the IFBB, attempted to "feminize" the sport by making the judges deduct points from competitors who were “too big,” meaning too muscular. The IFBB then made a rule change in 2000 that emphasized a need for the women to decrease muscularity once again. Before Ms. International in 2005 the IFBB created another rule that required the women competing to decrease their own muscle mass by 20 percent to compete. Yet the men's bodybuilding rules have not changed in the same time period. In Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise Chris Shilling and Tanya Bunsell state that all of these rule changes reflect the IFBB's attempts to make women more closely fit gender expectations, as they all emphasize the need for the female bodybuilders to become less massive. Bunsell and Shilling further state that male bodybuilding hasn't changed because their bodies are seen as masculine in identity, while female bodybuilding rules inhibit females from reaching the same muscularity.

Female bodybuilders are rewarded far less prize money for their competitions than their male counterparts. For example, the 2012 Mr. Olympia winner received $250,000 in prize money while the Ms. Olympia winner only received $28,000 in prize money.

Government bans
  • Afghanistan – Women's bodybuilding is forbidden.

  • Iran – On January 18, 2017, an Iranian female bodybuilder was arrested for "nudity" after she posted selfies of her flexing sleeveless on social media. "Nude", in this context refers to women not wearing a headscarf, or revealing body parts like arms and legs.

Performance-enhancing drugs

According to Dan Duchaine, author of the book Underground Steroid Handbook and worked with countless world-class female bodybuilders, and Greg Zulak, listed the following performance-enhancing drugs that female bodybuilders may use:

  • oxymetholone (Anadrol)

  • oxandrolone (Anavar)

  • clenbuterol

  • nandrolone decanoate (Deca-Durabolin)

  • methandrostenolone (Dianabol)

  • boldenone (Equipose)

  • fluoxymesterone (Halotestin)

  • human growth hormone

  • ethylestrenol (Maxibolan)

  • tamoxifen (Novaldex)

  • methenolone (Primabolan)

  • trenbolone

  • stanozolol (Winstrol)

  • Testosterone

Side effects

All anabolic steroids have some amount of androgens that cause massive increase in muscle size and muscularity. Most common side effects experienced by women using androgen steroids are:

  • Acne and oily skin

  • Aggression

  • Male pattern baldness

  • Lowering of voice tone

  • Disruption of menstrual cycle

  • Clitoromegaly

  • Increased hair growth on face, legs and arms

  • Increased feeling of well being

  • Increased energy

  • Decreased recovery time from workouts

  • Heightened sex drive

  • Muscle and strength gain

  • Decreases in estrogenic fat (e.g. upper legs, abdomen, upper arms, buttocks)

Surveys and studies on side effects
  • A 1985 interview of ten weight-trained women athletes who consistently used anabolic steroids were interviewed about their patterns of drug use and the perceived effects. Anabolic steroids were used in a cyclical manner, often with several drugs taken simultaneously. All participants believed that muscle size and strength were increased in association with anabolic steroid use. Most also noted a deepening of the voice, increased facial hair, increased aggressiveness, clitoral enlargement, and menstrual irregularities. The participants were willing to tolerate these side effects but thought that such changes might be unacceptable to many women.

  • A 1989 study of competitive female bodybuilders from Kansas and Missouri found that 10% use steroids on a regular basis. The female bodybuilders reported that they had used an average of two different steroids including nandrolone, oxandrolone, testosterone, metandienone, boldenone, and stanozolol.

  • A 1991 study of nine female weight-lifters using steroids and seven not using these agents has found that it appears that the self-administration of testosterone and anabolic steroids is increasingly practiced by women in sports where strength and endurance are important. Of the nine anabolic steroid users, seven took multiple anabolic steroids simultaneously. Thirty-fold elevations of serum testosterone were noted in the women injecting testosterone. In three of these women serum testosterone levels exceeded the upper limits for normal male testosterone concentrations. A significant compensatory decrease in sex hormone-binding globulin and a decrease in thyroid-binding proteins were noted in the women steroid users. Also, a 39% decrease in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was noted in the steroid-using weight lifters. Most of the subjects in this study used anabolic steroids continuously, which raises concern about premature atherosclerosis and other disease processes developing in these women.

  • A 2000 survey found that one-third of the female bodybuilders reported past or current steroid use and almost half of those who were non-steroid users admitted use of performance-enhancing drugs such as ephedrine. The study investigators found that women who used steroids were more muscular than their non-steroid-using counterparts and were also more likely to use other performance-enhancing substances. Despite its popularity among female bodybuilding, usage of steroids among female bodybuilders, unlike male bodybuilding, is a taboo subject and rarely admitted use among female bodybuilders. Although the IFBB officially bans the usage of performance-enhancing drugs, it does not test athletes rigorously.

  • A 2009 survey of both men and women found that while men overall use anabolic–androgenic steroids, more women than men who use anabolic–androgenic steroids were competitive bodybuilders or weightlifters, with only 33.3% describing themselves as "recreational lifters" with no interest in competition. The survey found that 75% of the women experienced clitoral enlargement, half had irregular periods and showed changes in their voices. Despite this 90% said they would continue to use steroids.

Trans female bodybuilders
  • Chris Tina Foxx Bruce

  • Janae Marie Kroc

Breast augmentation

Bodybuilding causes increased lean body mass and decreased body fat, which causes breast tissue reduction in female athletes whereas the current trend regarding the judges' search for "feminine" physique at competitions makes compensative breast augmentation with breast implants an increasingly popular procedure among female bodybuilders. It is estimated that 80% of professional female bodybuilders get breast implants so they can show some cleavage in competitions.

Cultural references
  • The 1985 documentary film Pumping Iron II: The Women focuses on female bodybuilding and is one of the first female bodybuilder documentaries around.

  • The Tiny Toon Adventures episode That's Incredibly Stupid Plucky is the judge of a group of female bodybuilders who are competing for the title of Ms. Teenage Iron-pumping Kick-boxer Wrestler USA.

  • In a 1995 Geraldo episode, he featured notable female bodybuilders on his show Lenda Murray, Kim Chizevsky-Nicholls, Sha-ri Pendleton, Nikki Fuller, and also featured female bodybuilding photographer Bill Dobbins.

  • Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends in the episode Body Building focused heavily on female bodybuilding, included female muscle fantasy, fbb sessions, and the 2000 IFBB Jan Tana Classic competition.

  • The 2000 documentary Bodybuilders deals with female bodybuilding and specifically concentrates on Ms. Olympia and the rapid changes that happen to the sport from 1980 to 2000. Female bodybuilders interviews in the documentary include IFBB Jan Tana Classic champion Lesa Lewis, former Ms. Olympia champion Cory Everson, and former Ms. Olympia champion Kim Chizevsky-Nicholls.

  • Kim Chizevsky-Nicholls starred in the 2000 movie The Cell .

  • The 2001 TLC documentary The Greatest Bodies talks about the evolution of female bodybuilding and the 2000 Ms. International. It also features female bodybuilding pro Gayle Moher.

  • The Simpsons episode Strong Arms of the Ma focused entirely on female bodybuilding. Marge takes up bodybuilding after getting mugged. She competes in a female bodybuilding competition where she places 2nd.

  • The Taboo episode Gender Benders focuses on the gender role of female bodybuilding. IFBB pro Betty Pariso, Rosemary Jennings, and the 2003 Ms. Olympia is featured in the episode.

  • The Totally Spies! It's How You Play The Game Clover is given three micro-organisms that contain performing enhancing hormones by the Zanzibar coach. She has to take the place of Maria for Zanzibar in the figure skating at the Olympics and she obtains a bodybuilding physic due to the micro-organisms. She loses her muscle mass after sneezing those micro-organisms out. The Totally Spies! episode The Incredible Bulk Alex consumes a number of 'Bulky Bars' which allows her to grow a bodybuilding physic and defeat Ulrich Wernerstein.

  • The 2005 documentary film Supersize She focuses on professional female bodybuilder Joanna Thomas participating in the 2004 IFBB Ms. Olympia.

  • Iris Kyle appeared in the 2008 episode of Wipeout .

  • The 2008 documentary film Bigger, Stronger, Faster* focused on anabolic steroids and featured a few female bodybuilders in it.

  • The 2008 documentary film Hooked: Muscle Women focuses on professional female bodybuilder Colette Nelson and Kristy Hawkins participating in the 2008 IFBB Ms. International.

  • The TV3 documentary Modern Ireland: Supersized Shes explores female bodybuilding in Ireland. This documentary follows the stories of two female bodybuilders, Inga Beinara and Sophia McNamara, over the course of one day, as they prepare to take to the stage of the Millennium Theatre in Limerick, for the Republic of Ireland Bodybuilding Federation Championship.

  • The 2010 documentary film Twisted Sisters focuses on professional female bodybuilder Kim Buck, along with amateur bodybuilders Brenda Smith and Lauren Powers.

  • A Super Bowl XLVIII GoDaddy commercial featured Danica Patrick as a female bodybuilder.

  • Iris Kyle will appear as the character "Dina" in the yet to be released film We Are Sisyphos .

  • Condition: Ungraded
  • Set: Images of Josephine
  • Vintage: Yes
  • Year Manufactured: 1997
  • Character: Josephine Maisonet
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
  • Featured Person/Artist: Josephine Maisonet, Julie Bell
  • Manufacturer: Comic Images
  • Card Size: Standard
  • Language: English
  • Card Number: 70
  • Sub-Type: Cards: Individual
  • Card Name: Prophetic Bird
  • Genre: Fantasy Art, Fantasy, Glamour
  • Material: Card Stock
  • Graded: No
  • Subject Type: Fantasy Art
  • Modified Item: No
  • Size of Card: 89mm by 64mm
  • Genre/ Theme: Fantasy Art
  • Type: Trading Cards
  • Features: Individual Card from Base Set
  • Franchise: Images of Josephine (Maisonet)
  • Autographed: No

PicClick Insights - IMAGES OF JOSEPHINE - Card #70 - PROPHETIC BIRD - Julie Bell - 1997 PicClick Exclusive

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