Existing research implies bodybuilders are a homogenous group with gender, power, control and empowerment, as well as afflictions such as personal inadequacies, dominating scholarly thinking concerning their identity. External critiques have frequently portrayed bodybuilders in a negative light, whilst phenomenological accounts have emphasized participant's positive experiences. This research has focused on bodybuilder identity in New Zealand. Some 382 competitive bodybuilders completed a questionnaire as part of a three-year project. Factor analysis generated the following themes: Self-Life Enhancement; Bodybuilder Lifestyle; Body Manipulation; Physical Attractiveness Tool; Healthy-Balanced Self-Image; The Price of Bodybuilding and An Extreme Competitive Aesthetic Pursuit. The findings suggest that there is heterogeneity in bodybuilder identities and whilst bodybuilding may positively reinforce identity construction, it may also lead to identity conflicts, negative experiences and self-risk.
Aoki, D. (1999) `Posing the Subject: Sex, Illumination, and Pumping Iron II: The Women', Cinema Journal38(4): 24—44.
2.
Barley, S. (2006) `When I Write My Masterpiece: Thoughts On What Makes a Paper Interesting', Academy of Management Journal49(1): 16—20.
3.
Bartky, S. (1988) `Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power', in I. Diamond and L. Quinby (eds) Feminism & Foucault: Reflections on Resistance, pp. 61—86. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press.
4.
Bordo, S. (1988) `Anorexia Nervosa: Psychopathology as the Crystallization of Culture', in I. Diamond and L. Quinby (eds) Feminism & Foucault: Reflections on Resistance, pp. 87—117. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press.
5.
Boyle, L. (2005) `Flexing the Tensions of Female Muscularity: How Female Bodybuilders Negotiate Normative Femininity in Competitive Bodybuilding ', Women's Studies Quarterly33(1&2): 134—49.
6.
Coakley, J. (2003) Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies, 8th edn, Vol. 8. New York: McGraw-Hill.
7.
Drummond, M. (1994) `Masculinity from a Feminist Perspective: Or How Feminism Helped Construct the New Man', Issues in Educational Research4(2): 94—102.
8.
Duff, R. and Hong, L. (1984) `Self-Images of Women Bodybuilders', Sociology of Sport Journal1: 374—80.
9.
Durie, M. (1997) Whaiora: Maori Health Development. Auckland: Oxford University Press.
10.
Field, A. (2000) Discovering Statistics Using SPSS for Windows. London: Sage.
11.
Fisher, L. (1997) `Building One's Self Up: Bodybuilding and the Construction of Identity among Professional Female Bodybuilders', in P. Moore (ed.) Building Bodies, pp. 135—64. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Press.
12.
Frueh, J. (1999) `Monster/Beauty: Midlife Bodybuilding as Aesthetic Discipline', in K. Woodward (ed.) Figuring Age: Women, Bodies, Generations, pp. 212—26. Bloomington : Indiana University Press.
13.
Giddens, A. (1991) Modernity and Self Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Cambridge: Polity Press.
14.
Gillett, J. and White, P. (1992) `Male Bodybuilding and the Reassertion of Hegemonic Masculinity: A Critical Feminist Perspective', Play & Culture5: 358—69.
15.
Grogan, S., Evans, R., Wright, S. and Hunter, G. (2004) `Femininity and Muscularity: Accounts of Seven Women Bodybuilders', Journal of Gender Studies13(1): 49—61.
16.
Guthrie, S. and Castelnuovo, S. (1992) `Elite Women Bodybuilders: Models of Resistance or Compliance?', Play & Culture5: 401—08.
17.
Heywood, L. (1998) Bodymakers — A Cultural Anatomy of Women's Bodybuilding. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
18.
Horne, J. (2000) `Understanding Sport and Body Culture in Japan ', Body & Society6(2): 73—86.
19.
Hotten, J. (2004) Muscle: A Writer's Trip through a Sport with No Boundaries. London: Yellow Jersey Press.
20.
Hughes, R. and Coakley, J. (1991) `Positive Deviance Among Athletes: The Implications of Overconformity to the Sport Ethic', Sociology of Sport Journal8: 307—25.
21.
Jenkins, R. (2004) Social Identity. London: Routledge .
22.
Johns, D. (1993) `Nutritional Need or Athletic Overconformity: Ethical Implications for the Sport Psychologist', The Sport Psychologist7: 191—203.
23.
Klein, A. (1993) Little Big Men: Bodybuilding Subculture and Gender Construction. New York: State University of New York Press.
24.
Klein, A. (1994) `The Cultural Anatomy of Competitive Women's Bodybuilding ', in N. Sault (ed.) Many Mirrors: Body Image and Social Relations, pp. 76—104. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Press.
25.
Kline, P. (1994) An Easy Guide to Factor Analysis. New York: Routledge.
26.
Marzano-Parisoli, M. (2001) `The Contemporary Construction of a Perfect Body Image: Bodybuilding, Exercise Addiction and Eating Disorders', Quest53: 216—30.
27.
McDonald, B. and Hallinan, C. (2005) `Seishin Habitus', International Review for the Sociology of Sport40(2): 187—200.
28.
Mekolichick, J. (2003) `Amateur Bodybuilders' Self Concept: An Exploratory Examination', available online at: [http://physed.otago.ac.nz/sosol/v6il/v6il_3.html ], accessed 28 July 2006.
29.
Miller, R., Acton, C., Fullerton, D. and Maltby, J. (2002) SPSS for Social Scientists. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
30.
Monaghan, L. (1999a) `Challenging Medicine? Bodybuilding, Drugs and Risk', Sociology of Health & Illness21(6): 707—34.
31.
Monaghan, L. (1999b) `Creating ``The Perfect Body'': A Variable Project ', Body & Society5(2—3): 267—90.
32.
Monaghan, L. (2001) `Looking Good, Feeling Good: The Embodied Pleasures of Vibrant Physicality', Sociology of Health & Illness23(3): 330—56.
33.
Monaghan, L., Bloor, M., Dobash, R. and Dobash, R. (1998) `Bodybuilding and Sexual Attractiveness', in J. Richardson and A. Shaw (eds) The Body in Qualitative Research, pp. 39—55. Aldershot: Ashgate.
34.
Ogles, B. and Masters, K. (2003) `A Typology of Marathon Runners Based on Cluster Analysis of Motivations', Journal of Sport Behavior26(1): 69—85.
35.
Orejuela, F. (2005) The Body as Cultural Artifact: Performing the Body in Bodybuilding Culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
36.
Pallant, J. (2002) SPSS Survival Manual. New South Wales: Allen & Goodwin.
37.
Probert, A. (2006) `Searching for an Appropriate Research Design: A Personal Journey', available online at: [www.http//jrp.icaap.org/content/v2.1/probert.html ], accessed 21 July 2006.
38.
Robinson, G., Warren, H., Samu, K., Wheeler, A., Matangi-Karsten, H. and Agnew, F. (2006) `Pacific Healthcare Workers and their Treatment Interventions for Pacific Clients with Alcohol and Drug Issues in New Zealand ', available online at: [http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/119—1228/1809/], accessed 28 October 2006.
39.
Roussel, P. and Griffet, J. (2000) `The Path Chosen by Female Bodybuilders: A Tentative Approach', Sociology of Sport17: 130—50.
40.
Roussel, P. and Griffet, J. (2003) `The Decline of Female Bodybuilding in France', Sociology of Sport20: 40—59.
41.
Ryckman, R., Dill, D., Dyer, N., Sanborn, J. and Gold, J. (2001) `Social Perceptions of Male and Female Extreme Mesomorphs', The Journal of Social Psychology132(5): 615—27.
42.
Shilling, C. (2003) The Body and Social Theory, 2nd edn. London: Sage.
43.
Sparc (2001) `Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC) Facts 1997—2001', available online at: [www.sparc.org.nz], accessed 28 July 2006.
44.
Turner, B. (1996) The Body and Society: Explorations in Social Theory , 2nd edn. London: Sage.
45.
Wesely, J. (2001) `Negotiating Gender: Bodybuilding and the Natural/Unnatural Continuum', Sociology of Sport Journal18: 162—80.
46.
Wheaton, B. (2004) `Mapping the Lifestyle Sport-Scape (Introduction) ', in B. Wheaton (ed.) Understanding Lifestyle Sports, pp. 1—28. London: Routledge.
47.
Wheaton, B. and Tomlinson, A. (2001) `The Changing Gender Order in Sport? The Case of Windsurfing Subcultures', in A. Yiannakis and M. Melnick (eds) Contemporary Issues in Sociology of Sport, 4th edn, pp. 427—41. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
48.
Wiegers, Y. (1998) `Male Bodybuilding: The Social Construction of a Masculine Identity', Journal of Popular Culture32(2): 147—61.
49.
Zikmund, W. (2000) Business Research Methods, 6th edn. Orlando, FL: Dryden Press .
