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Should femininity be judged in female bodybuilding contests?

Sep 07, 2022 - permalink

Even in an ideal situation, beauty is abstract and impossible to measure.

Yea this is true for example to me muscles are beautiful so any woman that has them gets a huge boost in attractiveness to me there are other things that matter to me too but most fbbs are beautiful to me just because of the muscle only a handful who just don't care and try to appear manly with short hair and no makeup are not attractive

but to most men that is not the case and even those that are have variations of what they find attractive.

Sep 07, 2022 - permalink

Beauty is defined in a naturalistic sense as something that is attractive or desirable to a particular individual. But in a metaphysical sense as something that has clarity, is complete and is fit for some purpose.

The biggest problem in light of this metaphysical definition is that pumped muscles are generally useless, except for show. If you've heard of Veblen goods you know what I mean. Their purpose is to signal that you have extra time and resources to spend. Or to waste, depending on your approach.

Working woman's muscles are useful for performing physically demanding tasks. Fighter's muscles are useful for beating up their opponents. If you wish to measure something it's better to start with defining it.

Sep 07, 2022 - permalink

. If you wish to measure something it's better to start with defining it.

LOL. Unintentionally funny, if you consider the muscle context :) Well done :)

[deleted]
Sep 07, 2022 - permalink
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Sep 08, 2022 - permalink

Another thing to consider is: femininity is a social construct. Bodybuilding itself is not. While it is true that in any sport where there is judging involved (this also includes boxing and MMA, figure skating and even Weightlifting and Powerlifting where you might have some judges gives good reps and another a no-rep,) there will be subjective bias that comes from humans being human, with judging Bodybuilding you have a pretty clear rubric with that you are looking for: muscle size, fullness, dryness and symmetry. With femininity, it becomes far more muddled. Does one judge penalize a competitor for having short hair versus long hair? Does one dock points because a competitors jaw is more squared? Personally, I can name numerous traits that I find feminine where I am sure other people do not, and vice versa.

Sep 08, 2022 - permalink

Beauty is no quality in things themselves...

So if one person denies that math exists, does that mean everyone else must stop calculating at once or pretend that it has suddenly turned impossible? Or always been impossible?

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