The Female Physique Webzine/Gallery
GNC SHOW OF STRENGTH 2003
TO EXCLUDE FEMALE BODYBUILDING
Boycott Threatened?
By Bill Dobbins
The promoters of the GNC Show of Strength event, first held in New Orleans in 2002 and now scheduled for Atlanta this November, have announced they are dropping female bodybuilding from the competition line-up. Bodybuilding for women will be replaced by an IFBB Pro Figure competition. According to a spokesperon for the Show of Strength the reason for this substitution is financial. It was decided that it was not financially feasible to hold both types of competition.
The Show of Strength was deliberately patterned after the successful Arnold Weekend in Columbus, promoted by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Lorimer. However, the Arnold has been a stalwart supporter of female bodybuilding since its inception, and in 2003 added figure competition while continuing to stage the Ms. International Bodybuilding Contest.
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If it was decided it would not be financially possible to include both female bodybuilding and figure in the weekend's events, the question remains as to why the promoters opted in favor of figure. Pro figure is in it's first year in the IFBB, it hasn't established any kind of track record in terms of attracting an audience and it is - whether the federation wishes to accept this or not - simply a beauty contest for somewhat fit contestants. Fitness competitors have gradually gotten more muscular over the years, to the point where many could easily move over to compete in lightweight bodybuilding. But there is no mistaking successful figure competitors with either bodybuilders or fitness contestants - although a number of fitness women have failed to understand this, moved over to figure and found themselves totally overlooked.
Letter from Lisa Bavington The BITTER TRUTH about the GNC |
The fact that the Show of Strength has chosen to substitute a beauty contest for an internationally recognized sport seems to demonstrate a profound disrespect for women's bodybuilding, a case of gender discrimination, and a misperseption regarding the nature of the audience with whom they are dealing. People might like to look at pictures of attractive, fit women but there is no reason to believe they will spend much money buying tickets to watch them do quarter turns on stage. In fact, even the officials in the NPC and IFBB themselves are showing a lack of interest in figure. At the NPC USA Championships in July, 2003, a number of the judges expressed relief that figure was not included in the event because it was so time consuming and boring. At least one top IFBB official has also complained that a competition amounting to no more than a beauty contest should take up so much time, with numerous rounds that consist of no more than unflexed quarter turns.
The fact is, figure only exists because of a failure of the federations to adjust the competition rules of fitness appropriately as well as the lack of support given to female bodybuilding. Fitness in both the NPC and IFBB has become largely a gymnastics event and many of the most attractive and striking competitors simply don't have the performannce skills to win major titles. On the other hand, many of the fitness competitors have developed physiques of a quality that would allow them to compete in lightweight bodybuilding but the consistent anti-FBB propaganda has discouraged them from thinking of this option.
A PROPOSAL |
What is most likely to happen at the GNC in Atlanta is that the paying audience for figure and fitness will be so small that the promoters will lose a significant amount of money as they did last year when the event was held in New Orleans but very poorly promoted. (Would you believe they thought the best place to advertise to a physique competition audience was in GNC's Physical magazine???). But nobody who supports female bodybuilding - in fact, women's athletics in general - should participate in the GNC Show of Strength at all. Ticket buyers for this event are in fact voting in favor of beauty contests over actual female bodybuilding.
In fact, it would make sense not to do business with GNC at all. There are certainly plenty of alternative businesses which sell supplements and health products. Of course, GNC seems to be taking the stand that the decision to drop female bodybuilding from the weekend has nothing to do with them. A call to the public relations office at GNC resulted in a referral back to the Show of Strength. At the USA Championships in Las Vegas, GNC representative Greg Henry repeated the claim that the company had nothing to do with what events the Show of Strength chose to include in their list of events - even though the name "GNC" is listed as the title sponsor.
Comments and Complaints To: General Nutrition 300 6th Avenue Pittsburg, PA 15222 Attn: Public Relations |
What about the discussion of boycotting GNC in order to send a message to the company that supporting gender discrimination like this could cost them customers? "So let them boycott," was Mr. Henry's reply. That kind of attitude should certainly give pause to any supporter of female physique contests who might be thinking of doing business with GNC.