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Little Big Men: Bodybuilding Subculture and Gender Construction
Little Big Men is a study of competitive bodybuilders on the West Coast that examines the subculture from the perspective of bodybuilders' everyday activities. It offers fascinating descriptions and insightful analogies of an important and understudied subculture that has risen to widespread popularity in today's mass culture.
Alan Klein 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, Klein explores not only gym dynamics but also the internal and external pressures bodybuilders face. Central to his examination is the critique of masculinity. Through his study of "hustling" among bodybuilders, Klein 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 Klein terms comic-book masculinity. This study is a rare foray into the critique of contemporary American macho.
Alan Klein 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, Klein explores not only gym dynamics but also the internal and external pressures bodybuilders face. Central to his examination is the critique of masculinity. Through his study of "hustling" among bodybuilders, Klein 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 Klein terms comic-book masculinity. This study is a rare foray into the critique of contemporary American macho.
326 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 7, 2022
Some interesting anecdotes and observations, and a lot of eye-roll-worthy attempts to psychoanalyze a whole subculture. It's important to note that even though the author hung out in gyms and talked to reportedly elite level bodybuilders for years, the characters and setting are fictionalized. He also seems to have ONLY conducted his research through interviews and casual conversations in gyms. I see no evidence that he has ever, for example, been to a bodybuilding show.
I did enjoy some of the earlier chapters and the book gives some interesting food for thought about the nature of bodybuilding in 1980s California. The discussion of economic and power structures in men’s bodybuilding was decent.
But the chapter on women’s bodybuilding (just one chapter out of 9, when women were 1/3 of his interviewees!) is disappointing. Any discussion of power structures and economic pressures is completely absent, and he concludes that differences between the men's and women's branches of the sport are entirely due to gender and sociology. He never mentions, and possibly did not know, that women's opportunities to compete are much harder to come by, prize money is much less, and that there had been unsuccessful attempts to create women-led federations. He also unquestioningly assumes that women who build muscle are trying to be more like men. For a much better discussion of these issues, I'd highly recommend Women of Steel by Maria Lowe.
And then there's a whole chapter on sex work, which has similar problems. He's fascinated by this idea that men who claim to be straight are involved in gay sex work, but we don't get any real information or insight about this phenomenon. He only explores this in terms of long discussions full of psychology/sociology buzzwords (narcissism, constructing the self, etc), probably because everything he heard about hustling (as he calls it) seems to have been learned third-hand. Guys at the gym accuse other guys of doing it, or say they used to do it, or say they would never do it, and this is all the material he has to work with.
For a better read that includes some discussion of the conflict between homophobia and gay appeal in bodybuilding, I'd recommend Mr. America by John Fair. This book mostly covers an earlier time period than Little Big Men, and also gives a lot of history and context about the power structures of the sport.
I did enjoy some of the earlier chapters and the book gives some interesting food for thought about the nature of bodybuilding in 1980s California. The discussion of economic and power structures in men’s bodybuilding was decent.
But the chapter on women’s bodybuilding (just one chapter out of 9, when women were 1/3 of his interviewees!) is disappointing. Any discussion of power structures and economic pressures is completely absent, and he concludes that differences between the men's and women's branches of the sport are entirely due to gender and sociology. He never mentions, and possibly did not know, that women's opportunities to compete are much harder to come by, prize money is much less, and that there had been unsuccessful attempts to create women-led federations. He also unquestioningly assumes that women who build muscle are trying to be more like men. For a much better discussion of these issues, I'd highly recommend Women of Steel by Maria Lowe.
And then there's a whole chapter on sex work, which has similar problems. He's fascinated by this idea that men who claim to be straight are involved in gay sex work, but we don't get any real information or insight about this phenomenon. He only explores this in terms of long discussions full of psychology/sociology buzzwords (narcissism, constructing the self, etc), probably because everything he heard about hustling (as he calls it) seems to have been learned third-hand. Guys at the gym accuse other guys of doing it, or say they used to do it, or say they would never do it, and this is all the material he has to work with.
For a better read that includes some discussion of the conflict between homophobia and gay appeal in bodybuilding, I'd recommend Mr. America by John Fair. This book mostly covers an earlier time period than Little Big Men, and also gives a lot of history and context about the power structures of the sport.
June 17, 2013
There's much to dislike or quibble with regarding this book, but here's the thing: it's a masterpiece.
October 13, 2017
Interesting study of gender perception in our society but too much like a text book. A lot of overlap between chapters.
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November 28, 2014good
September 13, 2015
An excellent introduction to masculinity studies through the setting of professional bodybuilding.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews