The construction of the body is heavily influenced by social pressures. Societal influences depict a number of bodies that are the ideal physical specimens that members of society should be embodying. These ideal bodies can be valued differently depending on their context.
Different sports can produce different body ideals. For example, in Basketball it is ideal to be tall and lean. However, what is consistent across all sports is that the body is seen as a project that requires continuous work.
The various ideal bodies are (re)produced by the mainstream media and sporting events, and, as such, diffused to broader societal audiences. As a result, members of society can feel a great pressure, both internally and externally, to continually work towards achieving these ‘acceptable’ bodies. Consequently, the body becomes a project that people must continually work towards achieving and maintaining. This is particularly true in the sporting world where the ideal body is seen as a machine-like vessel that must be able to perform according to the needs of the sport.
In the sport of bodybuilding there is an emphasis on the aesthetics of the body rather than the function. Bodybuilders engage in prolonged periods of regimented exercise and diet to build and display an idealised body. They display their physiques to a panel of judges, who score each entrant on the basis of the size, symmetry and definition of his (or her) Musculature.
In this public display, the body that has conformed to this performance ethic and achieved the best results is rewarded with adulation. In contrast, through the lens of bodybuilding, bodies that deviate from this ideal body are stigmatised and viewed as weak.
This focus on a singular ideal body, with a public recognition for those who conform in the most extreme way, is problematic. This ideology of the ideal body is reproduced at public events, such as the Arnold Schwarzenegger Sports Festival , where the ideal body is depicted as a project that one must continuously work on for self-improvement. At this festival, this ideal body is portrayed as big, sculpted, strong and devoid of all weakness.
Through their attendance at these events, people can become socialized into seeing the body in this way. For these individuals, most of whom are in the fitness or health industry, the ideologies surrounding the body are materialized in everyday practices.
Because of the commitment to meritocracy entrenched within this population, the inability to achieve this ideal body is attributed to a lack of discipline and weakness on the part of that person. This can lead to the continuous pursuit of the ideal body, which can result in a range of physical, social and emotional problems. For example, people may sacrifice the social, occupational and recreational parts of their lives.
The intense training regimes and nutritional strategies pose physical risks for individuals, such as severe muscle damage or dehydration. The use of anabolic steroids and other drugs to accelerate progress can lead to endocrine system harm. Alongside physical harm, the constant gap between one's actual body and the ideal may cause emotional distress in the form of anxiety.
Despite, the evident problems with this pursuit people are still driven to work towards achieving the ideal body. Even though the gap between someone’s body and the marketed ideal body will always exist, as demonstrated by the number of body builders that experience muscle dysmorphia. For example, a study by Pope, Phillips and Olivardia (2000) found that 10% of body builders, despite their years of effort and significant physical change, still experience emotional distress in relation to their body.
So we can see that even in these individuals who materialize these ideologies in their everyday behaviours that the ideal body is not always attainable. The everyday person who doesn’t have the time or ability to immerse themselves in these practices is even less likely to achieve this ideal body as depicted by events such as the ASPF. Thus, the effects from this marketing of the ideal body may be infused into the ideologies that the broader society are exposed to.
This view of an ideal body can become the standard for what constitutes health. This view of what it means to be healthy is communicated to us on a daily basis in a variety of ways (for example, advertising, media, sporting events). This is justified through a scientisation and fragmentation of the body, further perpetuating the idea that the body is a project to be worked on.
This knowledge of the body fuels behaviours of consumption that are required to achieve optimal health. Individuals feel the need to buy the latest supplements, take multi-vitamins, try the latest fad diets and the latest ‘scientifically based’ exercise programs.
The way these products are marketed capitalises on the desire to achieve this body and disguises the questionable evidence associated with these products. A multi-billion dollar industry has emerged as a result of this conception of the ideal body.
This becomes a self-perpetuating cycle reinforcing the dominant ideologies around the ideal body and the behaviours and lifestyle that must be adopted to achieve this body.
A number of steps can be taken to improve this issue. We as a society should take a more active approach in questioning the messages that emerge from events such as the Arnold Schwarzenegger Sports Festival. For example, although Arnold is taking active steps to promote health through his children-centred programs, such as the After School All Stars, he still unknowingly contradicts this message by playing a role in promoting the idealized body.
Organizations in the sporting and fitness world have a responsibility to send the right messages about the body. This means placing a more significant focus on the reality that people come in all shapes and sizes.
People can then learn that they can achieve positive health outcomes without striving for this ideal body. Exercise and sport can play a positive role in affecting lives by reconceptualising what it means to have a healthy body.