The OSM lowdown on... Women's body building

Age 23. Women first kicked off their high heels at the Ohio Regional Women's Physique Championship in 1977. Until then, their participation in body building shows had been strictly for titillation in Miss Bikini contests. Ms Olympia, the world's premier show, was born in 1980.

Marital status Somewhat strained marriage to the male-dominated governing *lite, whether it's the International Federation of Bodybuilders (IFBB) or the National Amateur Body Builders' Association (Nabba). Last year the IFBB came within a whisker of cancelling Ms Olympia, while Nabba talk of ending the physique class. Naturally, the blazer brigade insist it's the women's fault for going 'too far'.

Where did it all go wrong? The cracks have always been there. The 1983 semi-documentary film Pumping Iron 2 showed how Bev Francis, an Australian powerlifting world champion-turned-bodybuilder, was marked down for being 'too muscular'. Bev spent the next eight years downsizing, having a nose job and dying her hair blonde in a vain attempt to land the sport's ultimate prize.

A case of 'to big, or not to big'? That is indeed the question. While men like Britain's six-times Mr Olympia Dorian Yates have won hundreds of thousands of pounds in prize money, supplement contracts and the global adoration of fans for taking muscularity to another level, the very biggest women are frequently overlooked. Not marketable, old chap.

But isn't body building all about being the most muscular? Not if you're a woman. Female body building now jousts for popularity with figure and fitness competitions, aka 'beauty contests with muscles'. At this year's Arnold Classic, first prize was $100,000 for the men, $20,000 for Ms Fitness and $7,000 for Ms Physique. Reigning Ms Olympia Kim Chizevsky, is the latest to trim her traps, sweeten her smile and switch codes to Ms Fitness. Twenty years after kicking off their heels, women are putting them back on.

Why don't the people in charge do something about it? They're the ones encouraging it! Don't forget Joe and Ben Weider, the IFBB's founding fathers, also preside over a global supplements and magazine empire.

Why promote Martina Navratilova's bigger sister in Flex or Muscle and Fitness when you can show 'the world's most alluring fitness women'? The same commercial pressures are reflected in the judging, where hair-do, makeup and 'a graceful walk' are now somewhat ludicrously part of the quest for the perfect female form.