Strong Like Her by Haley Shapley

Author:Haley Shapley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2020-04-07T00:00:00+00:00

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THE BATTLE OVER HOW MUCH muscle is too much found its nexus when Rachel McLish and Bev Francis stood next to each other onstage at the 1983 Caesars World Cup. At one end of the spectrum was American McLish, strong and sculpted but with plenty of curves, model good looks, and a glittering, illegally padded bikini top. At the other end, Australian Francis was a world-class powerlifter who brought an epic eight-pack to the stage and a boxy shape that struck many as manly and cartoonish. This moment is captured in Pumping Iron II. “With her squat chest, arms, and legs, Bev doesn’t look anything like the sinewy sex kitten Rachel McLish,” Siskel wrote in his review. “Rachel is more the Incredible Tease to Bev Francis’ Incredible Hulk.”

“I always felt that I was a little bit different,” Francis says in the movie. “I always admired strength—anything, whether it was human or animal or the weather. I loved thunderstorms, anything that’s big and strong and powerful. And I always wanted to be powerful myself.… I never had the confidence in myself to think that I could be better, to think that I could be the strongest woman in the world or anything like that. It was only later years when I came across others that encouraged me.… It was a joy to get stronger.”

In today’s world of bodybuilding, Francis and McLish wouldn’t even enter the same category. While they’re really fighting for the same thing—the right for women to train their muscles and show them off—the movie pits them against each other, as if they are polar opposites instead of two sides of the same coin.

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