Taking Pause
phe...@my-deja.com
Several threads have recently been started, most with similar parallels and
most touching upon common topics for AAWA. I found myself sitting here
thinking as I read the posts, and mentally countering and rebutting various
points. Each ended having been whittled down to nothingness, so I refocused
and looked with different eyes.
I found a pattern of percieved victimization of FBB's and a demonization of
corporate-culture/business.
Our resident photographers get a fair amount of slack (though this is offset
by the consideration that it is often the same handfull of nay-sayers merely
re-itterating previous accusations). The competition circuit certainly gets a
healthy dose of finger-pointing as well. The women are cited as examples, but
the very role they are playing seems to me an issue of oversight and neglect.
FBB's are not victims. That is to say they are not without influence over the
direction of their own lives, the realization of income, or responsiblity of
free will. Certainly life is full of people wronging people, and equally
might I endorse debate of said wrongs, but preferably without periferal
blinders on.
There is a market for FBB's and the women have a choice of how much
involvemnt in that market they have. Sure there is modeling and contests,
there is also personal training, books or articles to write, exercise shows
to join the cast of, gyms to own, retail stores to manage, websites to run,
labs to research and develop in, law firms to practice in, family businesses
to learn, real everyday humdrum lives to lead. FBB's are not single
dimensional model/competitor/spokesperson images, nor are they pawns in some
conspiracy of corporate evil-doers (yikes! can you say overboard?) FBB's are
daughters, sisters, mothers, co-workers, friends, everyday people who happen
to have a unique interest requiring strong dedication, and who sometimes
decide to use that interest as a means of making their living.
For the FBB's who model, they can get an agent if they choose, they can look
into which photographers they might do shoots with, they can run the gammut
of photo ops to capitalize on saturization of the market, they can start a
website to sell photos to their fans. Sure, some will be more popular, and
some will make better business decisions than others, but last time I checked
that was the norm for just about everybody, FBB or not.
For the FBB's who compete, again it comes down to choice. Sure different
federations have different preferences, and sure there's TONS to gripe about
in reguards to how an event is run and how judging is handled, but ultimately
the women must decide if they want to compete... win, or lose. The whole
point of holding a contest is to have a winner, but sometimes the point of
entering it may be more then just to win. Sometimes it is to be seen or to
say 'been there, done that'; the motivations of the women are their own and
should not be confused with your own hopes and aspirations for them. Least
you forget, to have a winner, you must by necessity also have a loser; that
is the very purpose of a contest reguardless of fairness.
For the FBB's who remain nameless and faceless, that too may very well be a
choice, not everyone seeks the spotlight. Sure some who seek the spotlight
never attain it, but then look at some of the FBB's we all know so well who
are not top placers in the contests. Perhaps objecting to a poor placing is
valid, but then again if you know their name and if they stand out from the
crowd enough for you to have such a gripe in the first place, then maybe they
have accomplished something after all, like attaining the spotlight if that
was their aim. Now look also at the faces whom you are not familiar, and whom
have no name, perhaphs that nameless face is nameless on purpose.
===
Ask the women...
Andrulla, do you feel betrayed by any of the photographers or video companies
you have worked with?
Denise, have you felt unreasonably pressured to take Muscle Elegance in
directions you felt uncomfortable about?
Michelle, do you feel your efforts at self promotion have been hindered by
the very people who were supposed to help?
Nicole, is there anything you regret about your involvement with the World
Wrestling Federation?
I don't really expect answers to these questions, I made them up to make my
point. That point being that the women do have successes, they do have
noteriety, they DO have answers of their own to give... if asked.
-Phenoms
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Dr Arm®
bet just not too long ago you were espousing the virtures of smacking
your wife to keep her in line. Your post says it all.
Whenever the bastards that sell these women's picturers or collect
monies to view them at a paysite and do not pay them fees and royalties,
that's exploitation.
That exploiter Dobbins does not even pay for the sitting!
Now I'm sure you are too Neanderthal to see the exploitation in this, so
to put it into perspective for you, the wife that gets constantly abused
but still doesn't leave is not either asking for it or secretly enjoying
it.
And the newsgroup poisoners like Dobbins and that other insignificant
nosewipe Goode send emiail complaints to the ISPs of people that post
pics here in the newsgroup. And THEN they have the audacity to complain
that the WOMEN are being cheated out of money by posting pics here!
Insane or what!
Better take another pause, phenoms.
Tre' Scott
"Whenever the bastards that sell these women's picturers or collect
monies to view them at a paysite and do not pay them fees and royalties,
that's exploitation.
That exploiter Dobbins does not even pay for the sitting!
Now I'm sure you are too Neanderthal to see the exploitation in this, so
to put it into perspective for you, the wife that gets constantly abused
but still doesn't leave is not either asking for it or secretly enjoying
it."
If there are no competitors, then there will be no shows. Yet,
bodybuilders are charged to enter the shows after they've already paid
their membership dues just to be in the club in the first place.
For your son or daughter to play Pop Warner football, you would pay a
one-time registration fee and then they'd play an entire season. But
in the fitness & bodybuilding game, you pay a premium for each contest
entered...
And the athletes are more than happy to pay it - it's *their* choice to
do so, and putting on a show is *not* inexpensive -- promoters are not
in the charity business - they have to make money on the events or they
cannot continue to do shows.
By the same token, the photographers also have to stay in business or
they will not be able to continue bringing us the images of the women
we love. Photography is *very* expensive and the type of work done by
the pros goes far beyond what most of us get from our little one-hour
labs...and the price tag goes up accordingly.
If a woman wants high-quality work done, then she'll go to a top
photographer like Dobbins, Goode, Moss, Reiff, DeHaan, etc - and those
guys command top dollar because they are damn good at what they do.
Remember, a woman wants to work with a photographer who's going to make
her look her best when the image is produced - and many don't care at
all what it costs, because some things are priceless...
ciao
--Tré
Leowyn
>
> "Whenever the bastards that sell these women's picturers or collect
> monies to view them at a paysite and do not pay them fees and royalties,
> that's exploitation.
>
> That exploiter Dobbins does not even pay for the sitting!
>
So, Dobbins exploited Andrulla, Sable, Annie, and ALL the other women
he's photographed? How the hell does he get models then? Why do they
still pose for him? Why did Tatianna pose for him recently?
If he's such a massive shit, then how the hell does he earn money
taking pictures of these women? If he's been exploiting them for the
10-15 years he's been photographing muscle women, why do the established
women still pose for him? Why isn't he reduced to hanging around gyms
picking up women who've never heard of him?
In other words, you're saying that he's an exploiter and the women who
pose for him are to stupid to know it.
Andrulla, why did you pose for him? I'm curious. We know what Bill does
for the models, he provides them with the pictures and scans to use
online. But was that the only reason you posed for him?
Leowyn