Аннотация:The aim of this paper is to illustrate the ongoing debate on the objectification of the body of the muscular woman. It also poses the question of whether after achieving redefinition in an attempt to eschew the stereotypes that have always been attributed to women by men – the dominant and controlling perspective, endowed with power – this woman has managed to break free or, on the contrary, fallen foul of yet another male categorization. To perform this analysis, we have chosen two different objects of study: on the one hand, stills from Leni Riefenstahl’s film, Olympia (1938); and on the other, Lady: Lisa Lyon (1980-82), the series Robert Mapplethorpe dedicated to the bodybuilder Lisa Lyon. These will allow us to underscore two different ways of showing the body of the “other”, inasmuch as the muscular woman breaks with what is considered “normal” by shifting away from conventional canons of female aesthetics. Furthermore, this will also allow us to address the problems arising when trying to achieve this.
