To clarify, we are discussing Women's Bodybuilding Division, IFBB / NPC. Not Bodybuilding in general, which includes any woman who trains to increase muscle, whether they intend to compete or not, and if they do, regardless of division, ie, Bikini Athletes are bodybuilders. Hard for some to swallow, some don't even think Physique competitors should move up to FBB division, let alone win a Bodybuilding Division contest!
You have to go back to the 1980's and even a bit before. Female Bodybuilding emerged from marketing.
The Weiders, and then many training equipment companies and supplement companies, saw a potential 50% of their market missing. Or a 50% opportunity for the taking. Women. Men were the only market they had aimed for previously. Thus, Women like Rachel McLish appeared and were promoted heavily.
Things started slowly, women hesitated to even train for any sport with weights, lifting weights would be considered a masculine thing to do up to the late 1970's.
In the 80's things started to get interesting, with Bodybuilding contests gathering pace, but then women like Bev Francis appeared, who wanted to win with sheer muscle, over an acceptable slightly more than toned look.
The marketing people were shocked, Bev was frowned upon, and marked down many places. This was repeated many times with other athletes, the IFBB were trying to moderate extreme development, and keep a marketable sport for the advertisers and promoters.
But things started to slide. Where even padded bikini's were disallowed in the 1980's, and only plain colours, no sequins etc, in the 90's and new millennium, change happened a pace. Bigger, more ripped, cosmetic surgery, less PED regulation, etc. A few rebalances were attempted. Less ripped look, and attempt again to downsize the women, but the size creep continued.
Then we get to the last years of the MS O. FBB was considered the top division to aspire to up to then, but the extreme size was not attracting support from the promoters, the women were not marketable to mainstream clients. In the early years, new women appeared every contest. In the last years of the first Ms O era, few new women wanted to get that big, a large gap between Figure and FBB had appeared, the jump up divisions was too much for new athletes to make.
Also, there was concern for the welfare of the women. Taking PEDS without the right instruction, when you don't know what you are doing, is very dangerous. The IFBB has a duty of care for it's athletes.
If women chose to take PEDS and get massive to satisfy their needs, and the needs of schmoes, that is there concern. But to win a contest, that should concern the IFBB / NPC. Period.
So the FBB was dropped from IFBB / NPC in favour of Physique. Some FBB's downsized to compete, but an FBB Physique does not downsize very well. Even Figure girls Like Lyndsey Cope, with an outstanding symmetrical shape, were considered too big for Physique. Some fans still seem in denial of Physique Division. I firmly believe FBB would have been set back years without Physique to keep the interest there, and create the new athletes we see today breathing new life and talent into the now growing again FBB division.
But athletes will always want to run faster, lift heavier, be better. So Physique in 2015 on was already coming of age, with women as big or bigger than amateur bodybuilders were in 2010.
And by 2015 FBB was coming back. Not because of supplement companies this time, but because of fan pressure, big investment and drive from Tim Gardner, and the support of Jim Manion among many others, support the IFBB Elite organisation are yet to offer Female Bodybuilders. Now we have, something that seemed unlikely 10 years ago, the return of the Ms O. A new opportunity for new athletes, and a chance to also see some of the recent greats of the sport. Now is the right time for FBB to return, and is should be the top contest that athletes aspire to, should they decide to move through the ranks from Bikini, right up to FBB.
I hope that lessons from the past are learnt, and FBB goes from strength to strength, whilst ensuring fair play and concern for athletes health. As much as you can do, anyway, because FBB is not a healthy sport to be in.
Certainly, many companies now rely on the sport, which, strangely, is probably a good thing to ensure it continues. From simple plain coloured bikini's in the 1980's and 90's, now highly decorated bikini's, with multi colours and sequins are allowed. These cost upwards of $350 a suit. Make up is important, hair pieces are expensive. Go to Figure and Bikini, you add on special shoes as well. There is a lot more money in the women's sport now, than the Weiders ever imagined. Let alone all the supplements and equipment and training, coaching for posing, make up, physio, gym clothing and membership, it takes a lot of money to get a woman on stage. A man buys a pair of trunks or shorts of you are in men's Physique.
Regarding sexuality, all sports should welcome all. Tennis has many lesbians, for example, so is women's tennis masculine? No.
Wigs? Many women in FBB wear them. It is a fact of taking PED's. Same as being treated for cancer. Some people are lucky not to have much hair loss, others lose a lot. Wigs can be very expensive, so shaving the head is an option, rather than appear with a very receded hairline. It does not necessarily indicate sexuality. Many women are very careful not to appear on Inst@gram showing their hair while training, others do. At Physique and FBB level, assume most athletes have hair loss and hair gain in other areas, it is quite normal.
I don't see these issues as damaging to the sport, it is progress, it is change. Without change, there is no interest, no evolution.
There is no decline in women's bodybuilding overall when you include all divisions. The FBB Division almost disappeared, but now it is growing again, thanks to the new Physique athletes that now have somewhere to move up to, if that is what they want. And Physique continues to be fuelled by Figure athletes moving up, etc.