An Autoethnography of Bodybuilding Visual Culture, Aesthetic Experience, and Performed Masculinity

Abstract

This autoethnographic study examines the social history of bodybuilding along with personal testimonies of those with experience in weight training and bodybuilding to raise awareness of aesthetic experiences found within the culture of physique. The author explores aesthetic experiences in both the formal and performative sense as frames for reflecting on his adolescent pursuits as an amateur bodybuilder in order to deconstruct the visual archetypes of bodybuilding and their impact on his formative notions of maleness.