Why do some women form a body figure like men?

Answer 1

Physiologically?

Hormones, hormones and then some more hormones :P. Normally most women, even through doing heavy weight lifting routines won't build muscle like a man, lack of enough testosterone amongst other things, but extreme dieting and taking hormone supplements, and or certain hormone blockers can change things. "Natural" female body building competitions with hormone testing show whilst they do have more muscle it's nowhere near as extreme as none tested competitions.

Mentally?

Now this is the question and very thorny ground. Maybe there is low self esteem, I'm only postulating based on interviews I've seen with male body builders many of which report being bullied when younger and the general correlation between body dismorphia and low self esteem though. That said many who aim to achieve such bodies would argue that they don't have body dismorphia and would put forward other reasons, maybe it gives them a feeling of empowerment or control? - again I'm postulating. Additionally some women genetically produce more hormones associated with muscle growth than others as well.

Question: should we judge others' looks by our own preconceptions of what they should look like? Eg "Why do some women form a body like a man", suggesting their body is unwomanly, but what is a "woman's" body as what constitutes this is culturally dependent and has changed over time. For example, larger women used to be preferred and still are in some African communities due to associations with fertility, recently in Europe size zero models have rather worryingly become the vogue due to the fashion industry.

That said female bodybuilders may be at an increased risk of developing the female athlete triad (eating disorder, lack of menstruation and low bone mass) if they don't eat properly, conversely if they do eat properly then they may have improved bone mass due to the beneficial effects of weight training if done properly*. I don't know about other potentially negative effects though eg whether there is a long term risk of fertility issues, organ failure etc.

*It's a common misconception that those that take hormones get big "cut" muscles by just the supplementation alone they still need to do a lot of work down the gym. Basically abusing hormones is potentially risky and doesn't stop you having to work hard to get the body you want.

Maybe we should challenge preconceptions about normality not by pushing the biological envelope of our bodies to challenge such attitudes, but by pushing the spiritual envelope of our minds to accept that that is not the same as us, as we ourselves want to be, or to accept that which falls outside the media defined concept of "normality" / perhaps I'm just "weird" though :P