3x Ms. Olympia Andrea Shaw is no stranger to the treatment women’s division has faced in the bodybuilding world. For five years, the division was removed from the biggest bodybuilding competitions. Sitting down for an interview with Generation Iron in 2022, Shaw shared her opinion on what and who is the reason that women’s division is looked down upon.

For the unversed, the women’s division was removed from the biggest bodybuilding contests, like the Olympia Weekend and Arnold Classic, after 2014. The only contest left for female bodybuilders to compete in during that time was the Wings of Strength Rising Phoenix World Championship. It wasn’t until 2020 that the owner of this contest brought the Olympia franchise and relaunched the women’s division into the contest. However, the question still stands: Why was it removed in the first place?

Andrea Shaw talks about why the women were targeted

While the bodybuilding world is all about muscles and strength, the feminity of women bodybuilders is often questioned, in case they are too muscular. However, they are also looked down upon if they are not muscular enough. Andrea Shaw reasoned that if one digs deeper into the matter, one’ll discover who is causing the ruckus.

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“A lot of it are usually men. They are usually men. When you break most of it down, some of these men are insecure because they don’t have muscle and they wish they could,” said the 3x Ms. Olympia. Shaw added that when men fail to get what they want, they target women. Andrea Shaw said, “So then the target becomes the woman…but it’s bodybuilding”

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Furthermore, Andrea Shaw questioned why different gender is a thing in the competition. “What difference does it make if it’s a man or a woman?” The organizers, however, tried to justify the discontinuation of the division.

Who were the perpetrators behind the removal, and how did they justify it?

In the interview, Andrea Shaw blamed the owners and organizers of the competition for removing the division. Shaw believes that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s staff were the first ones to pull out. Later, AMI, who were the joint owners of the venture along with IFBB, followed suit. Gradually, other competitions also removed the division, except one.

They cited the unpopularity of the division as the reason behind the removal. However, Andrea Shaw doesn’t agree with the claim. Shaw believes that Women’s bodybuilding has always been popular. Without it, there would be no female representation in the sport. She said that though the division wasn’t unpopular; it was so to Arnold’s team and AMI. Andrea Shaw has bagged three Ms. Olympia titles since Jake Wood reintroduced the division in 2020.

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What do you think about Shaw’s comments? Let us know.