There are those who remained utterly devoted to a single woman.
Take my virtual friend for example. As long as we've been in touch he's been putting together tribute after tribute to his favourite FBB. Sure, his head's been turned every now and then by other muscle women, but in the end he always comes back to his Yaxeni, and his devotion shows no sign of waning. Quite the opposite in fact.
And then there are those who are devoted to a type. Usually the big type.
They express their devotion on those Tumblr blogs where day after day they dutifully post pics and gifs and clips of the biggest muscle women ever for your viewing pleasure. Take Embrace the Size, for example, which actually has a lot more variety than some, and its parade of "classic" and new images of massive muscle women.
Compared to these fans, yours truly is positively fickle.
Sure I have my "favourites" from the past 30 years of female muscle lovin'. My "old school" faves, the first women who brought out the sthenolagniac in me. There's my "all-time" faves, and my "knock knock knockin' on the all-time faves' door" faves, women who are still active in the world of female bodybuilding and who will enter the "all-time" pantheon one day. Because you have to be retired to get in there you see.
My pantheon, my rules!
All pretty obsessive stuff. All my favourites compartmentalized into sub-sections. Rules about who gets to go where. I've obviously thought about this far too much, but actually it's worse than that. I hope you are sitting down because you know all these greats of the past - Anja Langer, Sharon Bruneau, Denise Hoshor, Gina Davis, Dena Westerfield, Marja Lehtonen and so on - they're not really my favourites.
My real obsession is with the new.
It's what drives me to obsessively follow what's happening in competitions at home and abroad, in federations big and small. It's what I find so addictive about following these women - usually on Instagram, sometimes on Facebook, rarely on Twitter - as they hone their physiques in preparation for an upcoming show. New everyday.
Discovering women I'd never heard of or seen before is as exciting - if not more exciting - than that. Again, obsessively checking the images of the unfamiliar name who finished 4th in Physique at an NPC state level show is something you will often find me doing, NPC News Online my preferred source. The forums too, Girls with Muscle and the one whose first rule is... are great places for discovering women you never knew existed. Fans even more obsessed with finding the next big thing are out there, and I truly appreciate that they really want to share their new discoveries with us.
A list of the women I have come across for the first time since I started the blog just over five years ago would be ridiculously long. Some of the biggest thrills I've had in those five and a bit years would include seeing Cindy Landolt (pre-enhancements), Kashma Maharaj, Shannon Courtney (now that really was a rush I'll never forget!), and Sexy Sophie Arvebrink for the first time. Aleesha, Dani Reardon, Theresa Ivancik, Cris Goy Arellano, Marthe Sundby, Margie Martin...
New, thrilling delights. New women to follow. It's what I live for.
I guess, and again I have probably thought about this a bit too much, that what I am realy after is that same thrill I once got from seeing a female bodybuilder for the first time. Carolyn Cheshire on UK TV, Anja Langer on the cover of Muscle & Fitness in my local newsagent's, the first GMV VHS I bought that had contest footage...
The rush of those moments is what I crave, the thrill of the new.
Of course it's a losing game. I'll never see a female bodybuilder for the first time again. I'll never buy a muscle magazine for the cover picture for the first time again. I'll never see footage of FBBs doing their routines for the first time again. Ever.
But sometimes, today's Instagram post by Eleonora Dobrinina, or a still from a camshow with Natalia Trukhina that turns up a Tumblr blog, or wondering what this Amanda Smith who won her class at the Canadian Nationals looks like, or coming across a thread on a forum entitled "The Incredible Cass Martin"... well, they don't quite hit the same heights as those very first experiences, but it's damn close.
And ultimately I think, this is what keeps me blogging. If all I wanted to do was write about my "old school" or "all-time" or some other group of past favourites, I - and I dare say you - would have got bored of this blog long before it reached its 5th anniversary. While I remain addicted, obsessed with chasing the thrill of the new, there will always be wonderful women - both known and as yet unknown - to write about.
And I hope you'll enjoy them with me.