In his project "No Muscle Can Stretch Itself", Sjoerd Houben follows men and women in their passion for bodybuilding. This project is a visual investigation into the blurring and perpetuation of underlying gender roles and stereotypes within the subculture. Bodybuilders, male or female, strive for the same goal: to attain muscular, heavily sculpted bodies through training and discipline, and to display their physique during a competition.
While male bodybuilding often emphasizes the differences between genders, seeing muscles as an expression of masculinity and power, female bodybuilding challenges the idea of women as the weaker gender; the female bodybuilder embodies strength and defies imposed gender roles simply by participating.
