Bodybuilder Kristen McGregor says that the perception of females sporting muscular bodies is beginning to change in Jamaica — a little at a time.

McGregor will become Jamaica’s first-ever participant in a Miss Olympia competition when she takes part in the figure section of the competition in Orlando, Florida on November 3.

But competing is the easy part as McGregor has to deal with the daily stares, quizzical looks and even intrusive questions by Jamaicans who are clearly in awe of the transformed femine body.

“I’m not nervous. The truth is, I really do bodybuilding for me. So, regardless of people really looking to say ‘She’s really the hit, she just came outta nowhere and her physique is spectacular’ — I appreciate it, thank you very much — but it’s not like I’m thinking I’m the thing now; it’s more that I appreciate it,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

McGregor says she recently found fame on social media when a video of her went viral because of her physique. However, the general perception of women sporting an athletic physique in Jamaica is that they are not feminine.

“When I walk on the streets, there are times I do feel a little uncomfortable because of the stares,” McGregor shared. “A lot of people just stare, but when I approach them to say, ‘Hi, why are you staring?’ you’ll get the response of ‘I like your physique’.”

McGregor is pleased that more women are beginning to appreciate the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and also a lean and athletic physique.

“You’ll have a lot of women who’ll say you have a beautiful physique and a lot of women also who frown upon it, saying I’m too muscular for a woman,” she said. “I think Jamaica is not there to appreciate it as yet, but slowly and surely, we are coming into that reality of fitness and health, so a lot of females are looking for muscles now. Back then, it wasn’t about muscles – they just wanted to look toned.”

But McGregor still has some negative interactions with men who she says behave threatened when they look at her, although others have told her they found her body type attractive.

“The men are very egotistical when they see me,” she said. “Their insecurities are really high. A lot of men want to find out, ‘Can you lift more than me?’ when I’m just trying to mind my own business.

“But I do find a lot of men are very attracted to me and they fantasise about women who look like this. Sometimes, I feel uncomfortable about their approach but then I guess a man is a man.”

McGregor, the daughter of tennis administrator Llockett McGregor, has always been used to a sporting lifestyle, having started out as a sprinter. After sprinting, she played rugby union, before realising her calling in bodybuilding.

“My dad didn’t try to force us to do tennis,” she said. “He allowed us to pick our own path. So, I started out in track and field. In the summers, we’d go to tennis camp and we’d play tennis and that’s where I learned it but I didn’t do actual tennis training. He has three girls and none of us took up tennis. Bodybuilding worked with me and I work with bodybuilding.”