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 One of the more interesting trends in contemporary society is that masculinity is becoming a subject for scrutiny and re-evaluation. Nowhere is this more evident than in visual culture.
While feminists have for decades rightly criticised the ways women are depicted in advertising and on film and television, nowadays images of men are coming in for equal attention, especially as stripped-down male bodies adorn more and more magazines, billboards and cinema screens.
University academics in Cultural Studies and other disciplines are busily turning out research on maleness in Western and other societies, but sometimes social conventions about masculinity, and visual depictions of males, are also becoming the subject of public discussion.
One example is the concern expressed by some people about body image amongst adolescents and younger men.
The issue was recently revived by the release of a study conducted by charity organisation Mission Australia. The study suggests that a sizable minority of young males are experiencing difficulties in self-esteem brought on by expectations about physique and attractiveness that are promoted in advertisements, health magazines, movies and other media. Their survey of 28,000 young people aged 11 to 24 found that body image was a major concern for nearly 30 per cent of males within that age group.
Of course, being concerned about one’s self-image is a standard part of adolescence, so it’s debatable whether this research is really uncovering something new. But there’s no doubt that aestheticised and eroticised images of younger males are more prominent in society today than ever before.
Just as women have long been pressured into judging themselves according to standards of beauty that only some can realistically conform to, men are now also being subjected to physical ideals that many could never attain, no matter how much time they spend at the gym.
On the gay scene, the cult of the male body beautiful is nothing new; but anyone who cruises down an inner-city strip or suburban shopping complex will invariably see straight guys who are also trying to pump and groom themselves into muscular Adonises.
Nevertheless, I suspect that claims of a body image problem among men are being exaggerated in light of the fact that obesity is far more prevalent than the gym bunny syndrome. Even among gay men there are probably plenty who haven’t exercised regularly since compulsory Phys. Ed. in high school, so obviously not everyone is feeling the pressure.
Importantly, while most men can no more expect to look like Antonio Sabato Jnr. than women can model themselves on Kate Moss, the growth of aesthetic masculinity is turning the tables on one of the fundamental conventions of heterosexuality in our society, which requires that the male be the active viewing subject and the female be the object viewed.
This in turn is undermining one of the unspoken assumptions of heterosexism: that male bodies shouldn’t be treated as sex objects for everyone’s viewing pleasure. It’s as if there’s a deep-seated fear in society that if too much attention is focused on masculine sex appeal, then not just women but men as well will be encouraged to view each other in ways that compromise their heterosexuality.
If that’s the case, then the new masculine aestheticism is a good thing. While some people are talking about ‘body image oppression crossing the gender divide’, the growing interest in the male body as an aesthetic object is only a problem if the images and ideals it promotes are so narrow or unattainable that its potential for freeing people from the conventions of compulsory heterosexuality is undermined.
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