Behold the Man

The Hype and Selling of Male Beauty in Media and Culture

Edisol Dotson (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

188 Seiten

1999
Routledge (Verlag)
978-0-7890-0634-9 (ISBN)

Infos

The first comprehensive study of how images of male beauty are projected onto society, Behold the Man: The Hype and Selling of Male Beauty in Media and Culture examines the role media and society play in creating the image of the idealized male. This book explores how these images are interpreted by all genders and sexual orientations in order to investigate the phenomenon’s effect on the self-esteem of adolescent and adult males. Behold the Man provides you with research and examples that identify this problem from many angles to help you realize that being a man is more than merely possessing muscles and good looks.Discussing examples in which both attractive men and women are idealized as “the norm,” Behold the Man argues that men are experiencing the same injustices as women--splashed on the covers of magazines and in advertisements, based on their sex appeal, sometimes to promote nothing more than their looks. Within Behold the Man, you‘ll find topics that relate to the reasons for and effects of male beauty standards, such as:



aspects of male beauty, from Ancient Greek ideals to how it is visualized throughout history in art
the vision of “the ideal male,” along with sexual connotations, in advertisements for clothing, cologne, sunglasses, automobiles, and shaving products
the emphasis of strong, well-built males and their bodies in movies, music videos, and literature
how men alter their bodies by dieting and cosmetic surgery to achieve the look found in advertisements
today’s growing numbers of male eating disorders caused by the notion that only good-looking, muscular men are acceptable
reasons behind the exploitation of the male body and the double standards for male beauty found within gay male communities
how advertisers and authors faithfully follow the “bigger is better” theory--from pectoral and bicep muscles to penis sizeRecognizing how society has created and changed the appearance of the ideal male, this text explains to you the danger men of all ages face who feel they need to be physically handsome to be desirable. From Behold the Man, you’ll learn about the real messages of advertising and media, the problems they cause, and that true self-worth cannot be measured by physical attributes.

Autor

Edisol Dotson (Author)

Inhalt

Contents
Preface



Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1. Where We Are
The New Man Emerges
Chapter 2. Fine Lines: Painting, Sculpture, and Photography
The Early Aesthetes
The Renaissance of Man
Modern Heroes
Art As Sex
Picture This
In Defense of Stereotypes
Chapter 3. A Real Head Turner: Fiction
Myths and Legends
Romancing the Body
Best-Selling Bodies
Pink Pages
Bedtime Bodies
Chapter 4. Buy Me: Advertising
The Smell of It
Briefing the Stereotype
Gorilla Suits
The Apparel Oft Proclaims the Man
Accessories and Then Some Make the Man
If It Says So in a Magazine, It Must Be True
Here’s the Beef
Chapter 5. Me Tarzan, You Wimp: Films
Good Bodies
Bad Bodies
Soft Bodies, Aging Sex Symbols, and Rubber Suits
Chapter 6. Body Guide: Television
Prime-Time Beef
Daytime Hunks
Singing the Body Fantastic
Chapter 7. Bigger Is Better: Pornography and Erotica
The Male Centerfold
Chapter 8. Skin and Bones: Dieting and Eating Disorders
Chapter 9. The Unkindest Cut of All: Cosmetic Surgery
Popular Procedures
What Price Beauty?
Chapter 10. The Fitness Fallacy: Muscles
Sex and Salvation
Muscles Equal Survival
Muscle Medicine
Chapter 11. Is He Cute?: Gay Male Culture
The Real Men of Gay Sex
Going for the Gay Dollar
The Gay Media
Chapter 12. Where Do We Go from Here?
Notes
Index

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 7.1.1999
• Verlagsort: New York
• Sprache: englisch
• Maße: 152 x 229 mm
• Gewicht: 453 g
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Gesundheit / Leben / Psychologie
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
• ISBN-10: 0-7890-0634-0 / 0789006340
• ISBN-13: 978-0-7890-0634-9 / 9780789006349
• Zustand: Neuware