Behold the Men

Sorry about the long absence. I've had computer trouble that made blogging a real pain in the neck. Now that I've got everything fixed, I should be posting more regularly.

For those of you interested in the psychology of male body image and how the "ideal male body" is created in our culture, read Edisol W. Dotson's BEHOLD THE MAN: THE HYPE AND SELLING OF MALE BEAUTY IN MEDIA AND CULTURE. What I found surprising about this book is that it didn't just zero in on the usual topics: eating disorders, cosmetic surgery, and magazines like GQ and MUSCLE & FITNESS. Rather, the book took a total view on how the male body image is constructed, and talked about a few very surprising things: for instance, the role of the obsession with physical fitness in Nazi Germany and most interesting of all (especially from the point of view of this blog) the creation of men as objects to be packaged and sold in soap operas and romance novels (for women) and gay pornography (for men).

Intriguingly, the book even mentions the vampire phenomenon, although they exclusively link it to Anne Rice (the book was published in 1999). It would be interesting for the publishers to release a revised edition with information on the colossal TWILIGHT phenomenon, which is centered around the desirability of an idealized male figure.

The trouble with the book is, it lacks a certain historical perspective. For the evolution of the male body image, especially from the 19th Century, read HOUDINI, TARZAN AND THE PERFECT MAN: THE WHITE MALE BODY AND THE CHALLENGE OF MODERNITY IN AMERICA by John F. Kasson. The great part about his book is not only the liberal references to our coolest president, Theodore Roosevelt, but also why it argues the male physique became so important in that era. With the West settled and no outlet for men to prove their maleness, the growth of faceless, huge cities that threatened autonomy and individualism, and finally the perceived threat of suffragettes and women's independence to masculinity, the body became a way for men to prove their manliness. The 5'2", 100 pound Houdini sounds like the odd man out in the title, but he really isn't: Kasson argued that Houdini's escapes was a symbol of heroic masculinity, a release from confinement.

One of the biggest and least analyzed historical trends was the idea that a return to the wilderness was necessary for men to really become men. This was the era that saw the rise of Summer Camps, which sought to turn boys into little Indians (hence the Indian names), and the Boy Scouts, that sought to turn boys into little soldiers.