11 Comments on “BEEFCAKE: gay men and the body beautiful (UCL)”

  1. What I loathe even more than the gay community’s obsession with muscle is
    the treatment of those in the gay community who are known as “muscle
    marys”. They are treated almost like demigods which only reaffirms the
    community’s attitudes towards body image. The community’s approach to body
    image drove me to an eating disorder. I find the whole “community” a
    negative, depressing arena – gays wanted some solidarity away from the
    “evil” straight world yet are more judgmental & fragmented than ever

  2. This has been a very engaging presentation, but the core issue of the
    desire for the beautiful and the biologically immanence of the desire for
    the beautiful cannot be avoided. We cannot change what the deepest voices
    in our minds say. Also, gay men have few brakes, subculturally or
    practically, on their sexual practice. Additionally, gay culture (and
    modern secular culture) lacks any spirituality or transcendence, so that
    the culture is stuck in the body, sensation, the visual, etc.

  3. we live in a society to screw each other over for the mighty Benjamin. It
    will never stop….sad but true.

  4. What a bunch of pseudo-academic sob sisters! Masculine ideals have been a
    part of most world cultures. They are not just a product of capitalism or
    the West. In fact, so-called “heteronormative” (what a ridiculous word)
    rules are much more oppressive in non-western cultures.

  5. Yes and the problem is that many gay men and the gay culture in general
    have adopted many heteronormative ideas, they try to conform to the
    “traditional male gender”, and afraid beeing non-traditional they afraid to
    show feminine traits. There is another word for this: Cis-conformity,
    gender policing. And the other problem is that people are just
    unquestioningly following “the rules of society”, they take it as self
    evident. That is social-conditioning. The gay culture needs to have a
    revoluton.

  6. incorrect. example: average Japanese women are attracted to a more feminine
    look in younger men, as we westerners would call it. Also, cosmetics are
    more acceptable by men in non western cultures (especially in European
    culture) than other cultures. There has been a recent rise in Muscle
    building culture in India suddenly when introduction of western sports
    goods and media took a rise quite recently.

  7. Thank you for uploading this! I am a gay man in my late 20’s who has
    struggled with this issue.

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