Images of Masculinity: An Oldie, and not a goodie.
I won’t say much about this ad, save that is canonical in terms of aspirational hegemonic white masculinity. Cultural references to it abound, and are deeply embedded. Sadly, I don’t think much has changed at all……
(pic from the internet)
Explore posts in the same categories: gender, MasculinityTags: Charles Atlas, Hegemonic Masculinity, Hypermasculinity, Images, Masculinity
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Critical Masculinities 
February 17, 2010 at 8:02 pm
Actually you’re right – the acai berry scams and “1 simple trick discovered by a mom” rely on exactly the same level of credulity.
PBF did a nice homage to this: http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF228-The_Masculator.jpg
February 17, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Old advertisements and stuff like that fascinate me. They had more or less the same messages that they still have today… but in a far more obvious manner that makes me want to laugh and cry.
February 17, 2010 at 11:50 pm
Hmm, Nio – things may have not changed that much
This is from a “get ripped in 4 weeks” ad
February 18, 2010 at 8:48 pm
I showed this post to my sister’s boyfriend, Billy. He’s been struggling with body image since he was a preteen (he’s now 28). I know from his story that it can be very difficult for men who are not muscular to think of their bodies positively. Mainly I think this is because men have been portrayed by the media as either “manly” (muscular-build) or “wimpy” (skinny-ish). Billy also tells me that he thinks that the media tends to portray skinny men as being homosexual or being nerdy. Since I am not a man who is concerned about his body, I have not been paying attention well enough to comment on that. Nonetheless, I think advertisements these days have not gotten that much better than this one!