I do agree with you BroadBlogs, you don’t find rippled males in mainstream media, only men that are are wearing clothes that pretty much hide the body. But calendars, magazines and content depicturing men in an erotic manner do indeed exist, it’s just not that easy to find. I’m actually a male model and performer myself, so I know such content is around, but it’s harder to find. The rest of this comment will put my opinion on display and I’ll try to back it up with some of my own experiences as a male model/performer.

As you point out, there are several reasons as to why depicturing the male body in an erotic manner isn’t more widespread. The male media control is one of them, which also means less interest among women. This is a mutual relationship, less interest among women means that it’s not as lucrative, and less content means less interest.

But it’s not just women themselves that contribute to the lack of content, because I’d say men in general can’t see themselves as models, as an object of desire either, and it’s an established truth that men go to the gym to work out to become stronger and not to build and maintain a body for aesthetic purposes, and the same reluctancy applies to keeping on track during diets and low-carbs periods of “ripping”. I’m not afraid of admitting my occupation to anyone, but I have been ridiculed sometimes by male acquaintances when I tell them I can’t go to that barbeque because of preparation for a photosession or erotic performance.

Another reason is also the fact that so many companies employing male models/performers are male, and the photographers are often male. Oh yes, that has implications. While you wouldn’t believe it should matter at first glance, think about it. Women know what other women want, so instead of male managers and photographers pretending they know what women want. Very often, when there are other men in control, extremely muscular men are being used as models, while in my opinion a somewhat muscular, ripped body is what even more women desire to see. Since women have a better understanding of other women, they are much better at seeing just that. And that’s my goal when maintaining in the gym.

Further, something that both myself and a few other male models have experienced is that photosessions with a male photographer seems a bit unnatural. Not necessarily because he’s a guy, but it’s awkwardly mechanical and doesn’t really facilitate the necessary trust, confidence and sensuality — which in turn will affect the result negatively. I remember my first time in front of the camera as a 21 year old, with a male photographer. I won’t elaborate much on that, let’s just say it wasn’t a success. “Stand over there and take off your clothes” doesn’t really do it when you’re not experienced and shy for the first time. Female photographers seem to be much more…gracious and mild, yet focused to get a perfect result – a good combination for the job.

As 22 I was hired by a company with female staff and found the athmosphere to be more relaxing myself. The first time I was really shy, but the photographer was so supportive, and so was the rest of the staff – the requirement is still high, but beginners are handled very gently where I work in order to get used to performing and exposing in front of the camera. And there’s also a doctor there to check upon your health from time to time, the main concern is having as low level of body fat as possible without reaching dangerously low levels during “ripping” periods before photosessions. There’s really not that many places with that kind of support.

To round off, all of this comes down to the last comment in the original post about women being on the “person side” of the distinction between being the subject and the object. But it’s possible to be a person on both sides of the line as long as you are treating the object with respect. Yes, one may be objectified and have beauty evaluated (you’re constantly evaluated by a “panel” represented by the staff in our company every three months or so), but as long as that’s carried out with respect and dignity, being an object isn’t necessarily such a bad thing.

I think that the way in which we have come to celebrate (or exploit) the female body and not the man’s has a great deal to do with the media, as was mentioned in the post. Being such a male dominated field for so long, we were constantly exposed to what men found sexy, and women’s views were ignored. As a result, we have become so accustomed to seeing exposed female bodies and associating them with sexiness. The lack of male counterparts for us to ogle also left us to focus on women. Also, this has made it acceptable for women to look upon other women as sexy and to admire the way they look, or the way their bodies curve, but in today’s society, for a man to do the same to another man would inspire the assumption that he was homosexual and prompt homophobic comments. It is so rare to see men and their bodies being objectified as women are that to try to envision a world where these roles are reversed is very strange and takes quite a bit of effort, but as more and more women are being found working in the media world, perhaps one day this won’t be such a difficult picture to imagine.

I never thought about how I personally forget about the beauty of the man’s body. It’s true how you say that the woman’s body is always put out there in skimpy clothing and fantasized about, whereas the man’s body is usually kept under cover with bulk underneath. It’s sad how it is impossible to get away from the double standards everywhere. When my fiance and I met I always internally referenced how I thought his body reminded me of Hercules or some other ancient warrior, but now I do not consider other men’s bodies as an object of desire. Maybe it’s due to the fact that we’ve been together almost a decade and nearly married. Hopefully there will be someday when advertising can gets its point across without having to bear it all.