The Male Body: A New Look at Men in Public and in Private

This is a complex and detailed account of why there have traditionally been fewer eroticized images of the male body in modern American culture. The short answer is that our cultural perspective reflects the perspective of those in power: white, straight, wealthy, men. This population likes to look at straight and mostly white women and eschews the spotlight themselves, which would invite criticism and scrutiny that they have had the luxury of avoiding. Bardo notices that to the degree straight women and gay men accumulate more economic power, they also provide a market for the eroticized images they prefer: beautiful male bodies. As a result, male beauty products are proliferating. Far from creating a world of gender equality and social justice, Bardo notes that no one can escape the exploitation inherent in capitalism and consumerism.

I picked this book as one of my "optional" books for a graduate school course, but would choose a different book if I could go back in time and make that choice all over again. I was not impressed by this book. The author is female, and approaches male bodies from a very female/woman-centric point of view. I would much have preferred to read about how men themselves view their bodies in public and private, based on a male author's point of view, not an outsider's point of view. The author also uses a very media-focused lens in her examination of male bodies. This could be interesting...but the media she uses - especially the movies and tv shows - are all older movies and shows and I was not familiar with the majority of them. If she had given some sort of introduction about the plot and backgrounds of the media she discusses, perhaps I would have been able to follow her train of thought, but she did not. She just jumped right into discussing a particular character from a particular show without any exposition. I found myself skimming a lot of the book, trying to find any stories or information I could connect to, but found very little. I was also frustrated that her analyses of men and their bodies hinged so much on stereotypes of men and male bodies. This is where a male point of view would have been particularly helpful and interesting to hear, so someone might actually verify or discredit those stereotypes, rather than just reinforcing them with unfamiliar media references.

I really found the book to be insightful and revealing in many ways. It was not condescending or feminist and gave a pretty well-rounded view of we men. I highly recommend it to every man to help understand why we are seen the way that we are by society, by women, by other men, and by ourselves.The book does fall short in it's "contemporary" observations...from 1998. The constant references to Ally McBeal and other late 90's pop culture were at times difficult to take seriously, or remember for that fact. For anyone who was not an adult at that time those references might make cloudy the points she is trying to make. If you can see past that then you will read a great book.

Not as interesting as the description made it sound to be...

Was hoping for a book with more images. But this is apparently not the one.

An fascinating and in-depth investigation of the modern view of the male body, male stereotypes, and male portrayal in literature and film. Definitely worth a read for anyone interested in the subject of guys.

Every man should read it.

best male character well written...