The Male Body by Susan Bordo
A New Look at Men in Public and in Private
This book examines how Western culture has shaped and policed the male body, tracing historical and contemporary shifts in ideals of strength, beauty, and vulnerability across art, sport, advertising, medicine, and popular culture. Drawing on feminist cultural theory, it argues that men are increasingly subject to visual scrutiny and consumerized body practices—fitness regimes, grooming, and cosmetic procedures—while myths of masculine invulnerability conceal real anxieties, aging, and pain. By analyzing race, class, sexuality, and representations of muscularity and stoicism, the author shows that narrow ideals of masculinity inflict social and psychological costs and that male embodiment is politically charged and historically contingent rather than naturally given.
- Published
- 1999
- Nationality
- American
- Length
- Unknown
- Pages
- Unknown
- Original Language
- English
- Avg User Rating
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(2.0)
- Alternate Titles
- None
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