A cheerful but probing look at the male form, seeking to prove that
similar myths, fantasies, and pressures have been applied to men's
and women's bodies, with some surprising parallel effects on the
male and female mind. Bordo (English and Women's Studies/Univ, of
Kentucky) begins her airing of the male body with her father's
penis. That is, the fact that she could not imagine it leads the
author to conclude that society has never bombarded us with male
bodies in film, literature, magazines, and advertisements as it has
done with the female form. In the vein of Roland Barthes, Bordo
plows through some of the more disturbing and graphic myths of the
phallus in modern times, using Philip Roth, Jockey ads, romance
novels, and Seinfeld (among others) to infuse humor into such
subjects as the pressure to "perform," the stereotyped ubermensch
of hardened body and heart, and gender roles in the home. A
recurring question is whether men and women react differently to
images of the opposite sex, and Bardo answers with a resounding no.
Gay culture and African-American culture, the author argues, have
contributed greatly to the reintroduction of beauty to the male
body, as their attitudes about public display and preening fashion
have altered the mainstream American conception of masculinity. The
modern man is bewildered by women's conflicting ideas as to what
this male essence should be, the serene and sensitive "nice guy" or
the aggressive beast and sexual machine that the mass media reifies
as the only unadulterated man. The author occasionally moves too
far afield, dedicating entire chapters to the Lewinsky affair and
Lolita, but these too are written with style, humor, and insight.
Bordo may get personal but is never too serious, and her work
underlines some surprising commonalities and differences between
the sexes without a whiff of demagoguery. (Kirkus Reviews)
An exciting new popular study of the male body--fresh, honest, and full of revelations
In this surprising, candid cultural analysis, Susan Bordo begins with a frank, tender look at her own father's body and goes on to perceptively scrutinize the presentation of maleness in everyday life.
Men's (and women's) ideas about men's bodies are heavily influenced by society's expectations, and Bordo helps us understand where those ideas come from. In chapters on the penis (in all its incarnations), fifties Hollywood, male beauty standards, and sexual harassment, and in discussions of topics ranging from Marlon Brando and Boogie Nights to Philip Roth and Lady Chatterley's Lover, Bordo offers fresh and unexpected insights. Always--whether she is examining Michael Jordan or Humbert Humbert, the butch phallus or her own grade-school experiences--she rejects rigid categories in favor of an honest, nuanced version of men as flesh-and-blood human beings.
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