Apparently the models above represent the new ideal male model. And what do they say? Incipient annorexia.
Should mothers start worrying about their sons? Sisters about the brothers? Lovers about their beloveds?
The question “Why not” might lead us to consider whether it is elements in our culture that link fashion models to women’s desirability, but not men’s. Largely disregarding cultural influence, evolutionary psychology tends to connect men’s desirability to signs of power and women’s to signs of fertility. On such a view, annorexia is presumably fertile youthfulness badly misconstrued, which for men would create the clearly unattractive appearance of powerlessness.
So perhaps the new look in male models will give us a test of the origins of annorexia; can culture lead men to starve themselves?
For my self, having found supermarkets sometimes problematized by the recent presence of male agression in the aisles, I am not looking forward to battling men over fashion magazines at the hair dressers’. Somehow I don’t think that’s where this is going.
What’s more, I noted on accidently looking in at the new “aesthetics center” when I visited my doctor at the Women’s Health Care Center (!) that there was not a man in sight. (Do prostate specialists partner with aesthetic clinics?) I can report depressingly that just glancing through the list of what they could do rattled my self image.
Actually, I just remembered that the evol.psych story about men has recently gotten a lot more complicated. During some times of a woman’s cycle power is attractive, but at other times dependability seems more so, it is now said.
There are already men with eating disorders, and some of your readers may already be worried about their fathers, sons, or lovers. Although the majority of anorexia and bulimia patients are female, not all of them are. And not surprisingly, men are at higher risk for eating disorders when you put them under a lot of pressure to be thin (e.g., because they’re in a sport that requires them to maintain a really low body weight, or because they’re gay and in an environment that places a lot of emphasis on their physical attractiveness).
Some info on men and eating disorders is available here, here, and here (that last one’s a .doc file).
Thank you, P.Burke, for the links and information.
I was actually aware that some men have eating disorders, but didn’t/don’t think it has the kinds of links to the media that has been such a worry with young girls.
Despite my tone and predictions, I think we should leave it an open question about whether men will be affected. Still, I think that there would have to be other pretty deep shifts before that happenedl
Note that the male ideal is a sports model, while the female ideal is a fashion model.
Should the male fashion model ever become the cultural ideal, I suppose that men will attempt to fulfill it.
This new idolizing of an extremely thin and slight male body type strikes me as sexualizing boys around 12-14 years old or so. I don’t like it.
That’s a really important point. I wish I had gotten it right away.
I wonder, though, about the direction of explanation here. Is the ‘fashion’ going to create interest in 12 year old boys, or is it the product of an interest in them? If the first, perhaps it is a way of experimenting with sexual images that in this case could encourage a pretty awful taste and behavior.
I think it is both, JJ. I think it is a product of some sexual interest in 12 year old boys, and it can serve to encourage or magnify an interest in them.
Oddly enough, pq, I was talking to a young friend in New York City about this yesterday. I wish I had thought of your first comment then. But still, given what he said, I’d guess that there are a number of factors behind the fashion, which apparently is definitely a fashion in NYC. One is sheer competitiveness, since the look is not easy to get and/or keep. (I remember Philippa Foot on competitive examples; it is certainly possible to acquire a taste for something that has no good outside of being a winning one.) A second is the capitalist “new tastes mean more buying.” He had just bought some jeans ‘of the fashion’ at Barney’s outlet and said they are definitely cut differently; since this fashion may well not last - men tend not to do what women will do for fashion - one can imagine the fun designers are having in selling clothes that will soon need to be replaced. A third is Asian; youngish Asian men seem more successful in wearing the fashion, he says, since they tend to be slighter than the white guys. There may be an element of Asian-imitation, certainly not for the first time.
None of this says pedophilia isn’t in the mix, but I’d think it is definitely a mix of factors.
I’m a gay guy who’s both fashion concious and very skinny. Im actually very proud of the way I look. I freely admit that I’ve purposfully decided to cultivate this body shape. Ive adopted it becouse i think it makes me look and feel good. Not because not trying to imitate a 12 year old boy with an ‘androdynous look’ (I sport a goatee). I think skinny as a ‘look’ stands on its own merits. Irrespective of what others may or may not find sexually attractive. Skinny a perfectly acceptable and valid chic for a man.
Kelvin, thanks for your comment. You remind me that there can be quite a gap between what motivates an industry to produce something and what motivates an individual to buy it.
My NYC friend says it is a very hard fashion to wear, so it’s great you are able to pull it off!
The common opinion is that fashion has forced this ‘unhealthy’ and ‘extreme’ ideal onto men, (as it does onto women), but how is that any different when compared to the old ‘muscular, Big-jawed’ ideal? wasn’t that one also forced onto men? didn’t it also make skinny guys feel bad? fashion always imposes impossible to have (and often unhealthy) ideals. Taking steroids is just as unhealthy as eating too little.
I dont exactly know what your talking about here, sorry. Im only 16, and Im not the smartest person in the world! (Big words in here).
But Im also not dumb. I am really tried of seeing these Feminist things all over the internet. I’m not saying that its right that men leave women out, and its also not right when women leave men out. When was the last time you saw a man wearing a skirt? How ’bout a woman wearing pants?
Men are frowned upon if they wear a skirt, but not women if they wear pants.
They same goes for makeup, the liking of fashion, making themseleves look good, etc.
I am a male, and I wear makeup, and clothes that are marketed towards women.
But I always get wierd looks.
But women never get wierd looks when they go out without makeup, or wearing there boyfriends shirt and sweatpants.
Thats why I am partly Masculinist.
Im not sure if any of this has to do with this post, and quite frankly, I dont care. I just want you people to take some time to think about the opposite sex for once. Think about what they dont have, not what you dont have. I do that all the time, and I do everything in my power to bring equality.
*Also, did you ever think that if woman had the same rights as men, then responsibily comes to. If the draft was brought back, then women would be drafted into wars along with men. Women have the choice, men dont. THAT is not fair.
I’m a 22 year old heterosexual male and I’m just as thin as the model in the picture. I don’t have an eating disorder nor do I want to look like a 12 year old boy or an Asian. I find it a little disturbing that those topics even came up. For my friends and I, being thin is the result of a balanced lifestyle involving moderate exercise and a healthy diet. Sadly, the average American lifestyle has changed drastically over the past few decades for the worst. The visual rhetoric in this look you speak of is that of responsibility, intelligence, and modernity, all sexy in my opinion. I hate when people are accused of having anorexia just because they cut out trans fats, refined sugars, and meat from their diets.
My boyfriend is a thin man. Most of the men I know are fairly thin in compared to the current western “norm” of what a man does (or should) look like. None of them have eating disorders; they all just eat foods that are more or less healthful and get regular amounts of exercise.
What is said in that this is some sort of sexualising of 12 to 14 year old boys is ludicrous. Especially considering the example given are men who are runway models. Runway models are always at least 10% thinner than print models. I mean, have you ever /looked/ at a female runway model? Most of them have little to no breast and 33″ hips. They are built like giant pre-adolescents (giant because they are usually over 5′9″ tall). Are you then going so far as to say these models are sexualising 10 to 13 year old girls?
If anything, I am happy that thin is becoming a la mode de homme. If anything it might motivate some fat western males to get off their butts so they can fit into something that’s been made in the last 5 years while giving my thin male friends a much needed self-esteem boost for not being giant muscle bound steroid machines.
Here’s what the NY Times article linked to above says:
I phoned my friend in New York City after reading the article, because his thinness has been a long time worry for him. E.g., he got a Hickey Freeman jacket from a model friend after a show and had to have it narrowed. I thought he might at least be amused at finding himself in fashion, but he says that he’s not prepared to do the constant dieting that’s required for the new look,
The fashion people at the NY Times and my friend may, of course, still be wrong but it is hard to decide without more definite figures (either numerical or human).
Fashion designers are known to go through interesting faze’s, such as the early nineties near-death look. It is a fad that will probably pass considering most men like to be fit but aren’t willing to go to the length’s necessary to match up with designers and model’s. Not all skinny men have annorexia, but may just have a fast metabolism. I’m 6′2″ and 165 lbs, and currently eat about 4 pounds of food a day at an average of 3,500-4,000 calories (way too much math), and I have lost ten pounds and have gotten a narrower waist line since quitting the gym. So if you feel concerned than ask, but don’t assume.