Susan Bordo
Susan Bordo an author who writes about how the American culture has always shown and used women's bodies throughout our history and to most is considered completely normal. In the print “Beauty Rediscovers the Male Body” Bordo states “naked female body became an object of mainstream consumption”(Bordo 168). She explains that the female body was completely normal for people to look at while on the other hand showing a naked male body was considered a taboo that most people were afraid to break. Over the history of time mainstream perceptions of masculinity have changed dramatically! Everything from ads, movies, fashion, character, and what is socially acceptable in todays world has changed since Bordo’s writings. When men started to show more of there bodies people reacted quite differently toward what was being showed. Men were not suppose to be viewed in a sexual manner unlike females. Although this seemed quite unusual at the time it was the start of something completely new that would change the world and how we view masculinity to this day. Today mainstream perceptions of masculinity have changed completely. People use to think that guys could only do manly things, wear manly clothes, and act the way real men should. When men started to appear in there underwear, and show of there bodies in ads such as Calvin Kline, society looked the other way and thought this was completely obscure and should never be allowed. Bordo talks about the way that men would stare in ads and the poses they would be in and how they resembled the characteristics that of females. This was the first time in history where men started to look and act differently then society thought they should. Bordo states that she was intrigued by an ad because of the way a man is looking away and not directly at her. “At the same time, however, my gaze is invited by something "feminine" about the young man. He doesn't stare at the viewer challengingly, bel ligerently, as do so many models in