Susan Bordo

Molly Jarrett
October 1, 2012
Mrs. Barrett
Journal #3

Susan Bordo’s passage, “Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body,” she really focuses on the male modeling and the views of males in advertisements. She truly portrays the changes from traditional to modern views of male modeling by society. The Abercrombie and Fitch advertisement is the more traditional of the two. I believe that it conveys all of the types of examples and traits that a traditional male model demonstrates. On the other hand, the second advertisement is from Dolce and Gabbana and illustrates all of the traits that a modern male model has. Some may ask what types of characteristics a traditional male model has to have. The model must be muscular, hard-working, mature, independent, athletic, masculine, stoic, determined, aggressive, competitive, responsible, impenetrable, and handy. All of these traits complement each other to create this “traditional” model look. Susan Bordo believe that in the early modeling, only homosexual men were supposed to be considered models, because of the femininity they conveyed. However, times have changed and modeling has modernized. More and more men whom are heterosexual are entering the modeling industry today. The reason that all of these characteristics go together so well are because in order to be considered masculine, you must be hard working, mature, athletic, and muscular. These are considered masculine because this is what society portrays the average man to be. Yet how can we say what the average man is, if everyone is different? Female modeling has been around since the beginning of advertising and has been affecting the women in society ever since. Women believe the look of the models is the only “beautiful” type of body that men see, and so they strive and dream to look like those models everyday. This can go as far as making themselves sick, such as anorexia and bulimia, because they are so insecure about themselves, especially because guys judging them. Is this the same way with men? Now that it is becoming more and more acceptable for men to model, are others becoming self-conscious that all men should look like that? The media Photoshop’s most images anyway, but people believe that if they don’t look exactly like these models, they aren’t considered “beautiful” or “handsome”. These photos that are altered and changed are often even unrealistic. But people are so engaged in the image that they don’t even realize. Sometimes the actual model doesn’t even look like they do in the images after they are done being processed. This is known as fake vs. reality. All people see is the images and no the real people behind them. This makes them believe that that’s how they truly are. Can these advertisements be negatively impacting society? Some people don’t know where to draw the line between beauty and sickness and the media only makes it worse. They don’t know where to stop and the viewers don’t know when to stop believing them. Shouldn’t we be looking out for each other? We are all human. Bordo talks about the traditional stare that men do in pictures. By this I mean that there is a way that the male looks at the camera and has an intense look in his eye that really grabs the viewer. The male looks more aggressive and challenging by the way he looks into the camera. He engages the reader to want to know more, like he is telling a story with his eyes. They present themselves as emotional dense, powerful, and unbreakable. This “face-off masculinity” pose is the most powerful pose that a man can do because it shows how masculine and intense this man can be. Through this pose, the male represents all types of masculinity and makes it seem like he will not take his eyes off of what he is looking at. The model in the chair has body language that represents what Bordo describes as a rock. His body is directly facing the camera, which is more masculine. The man in the Abercrombie and Fitch advertisement is using the face-off method of modeling. The model does not have a seductive approach to him at all. Instead, he appears to be very masculine, even though he has his shirt off. He is appealing to both men and women. He appears to be calm and relaxed yet dominating to the looking eye. There is something about his look with the camera that makes the reader want him or want to be like him. He is using the lean that Bordo talks about, which is the way he conveys his body language. “The lean” is a man’s body language leaning against something or someone. In this case, the model is leaning on a chair, which is declaring dominance as well. In the past, some of his body language could be considered feminine. However, modeling has become more modern and accepted in todays world, so it is no longer looked down upon.
Most men are not homosexual and do not possess a very feminine side. Women are completely opposite of men. They are interested in beauty, seduction, elegance, style, and innocence. They are also seductive and the perfect domestic goddess. Only homosexual men are supposed to have these types of traits according to Bordo. She believes that the more modern models possess these traits because most advertisements are going for the more seductive approach to things. Most photographs nowadays are very feminine unlike the traditional photographs.