Is ESPN gayer or just me

[Darmani]

My new part-time job has afforded me more and more exposure to the ultimate sports network. And the ads seem more ... homoerotic and just plain gay than usual. There is the sports equipment stuff with the althete's bae torsos and rivulets of sweat, pumping iron and (foams) But then the dancing lightly color suited genie sorta guy or the adds for the XL shop with the bear-ish and superchubs in their undies. I mean its better than some gay porn torrents.

So is ESPN's videos and offerings more bear and chub and geeky and gay.. or is it just me?

[Mdlftr]

...maybe it's a combination of both?

Mass media is DEFINITELY playing up male attractiveness in recent years - men are buff, men are jacked, men are hot.

Whether that's in response to a "gay-agenda-that-not-so-secretly-pervades-media-and-Hollywood-in-an-attempt-to-make-homosexuality-more-acceptable-to-mainstream-audiences" or because you're personally more aware of dudes looking jacked and buff and hot is debatable.

Personally, I remember that my father NEVER thought he was good looking or that any of that came into the equation. Men of his generation NEVER talked or thought about stuff like that. Movie stars were supposed to be "good looking" but that is about as far as it went. Any "feelings" anyone had about that stuff was limited to teenage girls screaming and crying at concerts. Everyone else was like, "cool".

Nowadays, the male "attractiveness" factor is everywhere and is used commercially to sell soap, cars, and workout gear.

Why WOULDN'T ESPN use it to sell air time?


Mdlftr

[Darmani]

*nods* but its not JUST men are jacked. Jacked men have sold stuff before even in the 80s and 90s it was practically Arnold's career.

But the bears, chubs, light colored clothes, and.. its a lot of things that come together about guys not being shy on camera and really its the way the shots are framed. Maybe its just me but there is a lot of "male gaze"... on males in ways. Media regularly has stories about male models because former marines.

ESPN i figured would always display guys but in... well a sort of cool or power method. Its hard to put in words. Do you get to watch ESPN and compare then and now?

[Mdlftr]

Originally Posted by Darmani

*nods* but its not JUST men are jacked. Jacked men have sold stuff before even in the 80s and 90s it was practically Arnold's career.

But the bears, chubs, light colored clothes, and.. its a lot of things that come together about guys not being shy on camera and really its the way the shots are framed. Maybe its just me but there is a lot of "male gaze"... on males in ways. Media regularly has stories about male models because former marines.

ESPN i figured would always display guys but in... well a sort of cool or power method. Its hard to put in words. Do you get to watch ESPN and compare then and now?

I admit I don't see ESPN often. I don't watch much television beyond some "appointment TV" - "Sleepy Hollow" "Bones" "Modern Family"....

Now, "Modern Family" is an example of the "gaying" of television. Last night there was an episode where the gay son and his partner, Cam, were planning their wedding. At one point, the son kissed Cam on the cheek. After a minute I realized it was presented in such a matter of fact way that it came off as a "no-big-deal" scene of everyday affection, rather than as an "end-of-days-we're-all-becoming-the-new-Sodom-and-Gomorrah".

This is plot. I understand that you are talking about more than that. You are talking about the camera angles, the way the shots are framed, the lingering panning shots up a guy's torso, stuff like that. Media has perfected it on women as sex objects, now it's time for the guys to get the same treatment.

Think of how fitness model Greg Plitt simultaneously gets the "he's a MANLY man hero treatment" as well as the "he's such a hot, studly, sexy, hunk of male pulchritude with awesome, beautiful-rather-than-frightening-muscles. Think of the difference in the bodybuilding shots, for example: shot from below, in high contrast, to make him look bigger and his muscles more ripped, versus the soft focus shots with his arms overhead, gathered around his head.

Here's a listing of an assortment of "male model poses": http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Mo_pk6osfm...deloChico1.jpg

Not too dissimilar from "female model poses", but don't tell anyone!

http://flavorwire.files.wordpress.co...pg?w=600&h=603

"Shhh!"



"Sex sells"!

Mdllftr

[anpuZA]

Wait, is Greg Plitt gay?