Issue #103

The Separation of Man and Superman

by: Grendel

The stomach is the bane of man. Source of want, source of pain, and repository of fat - the stomach is the focal point of so much vital energy. And nowhere is this more true than in the physical fitness arena - supermarket shelves teem with magazines selling 'ripped abs' to both men and women, info-mercials starring dubious fitness 'celebrities' sell everything from pills and creams to subliminal protocols to reveal a chiseled mid-section.

Why the fuss and pre-occupation? Well, it is only natural given that our culture has decided, in the last decade or so, that visible abs are the 'in' thing. And the "in" thing is what men want to attract women - women, of course, remain the absolute "in" thing for a large segment of the male population. So, is this going to be another article on how to get killer abs in just twelve minutes a day? Hell no. If I knew how to do that, I wouldn't be writing for AE, I'd be knee deep in women fending off others with clubs and struggling to catch my breath between bouts of marathon promiscuous sex….right? Turns out that may not be the case at all…

So, rather than delve right into the abdominal phenomena, I would like to share you with you some general observations made by researchers into human attraction, specifically what it is about men that women like these days and how this has changes from the "good ole days." Turns out women these days like 'girlie' men - according to a researcher in one article "Women find femininity appealing in a male face because they said they associate it with co-operation, honesty and parental ability … masculine features are considered threatening and less attractive, but they still want some combination involving masculine features because they want dominance, too." The same researcher goes on to observe that "Jude Law and Brad Pitt as embodiments of the ideal man. Leonardo DiCaprio's looks would be too girlish to attract the mainstream, and a super-masculine Arnold Schwarzenegger type would be too aggressive and promiscuous to make a reliable partner."

I was not shocked by these observations…far from it in fact. I have long ago noted that there is an increase in the feminization of men - perhaps it is a result of a whole generation of men being raised by post-feminism mothers - in both attitudes and looks. The 'metro-sexual' idea, a man who is straight sexually but extremely feminine in terms of his attitudes towards his appearance, fashion, etc, is gaining in popularity. Sex symbols like Justin Timberlake represent not only non-threatening men from a physical perspective, but also suggest that woman are thrilled by pseudo-androgyny.

Ok so is there a relationship between the feminization of men and the popularity of abs? Well, certainly abs are evidence of leanness and leanness usually means a slim and compact body. Perhaps bulkiness is perceived as too brutish and so abs, as an indicator of a slim tight body, are so appealing. Or is it perhaps that a narrow waist accentuates the curves of a man, the hips and such, in a way that is feminizing. Or have I been drinking too much soy milk?

Setting aside the whole woman-like-feminine-men idea, what are possible explanations are there for the abdominal obsession. I can identify at least three worthy culprits

1) Women don't know what they like until society tells 'em - pardon the sexism but I am being witty.

Perhaps the whole "why do women like abs?" discussion is circular, like the chicken and its egg. What if a few magazines started the trend on their own or borrowed from the developing gay cultural influences and carried the emphasis on sculpted abs over to the covers of magazines and billboards? The early 1990s saw a rise in shirtless men on billboards hawking clothing and underwear from fashion designers like Calvin Klein (good ole Marky Mark) perhaps aimed at an emerging target market - gay men. It is entirely possible that the ad campaign was just too effective and everyone got caught up in trying to have those washboard abs they saw in the media.

We know that people are slaves to culture and we know that commercialism is a driving force in culture. Years and years of pre-teen exposure to half-naked men with tight stomachs and it is no wonder that women today like the look - it is what they grew up with. Their first crush may have been on the aforementioned model turned musician (if we can call it that) turned actor. Just as half the men my age were first introduced to sex through a bronze-bikini clad Princess Leia, could poster boys have served as a sexual awakening for my generation of potential mates? I think this is a pretty good chance.

I would like to take a moment to coin a term - cultural inflation. There - I now own some rights in the concept I am about to explain. Just as prices rise over time, cultural movements grow more amplified and over-done. Mini-skirts get shorter, breasts get more air time, sex becomes more explicit, etc. Bigger, more, better, faster, more…more… more - typical western world stuff. So if the initial idea that a sexy man has a tight stomach started to gain popularity twenty years ago, cultural inflation tells us that it is just going to get more and more important and more overplayed with each passing year. Seems about right to me.

2) Athletic is good

Everyone like athletes - for many years the American Male Role-Model was the athlete. Now I have no clue what it is - the rap star maybe (shudder). But Athletes still have a lot going for them. They are wealthy, famous and at times influential. I think there is also a primal attraction to physical prowess - it signifies alpha-masculinity. Now didn't I just get through suggesting that men are being valued more the less masculine they act. Perhaps. But, I think a closer reading of the quote I presented earlier is that women still want a man - just a man on their own terms. Maybe we can think of it as a minivan with four wheel drive, perfectly capable of bringing home a lot of groceries and taking the kids to soccer practice, but there is just a hint of beast lurking under the hood. So along this line of reasoning "abs" are a way that a man can show a woman he is still a man, still physically fit and competent without having to haul around 100 pounds of biceps and chest that might be as welcoming as a jacked up Ford 150 truck.

Of course there are women who like the monster trucks of the world.

3) Discipline is good

This idea is along the same lines as the Athletics argument. Maybe 'abs' are appealing because obtaining and maintaining them takes a lot of work and a lot of care. Just as clothes and basic cleanliness show a potential mate a lot about your work ethic, self-image, and self-worth, your exercise habits hit all the same notes. If you are a sloppy fat fuck, as my brother would say, you broadcast a lot of negative overtures to people who look at you, just as you would if you came into a job interview smelling of whiskey and without shaving.

An overweight person is not a bad person or someone who automatically lacks self-esteem, composure, or any other positive attribute. But a fit person conveys an air of confidence and it can easily be inferred that they take pride in themselves and their appearance. These are all, I think, attractive personality traits that are extrapolated from physical appearance.

While there are many other physical attributes that speak volumes about your character, I think the focus on 'abs' needs to be seen in context with all the other factors I mentioned previously. Certainly broad shoulders and big arms show people you work out, but they also might suggest the negative characteristics people associate with bodybuilding and weightlifters namely limited intelligence and violent tendencies. The stomach, at its most glorious, is not inherently frightening or shocking like a 20-inch arm would be. Abdominals showcase the benefits of exercise without the negative associates of pure bodybuilding.

Conclusions?

Who the hell am I to offer any conclusions on this front? The perverse truth is this - no matter what I tell you, no matter what science or pseudo-science (a.k.a. sociology) physical attraction is a matter of taste and that is highly variable. But it does seem that "abs" are just plain sexy and desirable. I tried to get away from the whole social pressure explanation, but I think that my conclusion can only be that tastes in attraction are changing. This is not surprising. 100 years ago the general palette was entirely different and no one can predict what the landscape of the future will be.

So, in the end, I retreat back to my introductory point which is that I think we are seeing a feminization of the masculine ideal, an emphasis on leaner thinner bodies that display more gender neutral proportions and less over-developed "hyper" masculine traits - consider the addition of the word "man-scaping" to the English language. This term, which I first heard on Queer Eye, means to shape, shave, and otherwise style a man's body hair. Shaving a man's entire body is becoming acceptable and laudable to the point where we now have a word for it. An entire word! A word other than shaving! Jesus.

But I digress. Don't worry my dear readers. Muscle will always have a role in the male world. But you will have to excuse me, I need to go get my eyebrows done.