Tagged: nude men

Zoe Margolis, the Girl With A One Track Mind, has written a piece for the Guardian about the recent Erotica sexuality expo held in London. She says that even though the event attracted record numbers of women, there were hardly any half-naked men on display.

The lack of catering for the straight female audience was evident throughout: all the pole dancers were female; the porn stars signing DVDs were female; the erotic fashion show had only female models. And if there was a product for sale, you could guarantee that there would be a half-naked woman handing you a leaflet for it.

When it comes to selling sex, women have been doing it for years. We are used to seeing the female body on display. Indeed, when I approached some young women who were attending the event and asked for their thoughts on the lack of naked male bodies on display, they answered that they would feel weird about it.

I’m more familiar with looking at women,” one of them said. And aren’t we all? Men look at women; women are supposed to look at women too.

It’s a good point. Sex sells, but only if “sex” means attracting the male gaze. Trying to sell something using a hunky guy is a no-no because marketers and advertisers fear it will put men off. The homophobia factor always seems to kick in.

One of the few advertising campaigns I can think of that focused on the male body were those Diet Coke ads. In essence, the target audience was women, so it was OK to objectify a male body. If the audience is made up of both genders, however, it’s the female form every time.

We’re still a long way from equality.