Friday, February 11, 2011

Reading the Muscle Body: A Critical Decoding of Advertisements in Flex Magazine

I read an article about the muscle size of GIJoe from a Chinese website many years ago. The article said that the GIJoe’s muscle become bigger and bigger for the last thirty years. White and Gillett (1994) mentioned, “Building a muscular physique offers some men a compensatory means by which they can construct and validate, symbolically through their bodies, a particular masculine identity” (pp. 20). They also said, “Muscularity is still central to intermale evaluation even for men who scoff at the exaggerated muscularity of professional bodybuilders” (pp. 20). The bodybuilders in the Flex Magazine are really huge and a little scaring. Do the females really like the exaggerate muscles?


In China, we also have the similar magazine with the Flex Magazine named Fitness and Beauty. This magazine which is the first fitness and bodybuilding magazine in China started to publish since 1980. The contents are more focus on fitness and health rather than the bodybuilding. The cover characters are sunshine and health instead of the exaggerate muscle size.

Interestingly, most Chinese young girl like the males named “beauty as flowers” recently. They usually have melancholy eyes, beautiful faces, and skinny body shape. A great many young girls are crazy about them rather than muscular men. Oppositely, these girls also enjoyed the female stars with the neutral sexual character. These female stars have short hair, no “S” body shape, and deep voice. Is that means the feminism is coming in China?

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4 comments:

  1. Scott HochenbergFebruary 14, 2011 at 11:52 AM

    Yu interesting international perspective on beauty.

    In America, there is a saying "beauty is the eye of the beholder" meaning what one consinders beautiful can be drastically different from another person.

    I found it very interesting that in China, "most Chinese young girl like the males named 'beauty as flowers.'” The idea of masculine beauty in China got really thinking about what is consindered handsome for an American male. For young men like me, generally short hair and simple conservitve dress (pants, shirt) is consindered diserable. I can't imagine my generation ever changing because we have got acustomed to our comfortable style.

    However, I could see one day in the future, young boys desiring very long hair and even experimenting with something as drastic as makeup simply because I feel like a younger generation always tries to rebel against the older generation.

    For at least the near future, I do not see the "flower boy" image becoming popular in the United States.

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  2. Kallie HitchingsFebruary 21, 2011 at 11:35 AM

    You mentioned that men who build a muscular physique are trying to “construct and validate… a particular masculine identity” (White and Gillett, p 20). It is funny how men feel that they need to build muscle in order to show that they are a “real man”, but I wonder if these manly men would know their way around a car. Would they even know where to begin to change oil, or what about having and being able to use tools? My parents have taught me to be independent, so I have my own set of tools. I guarantee that I know how to use more tools than most men my age.

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  3. The Tennis Prof ChroniclesMarch 2, 2011 at 12:25 PM

    I wonder if muscularity would be more emphasized in China if professional football was more popular. Do you ever see professional wrestling in China? That is another site of extreme muscularity--even moreso than football!

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  4. UnknownMarch 7, 2011 at 11:03 AM

    Yu,
    Thank you for sharing- I really enjoy hearing about the Chinese culture. I thought your insight into feminism in China was interesting along with what Chinese women view as desirable in men. How is exercise and fitness viewed for women in China? Is exercise a regular part of most people's days? Are female sports common in China?

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