Find out why the gym has become the hottest place to work up a good sweat! Muscle Boys: Gay Gym Culture is an inside look at the secret world of exercise and fitness that’s become one of the country’s fastest growing and most influential gay subcultures. The author, a personal trainer on the San Francisco gay gym scene for more than a decade, examines the history, sociology, and influence of bodybuilding, male body image, and beefcake media, and incorporates the results of an online study of nearly 6,000 gay and bisexual men for an in-depth look at gay body culture and its role in modern gay life.
Over the past 20 years, the physical and social trends of the gay gym have traveled far from the gay “ghettos” of New York and San Francisco, thanks to the modern gay man’s ability to travel - both online and off. What was once a lifestyle for a small number of trendy gay men in big cities has become a way of life for many and the gay gym has become a subculture all its own. Muscle Boys includes interviews and profiles, photographs, and research findings on masculinity, steroids, sex in the locker room, and much more!
Muscle Boys examines:
the history of the ancient Greek gym culture and the Greek ideal
the modern male body ideal - and the gay influences that created it
body image in gay culture and its effect on modern gay socialization
muscle media - a history of homoerotic muscle-bound photography, pornography, and advertising
popular gay cultures and stereotypes (athletes, muscle boys, circuit boys, muscle bears, muscle daddies)
the gym, fitness, and HIV
fitness and health for gay baby boomers and seniors
gay athletics
steroids
sex in the locker room
and much more
Muscle Boys is a must read for anyone interested in gay body culture and for academics working in GLBT studies, human sexuality, psychology, and gay athletics.
