“Throughout history, the penis has defined masculinity.” So far, so obvious. “Penile size is a considerable concern for men of all ages,” it began. A colleague was recently thumbing through the International Journal Of Impotence Research, as one does, when she came across: “Penile size and penile enlargement surgery: a review”. Breasts were once suppressed, now they’re augmented.īut also, men. The hourglass once was hot, and now it’s not. Where Europe goes, Australia hopefully will follow, and there are precedents for changing standards of male beauty. They report a rise of notable bellies in London and Barcelona, the owners of which work at being hot, think themselves hot, and are considered hot, not in spite of their small protrusions, but partly because of them. I’ve been thinking about this because three friends are back from Europe, and their observations raised the salivating prospect – at least, for those who’ve yet to obtain bodily perfection – that we’re on the cusp of a new epoch for the ideal men’s body. In 2000, a study of 115 centrefold male models in that magazine between 19 found they had become more muscular over time. Unpack your wife’s collection of Playgirl magazines and it’s the same story. Compare the body of Craig, the latest Bond, to that of the first, Sean Connery. And for Australia, Jackman spent ridiculous hours in the gym to look like a 1940s washboard, rather than a 1940s drover.Īs we strive to become Adonis, the standards become less obtainable. Men’s Health remains fixated with cover men with more muscles than any human could possibly need. That undie maker exposed Marky Mark’s stomach muscles back in the ’90s, and is still banging on about them. Ads are abs, from department store catalogue, to aftershave advertisement, to the new Calvin Klein billboard on William Street. Their beachside recovery sessions turned the sports pages into soft-core porn, and made the rest of us look bad.
![marky mark playgirl magazine marky mark playgirl magazine](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2e/b1/e3/2eb1e3447a0a18ff46cc2893799625aa.jpg)
The body beautiful became an everyday expectation a while ago – about the time sportsmen went professional, and morphed into underwear models and calendar boys. Meanwhile, the ab-less lie their beach towels far, far away, and make do with dancing in ironic T-shirts. As the techno DJ Muscles mocks in his track Ice Cream: “I don’t need a number/I just wanna dance with my shirt off”. And those blokes with abs proudly display them on the beach, in nightclubs and at music festivals.
![marky mark playgirl magazine marky mark playgirl magazine](http://www.markwahlbergfan.com/marky/marky85big.jpg)
Think Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman, but also, increasingly, the bloke next door. It used to be enough to be slim, athletic or rugged, but to be thought hot now, Joe needs a chest and six-pack – the abs, not the beer.