Muscle Boys: Gay Gym Culture
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...
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What was once a lifestyle for a small number of gay men in big cities has become a way of life for many, and the gay gym is now a culture on its own. Muscle Boys: Gay Gym Culture explores the evolution and current structure of this gay subculture that surfaced in San Francisco, West Hollywood, and New York during the 1970s. Covering ancient Greek gymnasium culture, modern bodybuilding practices, and homoerotic muscle-bound media, Muscles Boys examines the origins of the male athletic ideal. A sociological investigation on masculinity, fitness, HIV, steroids, and sex in the locker room, Muscle Boys dissects the gay gym experience, and celebrates gay body culture and its role in modern gay life. Author Erick Alvarez offers a candid study of the gay gym from his perspective as a physical trainer in the San Francisco Bay area, and from his interviews and online surveys of nearly 6,000 gay men. Muscle Boys: Gay Gym Culture is an enlightening read for anyone interested in gay body culture, and a valuable resource for academics working in GLBT studies, human sexuality, psychology, or athletics.
Acknowledgments ix Chapter 1. Gay Gym Culture What Is Gay Gym Culture? Stereotypes The Origin of Gay Gym Culture The Body Beautiful Critics Chapter 2. Greek Gym Culture and the Greek Ideal Greek Homosexuality The Greek Ideal The Greek Gymnasium Chapter 3. The Modern Ideal The Fall and Rise of the Gym Built Body The Fall: The Romans and Christianity The Renaissance: The Homoerotic Body Rediscovered Bodybuilding: Building the Modern Ideal Man Chapter 4. Muscle Media Photography: Marketing the Ideal Man Physique Magazines Pornography Fashion and Advertising The Internet: Gaygymculture.Com Media s Social Influence and Pressure The Gay Ideal Chapter 5. The Gay Gym Gay Liberation and the Rise of the Gay Gym The Gay Gym The Clone The Public Homoerotic Body The Gay Gym Today Modern Gay vs. Straight Gyms Chapter 6. Muscle Boys Body Image and Socialization Competing on the Gay Market and Successful Marketing Fitness and Health Building Masculinity Building Community Sex, Dating and Relationships Getting Pumped Up Chapter 7. The Poz Jock AIDS and Wasting The Anabolic Steroid Solution Survival of the Buffest Risk and Benefits The Law and the Black Market The Aesthetic Debate To Juice or Not to Juice? Chapter 8. The Gay Athlete Athletes and the Gym A New Phenomenon or Out of the Closet? High School Athletics History of Modern Gay Athletics The Gay Games The AIDS Rides Professional Sports and the Athletic Closet Conclusion Chapter 9. The Circuit Boy The Circuit The Circuit Boy Circuit Training The Mr. Circuit Boy Competition Sex, Love and the Gay Fraternity Party Drugs Guilty Pleasures Chapter 10. The Muscle Bear Bear Culture Bearness The Muscle Bear The Muscle Bear Paradox Bear Fitness and Health Chapter 11. The Older Male Health Independent Living Steroids and the Older Male Aesthetics, Dating and the Attractive Older Male Social Outlet Midlife Refocus Generational Differences The Fountain of Youth Chapter 12. The Locker Room The High School Locker Room The Moral Dilemma: Sex in Public Places The Voyeur and the Exhibitionist Locker Room Sex Straight Men Who Have Sex with Men The Bashful Geographical and Environmental Differences Boys Will Be Boys Notes Index
