“In place of pride in manly bearing and competence in the workplace, he exemplified a compensatory “working out,” a concentration on manly strength and beauty off the job. … By stressing the potential for strength, control, heroism, and virility in the male physique, he reassured a broad public of the continuation of these qualities—and their potential for further development—in the modern world.” (John F. Kasson. 2001. Who is the Perfect Man?: Eugen Sandow and A New Standard For America. In Houdini, Tarzan, and The Perfect Man: The White Male Body and The Challenge of Modernity In America. Pp. 76. New York: Hill and Wang.)
The stand alone images of the male body (especially the YSL perfume ad) portray a ‘natural’ body, a body that 'exists' (and has meaning and value). What is especially interesting to note (and that John Kasson discusses) is the way in which a 'white' masculinity is constructed. The photo on the left is that of Ultra-Marathon man Dean Karnazes, which appeared in the January 2007 Wired magazine article entitled "The Perfect Human". In a sense Dean Karnazes has become a modern day Eugen Sandow. The perfect male (as described in detail in Wired magazine): "a concentration on manly strength and beauty off the job" (replicated again in the other two images). The male body 'exists' and acts on its own subjectivity (in contrast to the female body scrutinized constantly by a "disciplinary gaze").
However, these images of the 'perfect male'--a natural male body that 'exists'--is a myth. It is an idealized and fetishized image of the male body that signifies a privileged race and class. A body requiring no work (does no work?). The ‘gentleman’ body personifies the strength and virility of the white middle (upper) class man. The white man ‘exists’ naturally and the images reify their dominance and their privilege.
