Why Are Gay Men Flaunting Their Bodies On Social Media?
Are We Only Objects For Sex?
Recently, artist Jake Shears has called out gay men showcasing their bodies on social media. He isn’t necessarily telling everyone to stop, but to check themselves if a body is all they have to offer, then – check yourself. I couldn’t agree with him more! In the summer, I interviewed four hunks who specifically don’t post their bodies on social media – and are even sexier because of it. Shears and I cannot be the only two gay men thinking this, right?
I went to the Bible Instagram and typed into the search bar “#GayGuys”. If you’re an ace on social media, you surely known that a hashtag is seemingly what connects you to any topic you’d like to read about or see more of. Check out my findings below:
Yes, that is a lot of body. I’m genuinely not hating on anyone who wants to show off a beautiful body, especially one I may want to imagine on top of me. But, if you continue to scroll through the #GayGuys hashtag, or even #GayBoy, #Gay, #GayBoyFamous – you’ll see a bunch of men advertising their bodies as an excuse to gain followers.
Not for nothing, if showing your body is an excuse to gain followers, it’s working. LGBTQ blogs are constantly promoting gigantic bulges, bare bottoms, or twerking twinks. It’s a double-edged sword. We love the freedom social media to express our LGBTQ sexuality – but are we overdoing it? Jokingly, I asked my best girlfriend if she would prefer to see me on Instagram selling sex by showing her an example of a not-viral-famous follower of mine – she gave me a firm, “no”.
Is there a reason we are obsessed with showing our bodies? Is sex behind it all? Compliments – or better yet – a follow from strangers we’ll never meet? It confuses me to no end, essentially since we may not have anything in common with those showing their bodies on Instagram. Except, you know, sex.
Now, I beg this question: What can we do to potentially change ourselves on social media? I challenge you – for a week – to not post any photos of your rock hard body or plump rear. Could you do it?
instagram is not really the
instagram is not really the place to look… tumblr is… and you can ask the question why are you posting so many pics, day in day out, of yourself, twice a day or more of your bod or naked
This is not new. Back in the
This is not new. Back in the days of black-and-white tv and of gay.com, gay men posted quite a few semi-nude pics to the point where the web site had to post guidelines pretty much banning total nudity. As the old saying goes: if you've got it, flaunt it.
Why singling out gay men as
Why singling out gay men as if this phenomenon were not common among heterosexual men too? By simple logic heterosexual men exploiting their bodies on IG outnumber gay men by far.
When you go to Youtube and search for videos of men showing off their bodies or flaunting their physical strength the vast majority are heterosexual en; not gay men.
This is actually can you call internalised homophobia since there is some kind of impulse to characterise negatively an entire kind of people as if this weren't simply a human phenomenon that people of all sexual orientations resort to via IG or other social media.
Not that exploiting their bodies sexually on IG is a bad thing, but pathologising the phenomenon as a generalised thing among gay men is not good either.
Many gay men I believe for
Many gay men I believe for most of their lives suffer from a kind of emptiness. Also deep loneliness. I can say from experience that until you find fulfillment in your life whatever that may be from relationships or a meaningful career many experience feelings of inadequacy. I can say from experience seeing straight counterparts flaunt their babies and growing families, some feel even more empty. So all some feel they have is an awesome body and youthful good looks.
I understand the individuals
I understand the individuals who work 7 days a week showing their progress. Hey, good for you! But the flexing, "wife beater" and the mirror images are a little too much. And let me guess, the ones seeing this are saying, "Jealous", "lazy", "Wish you were me"……….NO.! Just, Who Cares!