Em/Bodying Masculinity:

Sexualized image has been and continues to be one of the most common features of segmentation used by consumer culture in general and advertisers in particular. If the spectacle of women to satisfy male scopophilia has been in vogue for centuries, the use of barely or suggestively clothed male body to promote products has recently become an object of mainstream consumption. Interestingly, a sensuous male model has bisexual appeal and is meant to attract both men and women, straight and gay consumers. This is an attempt to have a visual as well as cultural reading of the sexualized representation of male body on display, especially in the form of mannequins, to understand how men have been transformed from what Laura Mulvey called the bearer-of-look to the carrier-of-the-body. Considering the role of culture in shaping bodies and addressing debates about the objectification of male body, I have tried to examine the ways in which consumerism manipulates the cultural construction of the body which, consequently, leads to the 'death of the body' the ultimate outcome of which is the mannequin, a phenomenon that suggests the transition and/or transformation of 'man.'

Autorentext

Sababa Monjur is a Lecturer of English at Bangladesh University, graduated from Jahangirnagar University with a BA in English, followed by MA in Literature in English and Cultural Studies. Her research interest lies in the area of Postcolonial Literature, Gender Studies, Cultural Studies & Popular Culture.