01/08/2009
Book Tackles Football, Undies, and Moisture Management Systems
Outsports has an excerpt from a new book called The Metrosexual: Gender, Sexuality, and Sport which delves deep, deep, deep into the topic of male underwear and the jocks that wear it.
Here's the really complex argument for why 2(x)ist got New York Giants' cornerback Jason Sehorn to star in their undie ads:
"There was an added reason to use a twice-married, heteronormative sportsman to sponsor men’s underwear. In order to attract heterosexually identified males or their partners into buying more sexy, costly, and stylish underwear, it made commercial sense to have a married man exhibit himself in a Lycra piqué knit, brushed nylon, or Peruvian cotton. Without this strategy, buying underwear for luxurious softness, moisture management systems, stretch, and 'breathability' might be construed as fetishistic and thus resemble homosexual shopping habits. Sponsorship of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy by 2(x)ist, coupled with explicit advice from the Fab Five mentioning the underwear stylist in various episodes, showed the new inseparability of the heterosexual and gay buying public, now rubbing shoulders at the same underwear counters."
And to think I thought it was just cause he was hot. The author also does in-depth analysis on Freddie Ljungberg:
"The twenty-six-year-old athlete evidenced a return by Calvin Klein to his initial men’s underwear marketing strategy, begun twenty years previously with Hintnaus. Photographed by Steven Klein, the new CK poster featured Freddie with his arms upright, one hand behind his head, the other lying flat on his military-style scalp. These gestures accentuated his shoulder and pectoral muscles. A false panther tattoo on the right side of his abdomen, replacing a real panther tattoo on Freddie’s back, added a fetishistic interest and drew the viewer’s eye towards the Pro Stretch pouch. Klein’s 2005 publicity poster of Ljungberg showed one arm gripping a bar (emphasizing his bicep) and another pulling down slightly on the waistband of his black CK boxer briefs to expose a part of his groin."
No doubt there's an entire chapter devoted to the Beckham bulge.
Metrosexuals in sports [outsports]
Sphere: Related ContentPosted 1:51 PM EST by Andy in Fashion Men, Football (American), News, Sports, Underwear | Permalink
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I just loooooooooove Freddie Ljunberg.
I was hanging out with a girlfriend this weekend and mentioned the "Swedish footballer" she'd never heard of. I think she came after I googled a picture of him for her.
Posted by: MAJeff | Jan 8, 2009 1:58:35 PM
Is Freddie in the States yet? I believe the MLS season opener is still a few months away.
Posted by: crispy | Jan 8, 2009 2:13:24 PM
Aww, you mean Ljunberg's pelvis panther was a fake?? I damn near got myself one after I first saw his photo. It was only the cringe-worthy thought of having to admit that I had been THAT influenced by a magazine ad--and of course the realization that it still wouldn't make me look anything like him--that (thankfully) stopped me.
Posted by: Gianpiero | Jan 8, 2009 2:46:27 PM
In general, the design of men's underwear has become increasingly precious and crass... and in most cases demasculating. Instead of ripping a guy's underwear off in heated sexual desire, more often one can't wait to peel the prissy underoo logocentric panties off just to get the guy to a reasonable base level of his masculinity.
Posted by: Timoteo Aussie Gonch | Jan 8, 2009 3:07:05 PM
When I was a kid, I used to spend hours looking at the men's underwear pages in the Sears catalog. I wish someone had told me then that when my mother asked me what I was doing, I could have simply said "research."
Posted by: tominjersey | Jan 8, 2009 3:17:52 PM
Jeez, anything can be analyzed to death. I don't understand wearing underwear in the first place; it's terribly uncomfortable.
Posted by: Paul R | Jan 8, 2009 3:52:57 PM
This gay male obsession with undies is pathetic and fetishistic. I'd compare it to straight men ogling over women in panties. We really are no different - just as sleazy, just as trivial.
Posted by: jason | Jan 8, 2009 4:03:07 PM
Actually, Jason, it's just called "sexuality." Meaning, seeing attractive people (male or female) not wearing many clothes is sexually alluring.
What are men, gay or straight, supposed to be interested in? Chastity belts? Sex sells because people are sexual. Get over it.
Posted by: Paul R | Jan 8, 2009 5:09:25 PM
Jason Sehorn is hot. That is all.
Posted by: Jay | Jan 8, 2009 5:27:50 PM
Jason, please post a picture of you in your undies. You sound so hot.
Posted by: crispy | Jan 8, 2009 5:31:15 PM
C'mon, Crispy, that's not fair. If this is the same Jason, posting pictures of himself would be violating the bisexual double standard. You know, where men in underwear are unworthy but women in underwear (especially together) strengthen the patriarchy? I'm sure he's quite willing and able to write a few columns about it, just in case you missed his last 2,000 diatribes.
Posted by: Paul R | Jan 8, 2009 6:18:21 PM
People are sexual, I agree. But sleazy and fetishistic is another matter altogether. Our community has descended to sleaze and fetish. In the process, we're damaging ourselves. We're showing the world that our community is built on sex and not on rights. We need to get back to rights.
Posted by: jason | Jan 8, 2009 7:12:00 PM
Another thing worthy of consideration is the attitude of the models to gay rights. Have they ever marched in a rights parade? Did they fight against Prop 8? I personally doubt it. Why are we ogling men who, to my knowledge, may not have taken a positive public position on gay rights? Again, we're a trivial community who lack a moral basis.
There's an essay to be written on the mindless-ization of the gay community. I'm planning to write it.
Posted by: jason | Jan 8, 2009 7:16:02 PM
Crispy :-) He'd have to get them out of a major twist first.
Posted by: Ernie | Jan 8, 2009 7:19:20 PM
Jason,
If you need to publish it, look for publications that have accepted Paul Cameron's work. They usually go on a pay-to-publish basis and have no standards with regard to intellectual rigor. You'd fit right in.
Posted by: MAJeff | Jan 8, 2009 7:23:02 PM
good one, MAJEFF.
Posted by: nic | Jan 8, 2009 9:02:04 PM
Majeff,
No-one cares for your thought processes and no-one ever will.
I don't resile one iota from what I've said. The gay community has become a community for the dysfunctional and disconnected. We have traded rights for sleaze in how we present ourselves to the world. We have sought to promote sleaze and fetish under the gay rights banner, which is about as credible as a straight guy promoting straight rights under the Playboy Mansion banner.
You also see this disconnection in the way gay men prop up bisexual female entertainers at the expense of bisexual male entertainers. Hello - is anybody home? The cuckoo clock must be chiming.
Posted by: jason | Jan 8, 2009 9:58:32 PM
OK, wait... there's a BOOK written about this crap?
jeez... gay boys will buy anything.
Posted by: johnny | Jan 9, 2009 7:32:41 AM
@JASON,
you are not well.
jason sehorn, on the other hand, is a work of art.
Posted by: nic | Jan 9, 2009 12:32:20 PM
"breathability'? i didn't know that manties were sentient. live and learn.
but please, leave the musky balls alone. 'moisture management system'? the gay gods are appalled! and i must needs take to my bed. is nothing sacred?
Posted by: nic | Jan 10, 2009 8:21:40 PM