In the late 1940s and early 50s, a dramatic change took place in the way scantily clad men appeared in mass-mediated publications. For the first time, magazines appeared that sought to do just one thing: celebrate the male physique solely for its aesthetic appeal (Hooven, 1995; Waugh, 1996). In the decades prior to this, pictures of men performing rigorous outdoor tasks and lifting weights did appear, chiefly in magazines such as Physical Culture by Bernarr Macfadden (Ernst, 1991) and Vim by Joe and Ben Weider (Waugh, 1996), but the men always had a reason, or "alibi," for showing off their muscles. Not until amateur photographer Bob Mizer of Southern California began photographing well-sculpted Hollywood hopefuls did photos published almost exclusively for gay men appear.
Mizer started taking these photographs in 1948, and when his attempt to establish a modelling agency, the Athletic Model Guild, failed to materialize, he may have assumed his stint as a talent scout was over. In fact, however, just the opposite occurred; the demand for his photographs increased dramatically, and by 1952 he had his own magazine, Physique Pictorial (Hooven, 1995; Waugh, 1996).
As Hooven (1995) explained, "It had no editorials or articles, no ads for hair restorers or wheat germ, just images of the male physique, as near to nude as the law would allow" (p. 32).
"The question was," Hooven (1995) asked, "who would want to take or publish photos of men for their physical attractiveness except a homosexual? In other words, what Mizer and the others did was all but unthinkable for that day and age - they came out" (p. 54).
Indeed, with more than 100 publications appearing at one point (Waugh, 1996), physique magazines emerged throughout the 1950s. As Hooven (1995) noted, "Without presenting anything overtly homosexual, each issue was so clearly designed by and for gay men that it was obvious to even the youngest and most inexperienced of them" (p. 72). The magazines, in short, were not simply a part of gay culture, "they virtually were gay culture" (p. 74).
Canadian Joe Weider, who had published bodybuilding magazines throughout the 1940s and into the 1950s, and who continues today at the helm of magazines such as Muscle & Fitness and Flex, observed how well publications such as Physique Pictorial were doing. By 1952, Hooven (1995) noted, Weider had altered the photos in his own bodybuilding magazines, specifically American Manhood, to focus on slimmer, more handsome males posing in briefs that accentuated the genitalia.
Waugh (1996) shed light on the movement to which Weider had become attached: At its peak, between 1955 and 1965, the 'physique' movement comprised a vast international network, through which there circulated thousands of magazines, mail-order photographs and films, not to mention subsidiary merchandise. The entire operation was predicated on bodybuilding as a channel - and at the same time a camouflage - for the sexualized male body. Despite its fundamental disavowal of our desire for those taut pectorals and disarming grins, the first commercial and popular incarnation of gay culture in the age of modern mass media is a key to the formation of contemporary gay identities, cultures, politics and sexualities (pp. 176-177).
In addition to American Manhood, Weider went on to publish magazines such as Body Beautiful, Adonis, Young Adonis, and Young Physique, all geared toward gay men.
As Waugh (1996) noted, Weider recognized early on the potential profits in gay-oriented publications, and as a publisher he was so adept that he easily surpassed others, bringing to light the present study.
(taken from here.)
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