HEALTH: Gay Men & Muscles

WHY ARE MUSCLES SO IMPORTANT FOR GAY MEN?

by Andrew Christian

So many men, are victims to being appreciated by the sex they feel attracted to. Only, believe it or not, they have to bear a double burden on their shoulders. First, it’s society in general. The society we live in is very much youth orientated and it’s important to look fit if you want to fit in. And be physically appreciated, and gazed at. And then, there’s the gay society per se, where the competition is so fierce that you cannot afford to be a bloated whale. The thing is that if you are not your best possible version (which, in many cases, equals Zac Efron in his Baywatch body!), your dating pool will shrink to the size of a coffee cup. It may sound like a far-fetched generalisation, but still, there’s some truth to this. I mean, when you’re scrolling through Instagram you can see that everyone is liking pictures of guys with rugged bodies, right? And we can’t but ask: Why gay men are so fixated on muscles?

BECAUSE MUSCLES ARE HOT!

That would be the shortest and most explicit answer. But behind this superficial explanation, there are all these complicated, multi-system processes that determine what we find hot, and which evolutionary psychology has been trying to figure out. On the one hand, we are genetically programmed to associate fit bodies with good genes, hence the high likelihood of solid partnership/protection and fertile seed. On the other hand, sexuality researchers are talking about a process called “impression” that is triggered during the first years of puberty. This is the period in our lives when we are most likely to be strongly influenced by the environment. It is during our early teens when our preferences (the sexual ones, too) are entrenched, and are going to stick with us until we die. Simply put, if you, as an 11, 12, or 13-year-old were impressed by some older guy with pecs and biceps, you will most probably

The hot Zac Effron

develop a liking for such body type. The teenage years are also the period when most fetishes and atypical sexual desires are conceived and are brought to the surface at a later age. If you’ve watched the new Netflix series about the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, you’ll know what I am talking about.

BECAUSE THE GAY COMMUNITY PROMOTES IT

Yes. that’s another possible answer, and those who are inclined to think in that direction will be right, too. TV, Hollywood, and especially social media obsessively promote gorgeous body totems, which, without doubt, mess with our group and individual mechanisms of attraction. But these stereotypes are not something that come out of nowhere. If chunky-type male bodies were recognised as the most universally sexually appealing, the “bears” would be getting the roles of the hot guys in all the movies. Instead of the likes of Zac Efron.