This probably sounds so obvious that it should go without saying, but if you’re a straight guy, you probably shouldn’t go see Magic Mike in the theater.
Whitney had been excited to see the movie for weeks, and although I didn’t exactly share her sentiment, I agreed to go with her. I wasn’t quite ready to admit the reasons that I didn’t want to see the movie, and I knew that any other reason would make me seem homophobic.
Sitting through Magic Mike was an extremely uncomfortable experience for me. It wasn’t because of the scene where Matthew McConaughey gyrated behind Alex Pettyfer as he taught him how to dance. It wasn’t because of the scene where Joe Manganiello pumped up his blurry penis before going onstage. It wasn’t because of any of the homoerotic themes of the movie which, in my opinion wasn’t nearly gay enough for something hyped as The Greatest Gay Movie Ever Made – I mean, I don’t recall a single openly gay character in the movie.
No, what made me uncomfortable was the audience of middle-aged women shouting catcalls at the screen the entire time. It felt to me like the subtext was a simple “women get objectified on screen all the time, now it’s our turn, ladies!”
As Melissa from Power Animals put it so gleefully…
I could say that while I feel bad that we are entering a time when young men are having just as many body issues as females because of the increasingly unrealistic body images out there for both genders, I feel it is the only way men can understand the pressure that the male gaze in media puts on women and thus help us all work towards mutual change. I could say a lot of things about the objectification of women and men and what it means for all of us but what I’m going to really go ahead and say is this: ABS! CHESTS! GYRATIONS! DANCING! CHANNING TATUM’S AWFUL ACTING: WHO CARES! ALCIDE!!!!!!!
As the women in the audience hooted and hollered, I felt my sympathy for any woman who ever complained about objectification shrink.
While it’s true that there’s no shortage of woman-objectifying media, this basic role reversal is hardly revolutionary (see Queerty’s 7 Male Stripper Movies We Can’t Forget). This eye-for-an-eye approach to body objectification didn’t enlighten me to the plight of women so much as it shed light on something I’ll reluctantly refer to as female privilege, for lack of a better term. I realize how insensitive and backward that may sound, but hear me out. Women in our society today have the privilege of fitting perfectly within expected gender norms when they state their disapproval of objectification, of catcalling, and of being made to feel like they’ll never look like the bodies on TV and in movies. I realize it sounds like an odd thing to say – that women can enjoy the right to express their negative body issues while still conforming to socially acceptable norms. But consider that when a man does any of these things, there’s no such expectation of understanding from anyone. Sensitivity comes off as weak, and weakness is unbecoming for a man. Hence, Channing Tatum’s rock hard abs.
I realize that by and large women have been treated as second class citizens historically, but in order to have any expectation of fairness or equality, men and women alike need to become more comfortable with the idea of men who are sensitive about their own body image issues. I’d wager that every man is uncomfortable with how he looks at one point or another, but the social pressure against ever admitting it aloud is enormous, especially for straight men.
While society affords women the benefit of being able to openly express that they feel uncomfortable with their bodies, a guy who dares to say the same thing is often made to feel like his feelings are invalid because:
A. Feelings are for pussies,
B. Man the fuck up, and
C. Women have had it worse for thousands of years so quit whining.
Granted, you have to first accept the presence of strong homophobic social pressures to get to this place but, surprise! that’s the dominant paradigm in which we live. Just writing about this makes me feel emasculated but that’s sort of all the more reason to write about this, right?
Lastly, I realize that this movie was not made with a straight male audience in mind. This is a movie for the girls and (apparently?) for gay men. Objectifying men is entirely the point of the movie. But when AP movie critic Christie Lemire said this movie had “substance” I thought I was in for something more than a simple beefcake eye-candy parade with a simplistically light cautionary message about drugs tacked on as its third act. Make no mistake, Magic Mike’s strength is the amount of screen time given to a bunch of dudes with better bodies than you will ever have, but when it comes to portraying the harsh and gritty underbelly of stripping, the subject was treated with kid gloves. I’m inclined to agree with Rolling Stones’ Peter Travers when he points out:
the script never truly examines the motives of strippers or the audiences. Instead, Soderbergh dawdles over Mike’s flirtation with The Kid’s sister (Cody Horn). Worse, the film develops a virtuous squint that starts tsk-tsking everything that was first shown as a fleshy amusement park. It turns out that the sex, drugs and rock & roll lifestyle is really bad for these guys, especially The Kid. Magic Mike slowly degenerates into a simplistic cautionary fable.
So if you think you’re making an enlightened and open-minded decision by going to see this movie with your girlfriend, be forewarned: it’s not exactly an enlightened movie to begin with.
Related:
cyanotic
July 2, 2012 at 3:49 pm
Any idea why I am not seeing comments other than my own? It says that there are two (prior to this one) but they are not displaying for some reason.
thanks for the watch and the post, together with W’s, makes for some fascinating reading. Very curious to see what other people think about the film and/or these issues..!
Chris Menning
July 2, 2012 at 4:00 pm
Hey Cyanotic. This is actually because of a bug that for some reason registers Pingbacks as comments. Whitney’s article links back to this one, and so does her post on her personal blog. Because of the bug, the site counts those as comments but does not show them.
beeUnit
July 2, 2012 at 4:22 pm
The tides are turning and now that women are the predominant breadwinners in this country, you’re going to see a shift in the sexual objectification of men. This is exactly what women have experienced since the history of human civilization and all gay men alive today have experienced it since the day they were born. All I can say is get used to it, because it isn’t going away anytime in your virile adult life. What you’re feeling, I’m sure is uncomfortable, and you probably feel insecure and inadequate that women prefer men with bodies like that over yours, but just know it’s nothing personal. You’re just not immune anymore. You’re normal and ordinary just like every other disadvantaged population in the world. Your impenetrable privilege has come to an end and yes, female privilege now exists. The question is, will you let the inadequacies eat you alive? Or will you as a community collectively have your own emotional revolution and join ranks with the rest of the world?
thursday
July 2, 2012 at 6:53 pm
I like what you have to say, beeUnit. There’s a lot of truth to that, and your challenge at the end rings true. That is indeed the question.
I have a unique perspective as a transman in that body image issues make up the better part of my existence. I am hyperaware that my outside and inside do not match. However, I don’t let it cripple me, and I believe that is all anyone, male or female, can do. We all have insecurities, and it is intensely uncomfortable to be pushed into a situation where one must come to terms with them in public.
Chris, you are a sexy guy. I wouldn’t worry about being less beefcake than the guys in the film. While instant sexual attraction is a beautiful thing, there are many people who like chubby ladies, chubby guys, scrawny ladies, scrawny guys, and everything between. Not everyone is most drawn to fitness models. What you witnessed in that theater was not a group of women who rejected your male physicality or compared you with the men on screen and found you wanting. In my opinion, what you witnessed was a group of women exulting in the freedom to ogle and experience unbridled visual sexual response without regard to being ladylike. It is a necessary step in their liberation and has no bearing on how they feel toward you.
When a young straight guy first sees “perfect” breasts on TV or in a magazine, he does not necessarily decide all other breasts are lesser. He does not cease to desire other breasts. Rather, many decide that there are a lot of breasts in the world and they want to see them all. Each of those guys will have his own preferences, with some loving silicone and some thinking more than a mouthful’s a waste. Straight women who have never had that “male body as object” moment are finally experiencing it with all the curiosity, exultation, and a-ha! of that straight boy’s discovery of his dad’s old Playboys. Some of them, like some men, will be shallow about it, but many (like many men) will simply mark it as a milestone in their sexual awakening and move forward more enlightened.
I consciously reject the prevailing social norm. I consciously choose to believe that my physicality is valid, sexy, and that if others do not agree, that is their prerogative but has no bearing on my own self-perception. Whether or not men or women of any sexuality want to get with me, my self-worth and sense of sexual confidence are unaffected because they are each flawed human beings at different places in life’s journey and driven by unknowable forces and compulsions which guide them toward or away from me but ultimately do not revolve around me. If we are to become the change we want to see in the world, I believe that may be the first step.
Brucce
July 3, 2012 at 12:48 pm
Let’s look at our variables, shall we folks?
White straight man writes a film produced by a white straight man and his production company about some implicitly gay mostly white male strippers all played by straight dudes to be sold to white middle class straight ladies. WHERE THE FUCK ARE THE WOMEN EMPOWERED OR THE TABLES TURNED?! Last time I checked, gay men have always been denigrated and made sexual objects by straight women, who remain at the low end of the totem pole in comparison to str8 dudes.
And lets add race into this. No way in hell would they have made this movie with all African American or Latino men. Pool’s closed (i.e. AIDS).
Also, str8 dudes playing gay men, because there aren’t any gay men in hollywood? Nope. In the end, the movie is about str8 dudes as having the ultimate power to both woo women and pretend their gay and still have access to str8 dude privilege.
pwned.
Marc
July 11, 2012 at 5:01 pm
Objectification of men has gone on for a long time, even before shirtless Charlton Heston. The Cinderella story told bot sexes they had to be beautiful to be loved, and it gave males the added burden of performance and status. I can’t ever remember a movie in which the men in the audience were screaming at women, but I can think of lots of movies in reverse (New Moon, Troy, White Squal, Brave Heart, etc.), not to mention little girls screaming over Mark Wahlberg removing his clothes,etc. Even if it’s more common for men to go to strip clubs and watch porn, it is also seen as more seedy and they are looked on as creepy, while for women this is not the case. I will watch the movie with a female friend soon. The only thing that bothers me is the double standard of women who watch the show but don’t want their men to get together to watch porn or see women strip, or who consider that creepy in men. That is sexism. Young taking steroids and suffering from male body dysmorphic disorder and bigorexia nervosa, and young straight men have about as much eating disorders as women and gay men. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153277.php
http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=100874&catid=2
And there is no difference between young men and women in self esteem problems. http://scienceblog.com/46286/no-difference-in-womens-and-mens-self-esteem-in-youth-and-early-adulthood/