I will bite my virtual tongue here and not respond with an ironical, “Duh.” And d espite reading like satire, I couldn’t find any indication on the Newsweek site that it was anything but serious (sic) journalism.
Writer Sydney Pereirab noted that the posted photos of “guy candy” tended to be mostly white men, “despite London being a multicultural city.” From this, Ms Pereira drew the conclusion that “white, male privilege is still an attractive quality.” Pictures showing other representations of masculinity, such as fatherhood, and more emotional and awkward-appearing men were far less frequent.” Items that indicated wealth such as smart suits, watches and phones were emphasized. “The photos and comments focused on the men’s biceps, pecs and chest as well as perceived sexual ability. This academic-oriented paper found its way into the popular media where I found it on the Newsweek website with the engagingly condescending title, “ Men With Muscles and Money Are More Attractive to Straight Women and Gay Men-Showing Gender Roles Aren’t Progressing.” The research by academics from Coventry and Aberystwyth University said that many photos particularly emphasized men’s muscular biceps, pecs, and chest-the body parts which suggest physical strength. This celebration of masculine capital is achieved through humor and the knowing wink, but the outcome is a reaffirmation of urban hegemonic masculinity.” 3 We suggest that in TubeCrush, value is directed onto the bodies of particular men, creating a visual economy of post-feminist masculinity of whiteness, physical strength, and economic wealth. The paper responds to notions of reverse sexism and post-sexism used to make sense of women’s apparent objectification of men in the digital space, by asking instead where the value of such images lies. “Value is directed onto the bodies of men creating a visual economy of masculinity of whiteness, physical strength, and economic wealth.” We use TubeCrush as a case study to develop Berlant’s intimate publics as a lens for examining post-feminist sensibility and masculinity in the liminal space between home/work. “In this paper, we analyze the website TubeCrush, where people post and share unsolicited photographs of ‘guy candy’ seen on the London Underground. The teaser for the abstract on the Taylor & Francis website is a hoot: The study was done by Coventry and Aberystwyth universities and was published as part of the Feminist Media Studies on the Taylor & Francis Online website with the post-modernly title, “He’s a total TubeCrush: post-feminist sensibility as intimate publics.” 2 The researchers came to this astounding conclusion: “Muscles and money are qualities that straight women and gay men typically find attractive in men!” 1 TubeCrush is a website where people post pictures of men (“eye candy”) taken surreptitiously on the London Underground railway system. FOR STATING THE OBVIOUS, a recent study by two British universities analyzing images posted on TubeCrush over a period of three years is tough to top.
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