Reading Anne Balsamo’s article entitled “On the Cutting Edge: Cosmetic Surgery and the Technological Production of the Gendered Body”, many great points were raised about the modifications that women undertake with the desire to alter their outward appearance or even in an attempt to defy the aging process.  As I read this following her previous article which mentioned bodybuilding, it got me thinking.

In “On the Cutting Edge”, Balsamo asks “How is it that men avoid the pejorative labels attached to female cosmetic surgery clients” (219) and furthers this question with the statement: “So whereas ‘being a real man requires having a penis and balls’ and a concern with virility and productivity, being a real woman requires buying beauty products and services” (220).  Her questions and statements seem rather odd after have just discussed the phenomenon of bodybuilding in her previous article.

In the male bodybuilding realm (but not limited to only male bodybuilding), we find two schools essentially.  “Natural bodybuilding” is where essentially the transformations done to one’s body are the result of diet, training, and supplementation that have no effects of hormones within the body.  Sometimes, supplementation outside of multivitamins and protein are forbidden (products like Creatine or Nitric Oxide precursors).  Think of it as “a farm boy with a gym membership” or “Wheaties and Spinach”.  The other school of bodybuilding is essentially no holds bar.  Steroids, human growth hormone (HGH), and almost anything under the sun are legal and used in order to achieve the maximum potential of ones genetic makeup.  Among the lesser known and often frowned upon enhancements bodybuilders can acquire are also cosmetic options including calf implants, glute implants, and the injection of a product known as Synthol.  The implants are essentially exactly what one thinks when they hear these:  implants in order to enhance the look of those parts.  Synthol is a lesser known product that takes bodybuilding to a whole new level of aesthetics (if done right).  It is essentially oil that is injected into the facia tissue of your muscles.  It fills them and expands the muscle, giving it the appearance of strength with nothing more than oil occupying the space.  You do not gain strength from it and its effects do wear off over time; the benefit is purely aesthetic.  Often used to balance out unsymmetrical body parts (arms, legs, chest and back), if used right, the results are almost unnoticeable to the naked eye.  Others have gone too far.  For more information about these cosmetic options for bodybuilders, visit:  http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ronharris8.htm.  This website also contains a lot of other scholarly supported research in an attempt to distil truth in an otherwise confused world of exercise science.

What can be taken away from this insight is that contrary to Balsamo’s earlier statements, men do not in fact avoid the pejorative labels attached to female cosmetic surgery clients.  While these aesthetic enhancements are found primarily in the bodybuilding world, they are by no means confined to it.  The recent rise in bodybuilding supplementation and the attention to aesthetic male physical appearance over the last decade has put an increasingly large amount of pressure on males to meet these standards.  Supplement companies promise the “next best weight loss pill” or “the pre-workout formula that will deliver insane lifts” all playing off of the desires held by many males to obtain more ‘masculine’ physical traits.  No longer does “‘being a real man requires having a penis and balls’ and a concern with virility and productivity”, it also requires a six-pack, a nice butt, strong arms, and a laundry list of other demands.   If someone cannot put in the hard work or simply does not have the genetic disposition to achieve the desired aesthetics they want, never fear, they can buy their image.  Buyers beware, for these purchases do not come without public criticism.  Buy a new buttock and you might be questions about whether or not you had to replace your old one because it had a crack in it.  Obtain Synthol injections and risk being labelled a “juice monkey”.  It may not have always been this way, but a survey of the “ideal” male figures will undoubtedly turn up results where these men possess these traits to a relatively high aesthetic degree.

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