Beefcake
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Beefcake is often used to denote male sexual attractiveness stemming from physical build, but is also used by women and men interested in bodybuilding and weight training, while others consider unnaturally overdeveloped musculature unattractive. While in spectator combat disciplines many fighters choose to make their entry (or even fight if no uniform is prescribed) in elaborate costumes that sometimes practically hide them, others simply display their natural physique.
Actors typecast as beefcake
Beefcake poses by male actors were used far less frequently than cheesecake layouts of actresses. Nevertheless, as early as the 1920s photographs were taken of such stars as Rudolph Valentino and Ramón Novarro to highlight their physical appeal. Male physique shots of famous stars were even less frequent during the early talking picture era outside of stars of jungle films such as Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan) and Buster Crabbe. The 1940s saw a rise in shirtless shots of such handsome stars as Tyrone Power, Guy Madison, Sterling Hayden and Victor Mature; and in the 1950s movie magazines began running swimsuit shots of actors such as Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Jeff Chandler, Robert Conrad and Robert Wagner almost as frequently as they did with actresses. This period also included the rise of bodybuilding magazines, which continue to be popular to the present day, as well as musclemen movie stars such as Steve Reeves who were often barely dressed in their action/adventure films.
See also
- Male beauty
- Male nude
- Beefcake magazines
- Cheesecake, female equivalent
- Sex in advertising
