Beefcake
From Free net encyclopedia
Image:Harrison100.jpg Beefcake is a slang word for erotic images or realistic photos of any well-muscled, well-built man, in a word play on 'cheesecake', used since 1934 of images of sexy young women. The photographs are usually of shirtless men. 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.
Beefcake poses by male actors were used far less frequently than cheesecake layouts of actresses, nevertheless as early as the 1920's photographs were taken of such stars as Rudolph Valentino and Ramon 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 like Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe. The 1940's saw a rise in shirtless shots of such handsome stars as Tyrone Power, Guy Madison, and Sterling Hayden and in the 1950's movie magazines began running swimsuit shots of actors such as Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Jeff Chandler, and Robert Wagner almost as frequently as it would of actresses. Also during this period came the rise of bodybuilding magazines, which continue to be popular to the present day, as well as musclemen movie stars like Steve Reeves who were often barely dressed in their action/adventure films.
The 1970's proved a golden age for beefcake with the debut of Playgirl magazine and its completely nude pictorials of men, Cosmopolitan magazine's famous semi-nude centerfolds of actors like Burt Reynolds, and the rise of pornography directed at gay male audiences in both magazines and films.
Today it is common to see beefcake shots of actors like Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise on the cover of general interest magazines.
Other actors who have occasionally posed for beefcake shots over the years include Errol Flynn, Robert Taylor, Jeffrey Hunter, Rory Calhoun, Peter Lupus, Joe Dallesandro, Sam J. Jones, Tom Selleck, Mark Harmon, and Antonio Sabato Jr.
Many professional male bodybuilders advertise their services, offering advice concerning nutrition, training, etc., often marketing their videos in which training programmes are demonstrated. Since the late 20th century it has become more evident that buyers of such videos are attracted not just by a bodybuilder's mere bulk of muscles, but also by his toned body and sexual appeal. Browsing through a number of bodybuilders' home pages, one occasionally finds videos advertised which are said to include "frontal nudity", "sexually explicit material", etc.
A recent movie of the same name details the history of the Athletic Model Guild, an early company known for their photos of men.fr:Bellâtre