For those who can't imagine how men could be further sexualised, look no further than Tom of Finland.
And no, it's not a criticism of Tom of Finland, nor of the sexualisation of women in comics. People can have their kinks AND be nice about it at the same time.
And, look further that just the anatomy and bare skin. It’s also about pose, about angles, about what’s put under focus to the viewer. You can have unrealistic sexy proportions unsexualized, and perfectly realistic neutral proportions sexualized.
A simple example, a few years ago, there was a russian game with a faceless robot with hair tied in a braid around her head. Gamers were saying she couldn’t be sexualized, since her proportions were based on a real dancer ; the sexualization actually came from the choice of open coat and lines reminiscing of high socks.
There's also the video with batman and catwoman models swapped in a game, both don’t move and don’t pose for the camera the same way.
Right, people never ask gay men when this topic comes up. Just look at any of the thirst traps that get posted to /r/gaymers. Chest hair, big ass, big bulge, huge chest, muscles for days, chiseled jawline.
One of the top comments is "men can't be sexualized in the way women are." My brother in christ, yes they absolutely can be.
scrolled WAY too long for an actual example of men being sexualized. didn't even think about gay guys. Women don't usually broadcast what makes a man "sexy".
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u/mtranda 14h ago
For those who can't imagine how men could be further sexualised, look no further than Tom of Finland.
And no, it's not a criticism of Tom of Finland, nor of the sexualisation of women in comics. People can have their kinks AND be nice about it at the same time.