The Male Body: A New Look at Men in Public and Private

Susan Bordo. The Male Body: A New Look at Men in Public and Private. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999.

Men's (and women's) ideas about men's bodies are heavily influenced by society's expectations and in The Male Body Susan Bordo, a professor of English and women's studies, helps us to understand where these ideas come from, and how better to control the shape they take.

In chapters on the penis (in all its incantations), the phallus, fifties Hollywood, gay men in the movies, male beauty standards, ad...