'The Spornosexual': the affective contradictions of male body-work in neoliberal digital culture

Hakim, James (2018) 'The Spornosexual': the affective contradictions of male body-work in neoliberal digital culture. Journal of Gender Studies, 27 (2). pp. 231-241. ISSN 0958-9236

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Abstract

Since 2008 there has been an empirically observable rise in young British men sharing images of their worked-out bodies on social media platforms. This article draws on interviews with men who engage in this popular cultural practice to suggest that it is an embodied and mediated response to the precarious structures of feeling produced by neoliberal austerity. It begins by arguing that as young men’s traditional breadwinning capacities are being eroded in a post-financial crisis austerity economy, increasing numbers of them are turning to sharing images of their worked out bodies as a way of feeling valuable. Moreover, by speaking to men who engage in this practice, it becomes possible to map the affective contradictions of inhabiting the precarious spaces of austerity culture. The article concludes by suggesting that within these affective contradictions lies the potential of resistance to neoliberalism’s ongoing territorialisation of everyday life.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	male body,neoliberalism,austerity,social networking sites,value,affect
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Art, Media and American Studies
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Film, Television and Media
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	24 Sep 2016 00:07
Last Modified:	21 Jul 2023 09:42
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/59835
DOI:	10.1080/09589236.2016.1217771

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