Spornosexual

The Rise of Spornosexual

Spornosexual? You may have never heard that term before, but I suggest you get familiar with it because it is on the rise. Spornosexual combines the words "sport," "porn," and "metrosexual.” It describes men who consume both sports and pornography. In addition to possessing certain metrosexual attributes these men carry their own bodies as accessories and are not shy at showcasing them in public. Spornosexuals are found spending a lot of time and money on physical fitness and upkeep. The spornosexual style emphasizes heavy, lean musculature, and certain kinds of tattooing. This is meterosexual 2.0, and it is popping up in advertisements everywhere. Why is this type of advertising so controversial? This is because these advertisements are portraying straight men in homosexual ways, and that is far from traditional and stereotypical beliefs.

Pause. How did I get here? Talking about the controversial spornosexual advertising.

Well, I love readings that leave me think, and “Can Women Have Sex Like a Man?”: Sexual Scripts in Sex an the City by Gail Markle did just that. This reading discusses how Sex and the City challenges commonly held cultural beliefs about what constitutes appropriate sexual desires and behaviors for women. The show goes against the flow and sends a different message that turns heads. There is nothing I love more than things outside of the status quo. My mind started going and I began thinking of other media messages that go against traditional beliefs.

Quite frankly, what is more deviated from social norms then two straight men posing as gay. That hasn’t been done before, and it makes me wonder what kind of message will be sent to male viewers. Gail Markle says, “according to sexual script theory, sexuality is not innate, but is learned through cultural messages” (Markle, 2008).

Dieux du Stade is a calendar featuring nude and semi-nude photographs of members of Stade Fencais, a French rugby team. The calendars have mostly black and white nude/erotic photographs of the players.

Here are some of the images from the calendar:

These images are also covering my entire living room. These men are not gay, but are posing as if they were. We always see advertisements with two women, but rarely see advertisements of two men. That is because two men photographed together “must be gay”, or at least that is the mainstream stereotype.

I believe this type of advertising is going to have huge effects on the way men view homosexuals, and homosexual acts. In the reading From Sex to Sexuality: Exposing the Heterosexual Script on Primetime Network Television Jann L. Kim discusses different codes about the way men and women should act. Male-Oriented Homophobia states “men must avoid behaving in a manner that could be construed as homosexual. Men who are caught acting in that way should express embarrassment and discomfort” (Kim, 2007). This calendar goes against those codes and sends the opposite message. The images show men who are comfortable with their sexuality and can take place in behaviors that may be considered homosexual. Perhaps if this type of advertising takes off and is seen everywhere, our society will begin to change its views on how men have to act. The dominant messages in our society, the guidelines for how men and women need to act, are so fixed. The rise of spornosexual advertising could help put an end to the Male-Oriented Homophia code. Just like women having sex like a man, this is a flip in our mainstream ideals.

Works Cited

Kim, J. L., Sorsoli, C. L., Collins, K., Zylbergold, B. A., Schooler, D., & Tolman, D. L. (2007).   From sex to sexuality: Exposing the heterosexual script on primetime network television. Journal of Sex Research, 44(2), 145-157. doi: 10.1080/00224490701263660 

Markle, G. (2008.).  Can Women Have Sex Like a Man?”: Sexual Scripts in Sex and the City. Volume 12, Issue 1, pp 45-57

Goudon, Fred, curator. (2014) Dieux du Stade. Retrieved January 1, 2014, from http://dieuxdustade.com/index.html

http://dieuxdustade.com