Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Rizzoli International Publications (2003), Hardcover
Description
Greer's simple thesis is that boys have always been the world's favourite pin-ups, but that we have repressed this knowledge and blinded ourselves to their charms, not least because of a confusion between art and pornography - and between delight and desire.
User reviews
LibraryThing member jadski
I remember reading the review for this when it came out and was delighted to recently stumble upon it in my local library. I'm a fan of Germaine Greer and was intrigued at what she might have to say about the ways have been portrayed through art and history and if this has altered in our modern
This is packed full of beautiful images, of paintings, sculpture and photos, and it is the latter which Greer believes as altered our perception of 'the boy'. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on 'Soldiers' and 'The Female Gaze'. As the mother of sons some of this alarmed me and saddened me, I have never much considered the way boys have been objectified and defined by art. My ardent feminism has me constantly focusing on images of women, so what about the boy? He is beautiful and rare and over the centuries has been subjected to idealism with modifications as time, religion and culture move.
I loved this and will probably come back to it in a few years...meanwhile I am observing images of boys more and understanding their untouchability and sexuality, they are sacred and gorgeous and possibly as much the vicitms of scrunity as girls and women. Good one Germaine.
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world...which seemingly it has a little.This is packed full of beautiful images, of paintings, sculpture and photos, and it is the latter which Greer believes as altered our perception of 'the boy'. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on 'Soldiers' and 'The Female Gaze'. As the mother of sons some of this alarmed me and saddened me, I have never much considered the way boys have been objectified and defined by art. My ardent feminism has me constantly focusing on images of women, so what about the boy? He is beautiful and rare and over the centuries has been subjected to idealism with modifications as time, religion and culture move.
I loved this and will probably come back to it in a few years...meanwhile I am observing images of boys more and understanding their untouchability and sexuality, they are sacred and gorgeous and possibly as much the vicitms of scrunity as girls and women. Good one Germaine.
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LibraryThing member Narcissa
I can't remember why I desperately wanted this book when it was published... but I know I was disappointed. I think it's an interesting subject, but some of those photos are just SO wrong in a book like this, I can't understand why she wanted them to be there.
LibraryThing member jwhenderson
What is a boy? This book approaches that question through the artists' depiction of the male figure. Specifically, the history of male beauty through the ages and the ways that it has been expressed is the focus of this gorgeous book. Greer has the eye and the mind to bring the masculine figure to
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life in the many varieties that it has been displayed over the centuries. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
2003
Physical description
256 p.; 11.34 inches
ISBN
0847825868 / 9780847825868