Author Michael Brodeur takes the gym very seriously, and not at all at the same time, in his book “Swole: The Making of Men and the Meaning of Muscles,” in an effort to show readers that the overly online world of hypermasculinity It’s an illusion and what a man can be is what you make of him.
Brodeur invokes his own autobiography to guide the reader through the history of weightlifting and the role of men in society. He is a middle-aged, Gen-X “carnivore” who brags about the depth of his squats and the size of his biceps and butt, but also lives a life as a classical music critic for The Washington Post and a gay man .
These conflicting identities intertwine in Brodeur’s “Swole.” The narrative works, for the most part, but sometimes Brodeur’s chapters feel more like miniature essays involving a broader theme of masculinity than a comprehensive whole.
It celebrates male bodies and men who want to be bigger and stronger, and uses the humor and history of idols like Arnold Schwarzenegger, He-Man, and professional wrestling to show how men’s identities have evolved and changed since he was child, struggling to become reality. according to your own sexual orientation.
Brodeur seems to reject the modern gym industry, which often sells its version of the ideal body: a place where calorie counting is perfected, macronutrients are measured, and microtargeting of muscle groups is mandatory.
Instead, Brodeur tells the reader to achieve the ideal you desire – feel comfortable when you look in the mirror, and know that it’s also okay to be a little embarrassed when you look in the mirror.
Brodeur also warns about the growing influence that internet personalities like Andrew Tate or the Liver King is attacking younger men, or the endless number of TikTok personalities who basically present easy ways for young men to purchase and abuse anabolic steroids.
“Adrift and supposedly emasculated by the mass rejection of ‘real masculinity,’” men are now plunged into an imaginary Internet-based civil war against themselves,” he writes.
“Swole” allows men to celebrate masculinity as they wish to define it.
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