The Politics of Heavage

When it comes to dressing provocatively, women’s fashion has always been fairly predictable. Sure, there might be a season where the leg, the back or, for a few rather regrettable, crop-top-infused years in the early Noughties, even the stomach, are deemed the more desirable part of a women, but it always comes back to cleavage. Look in any women’s magazine (or indeed any men’s magazine that features women) and most of the looks will emphasise this area of the female anatomy. The message from the fashion industry to women is clear: when in doubt, chest is best.

But there is no such pattern for men. In fact the whole concept of men exposing parts of their body to feel more masculine, more attractive or, dare I say it, more ‘sexy’, is rather taboo. Speaking to my female friends, the vast majority like to see guys who are not too groomed and not overtly aware of their own sexuality. A hint of chest hair or pair of short shorts decidedly smacks of both.

This was seen only too clearly this past summer when the 70s revival took hold. Having previously been the reserve of Ed Westwick, the boys in JLS and the occasional indie rock band, suddenly it was cool to make like John Travolta and expose our ‘heavage’. Yes folks, undoing an extra button on our shirts or wearing a slightly-lower-than-normal V-neck was a concept so alien to society that a cutesie term had to be invented to soft-sell it to the masses. Seriously, it was in the Daily Mail.

Outside the fashion press, message boards decried ‘heavage’ as emasculating and unmanly. At best it was a rather amusing passing trend and at worst, just downright gay.

But there lies the double standard. Look at any action movie, any goal celebration, even flick onto the televisual car crash that is Jersey Shore and there are guys left, right and centre proving how masculine they are by getting their kit off. We men didn’t watch Ryan Gosling getting shirtless with Emma Stone in Crazy, Stupid Love and think “Jesus, what a poof”, we thought “damn, I wish I looked like that”. Sure, we might not have said it out loud, but I can guarantee that every guy in that movie theatre squeezed their date’s hand a little harder at that point as if to say “Don’t forget I’m hot too”.

Whilst many men might be loath to say it in public, the Alpha Male in us wants to show off to other guys. On a recent trip to Australia, for example, I noticed that all manner of men in Sydney were embracing the singlet. However, unlike the one you remember your grandpa wearing on the beach, they were slit low on the sides, barely a string of material attaching the front and back at the shoulder and the waist. On Bondi beach, on the fashionable pavements of Paddington, in the coffee shops of King’s Cross, gratuitous glimpses of side ab were hard to ignore.

Or, for an example closer to home, just look at Men’s Health and its famous cover star competition they run every year. Pitched as a fight to find the top dog of dudes with a gym membership, first prize is to show your physique off to a male readership. And, you know what? Like every woman I’ve seen lamenting the fact they can never achieve the bodies they see plastered over billboards, magazine covers and adverts for anything being sold to men…or women for that matter…I’m jealous of these muscle-bound masculine walls of muscle too. Just as every guy is.

So, ladies, the next time you see a guy with a slightly-lower-than-normal v-neck on, don’t forget we’re just trying to compete with these guys. It’s a competitive world out there for us too. Go on, give us a compliment on our heavage. It’ll make our day.