All those shirtless men with freaky six-packs...

[LJD]

This is really just a rant...

I'm on Twitter and Facebook, and a lot of the people I friend/follow are fellow romance authors. And my feed contains a large amount of naked man chest...and a lot of it's not just book covers and promo, though there's a good amount of that too.

And you know what? I'm sick of it, and it turns me off. Men with super-sculpted bodies freak me out and leave me wondering what kind of crazy diet and exercise regime they follow. I prefer guys who look a little more ordinary. Plus nearly-nude people aren't really what I'm in the mood for when I'm eating my breakfast.

So this is just me saying...I'm tired of how this seems to be a big part of the romance community. I don't think there's anything wrong with it, and I know people are just having fun, but it's not my thing. Sometimes when I scroll through picture after picture of men with freaky six-packs and pecs, I almost feel like I don't belong in the romance world. I know that seems excessive. But I don't really care about how a guy looks, and it's never been much of a factor in who I date...and I feel left out. I feel like there's something wrong with me, even though I know that isn't true.

So...anyone else feel this way?

God, I feel weird for posting this.

ETA: I'm not just talking about covers. A number of romance writers post these pictures just for fun. (Which do you like better? xyz wishes you goodnight, inspiration! etc) It didn't bother me as much until I joined Facebook a couple of weeks ago, and then I went to a couple of Facebook party promos...which made me a bit uncomfortable.

 

[dolores haze]

I'm with you.

I'm sick of those malformed, shaved, oily torso pics and covers. I don't find them in the least bit attractive and I cannot get away from them on FB, Twitter, Amazon, etc. The covers are pretty much headless torsos. I've complained about them several times, to which my fellow romance authors reply, "but they sell." *massive sigh*

I bet my cover artists sigh when I request "no mantitty" on the covers

 

[Brightdreamer]

I'm sick of those malformed, shaved, oily torso pics and covers. I don't find them in the least bit attractive and I cannot get away from them on FB, Twitter, Amazon, etc. The covers are pretty much headless torsos.

Only an occasional romance reader myself, but I've seen too many of those covers. (I also see snerkloads of them in the library... I swear it's the same guy. Guess the Headless Horseman needs to pay bills outside the Halloween rush, or maybe the equestrian gig fell through.) Is it any less objectification when it's a guy reduced to an idealized body (and not even a face, with a possible implication of humanity or personality - just the "sexy bits")? From a marketing standpoint, sadly, I'm sure it sells or it wouldn't recur so often, but still... is that really all there is to your story? Shiny torso action?

 

[Roxxsmom]

I can't help thinking how creepy it would be to me if there were a genre of fiction that routinely feature headless, naked, female torsos. Maybe there is. If so, it's creepy

Seriously, I get that romance covers need a way of tagging themselves, so someone spying it in a store that doesn't sort by genre will know immediately what to expect. But surely there are other ways of getting across that it's a romance, even a steamy one, without the naked torsos. And I'm with you with the bodybuilder look too. I like fit men, but cowboys or whatever may live active lives and be fit from schlepping hay bales around, but they probably don't spend hours at the gym working specific muscle groups each week.

 

[LJD]

It's not so much the covers that bother me...seems like I've gotten used to it when it's on covers. (Though I often don't care for it.) But all the authors who are posting these pictures just because. Sometimes they say it's for inspiration..

 

[Marian Perera]

I just saw a cover mostly taken up by the guy's pecs, and they were gigantic. He had to need a support garment.

But as everyone else said, these covers sell.

 

[Hopefully WLCT]

I'm probably dating myself but I call them " Fabio books". I love the stories but I do know where your comin' from. Some of the best romance stories don't have " Fabio" on the cover!! I guess we continue to read them for the content.Never judge a book by it's cover is so true.

 

[ElaineA]

Yanno, it's interesting. I don't see many of those covers in the wild. On blogs and ebook retailer sites, yes, but on actual paperbacks? Not so much. I just flipped through the Barnes & Noble "romance bestseller" list on their website and I had to get to the third page before I saw one. But on All Romance's home page they're EVERYwhere. I just wonder if there's a component of not having the cover seen with ebooks. Plus the fact that they're selling on a thumbnail on the e-tail side. A guy with ripped abs is pretty easy to spot in thumbnail, and they do seem to be more common in certain subgeneres, so a website shopper can pinpoint them more quickly. Werewolves, athletes, bikers. The hot billionaires always seem to have a suit and a white shirt...

I'm not attracted to over-muscled guys, but you have to admit it's not a new idealization (hello Greek statuary) and idealization is a lot of why romance readers read romance, isn't it? Every genre's got its cover-tropes.

 

[veinglory]

Having tried it both ways several times (that's what she said), yep, those covers do sell.

 

[ErezMA]

I'm a man, so take this for what you will (likely jack squat) but I've heard that men are more vision-based and women, more with touch. So, if this premise is, for the large part true, men are almost always going to be attracted to a cover with a women nearly naked, perhaps with some strategically placed positioning to cover their parts? And perhaps maybe the sculpted male look is so popular because many women have memories of the successful men in their life who have made them feel special - the men may be popular, a jock, in good shape, etc...?

Or am I just completely off?

 

[Fruitbat]

No, I'm not attracted to a half-naked "look how hot I am" anonymous male pic or partial pic in my face at all.

Whether in my dreams or partnership, if there is going to be a dolly between us, it better be me, not him. (not that I am a dolly lol, just talking about the dynamic or whatever). To me, it's just all wrong.

Better if he was fully clothed and not looking like he puts so much effort into his own looks, and looking at the heroine. His lust for a woman is hot. His announcing himself as the physical anonymous object of our lust is not.

The industry could well have it wrong. It looks to me like they've taken the typical marketing staple used for straight males and just reversed it for straight females when it may not work the same way in reverse at all.

 

[Helix]

I'm a man, so take this for what you will (likely jack squat) but I've heard that men are more vision-based and women, more with touch. So, if this premise is, for the large part true, men are almost always going to be attracted to a cover with a women nearly naked, perhaps with some strategically placed positioning to cover their parts? And perhaps maybe the sculpted male look is so popular because many women have memories of the successful men in their life who have made them feel special - the men may be popular, a jock, in good shape, etc...?

Wait...'successful men' = a sculpted six-pack?

Or am I just completely off?

^This one, I suspect.

 

[ErezMA]

When I said 'successful men,' I meant those who have that stereotypical. Either they're popular in high school, or out in the corporate world. They wear Abercrombie to school or a suit to the office, but either case, they'll likely fit.

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear before.

 

[Helix]

When I said 'successful men,' I meant those who have that stereotypical. Either they're popular in high school, or out in the corporate world. They wear Abercrombie to school or a suit to the office, but either case, they'll likely fit.

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear before.

Yeah. I think you're stereotyping everyone with this simplistic view. None of the successful men I know are in the corporate world, or wear suits (unless they're being awarded medals) or Abercrombie, whatever that is. You're projecting a very narrow view of 'success' and 'special' on a very large number of people.

 

[Anna_Hedley]

I suspect it's to appeal to the broadest subset of women they can. The idea being that women are more likely to be attracted to a shaven, muscular man than a huge, hairy, bearded dude with a bit of chub (my own preference for men). Whether that's actually true or not.

 

[ErezMA]

Yeah. I think you're stereotyping everyone with this simplistic view. None of the successful men I know are in the corporate world, or wear suits (unless they're being awarded medals) or Abercrombie, whatever that is. You're projecting a very narrow view of 'success' and 'special' on a very large number of people.

That's why I said stereotype. *Sigh* Nevermind...

 

[mccardey]

*Sigh* Nevermind...

*sigh*

 

[Helix]

That's why I said stereotype. *Sigh* Nevermind...

Everyone =/= just men.

 

[Latina Bunny]

Yeah, I highly dislike those kinds of covers, too. But that could be me being more on the LGBT side, lol. Men parts don't turn me on, for the most part.

I dislike it even more with m/m, since I see double the man-titty bodies on the cover, heh. Or triple if it's a m/m/m kind of story.

Luckily, in mainstream (m/f) romance books, you don't see a lot of those muscular, headless torsos as much.

Like someone mentioned earlier: I wonder if it's because of the thumbnail nature of e-books? And/or that ebook romance market tends to be more on the erotic side?

I prefer to see covers with characters who wear awesome or cool clothes/fashion instead. Or a nice peaceful, serene, or awe-inspiring/interesting landscape or setting background or something.

 

[Viridian]

I'm a man, so take this for what you will (likely jack squat) but I've heard that men are more vision-based and women, more with touch. So, if this premise is, for the large part true, men are almost always going to be attracted to a cover with a women nearly naked, perhaps with some strategically placed positioning to cover their parts? And perhaps maybe the sculpted male look is so popular because many women have memories of the successful men in their life who have made them feel special - the men may be popular, a jock, in good shape, etc...?

Or am I just completely off?

I'm not totally sure I follow you. It seems like what you're saying is:

• Men like pictures of naked women because men like naked pictures of women
• However, women are not very visual. They only like pictures of naked men because those pictures remind them of guys they like in real life.
• The guys they like in real life are hot.

That seems kind of convoluted. If romance novels with pictures of hot guys sell well, it's probably because many women like pictures of hot guys. It doesn't need to be more complicated than that. You don't need to explain your way around it.

 

[ErezMA]

What I'm saying is that it tends to get men's attention with sexual appeal by showing a naked woman. I've heard often that women are touch based and my theory, which I wanted to collaborate to get some insight, was seeing a ripped man may have brought back memories of moments in bed where you saw your partner as strong or forceful (in the good way)

And my other part was that if you already haven't had intimate moments with someone like that, it brought back memories of some you wanted to sleep with in that regard.

I'm not here trying to cause a ruckus. I was looking to gain insight. It's very possible I have misinformation. Of course men and women are all different and not everything floats the same boats.

 

[Latina Bunny]

Seems pretty straightforward to me: There are many people out there who like hot men and/or hot women, depending on their preferences.

 

[brswain]

Yeah, I highly dislike those kinds of covers, too. But that could be me being more on the LGBT side, lol. Men parts don't turn me on, for the most part.

I dislike it even more with m/m, since I see double the man-titty bodies on the cover, heh. Or triple if it's a m/m/m kind of story.

Luckily, in mainstream (m/f) romance books, you don't see a lot of those muscular, headless torsos as much.

Like someone mentioned earlier: I wonder if it's because of the thumbnail nature of e-books? And/or that ebook romance market tends to be more on the erotic side?

I prefer to see covers with characters who wear awesome or cool clothes/fashion instead. Or a nice peaceful, serene, or awe-inspiring/interesting landscape or setting background or something.

As a straight, married male who is starting out writing romance, I can't say that I get super excited by naked male torsos as book covers either.

But I do have one observation after watching Wattpad during the Harlequin SYTYCW15 contest I'm entered in: Those covers draw hits. Lots of hits.

I don't know if it's Wattpad's preponderant demographic of what appear to be young teen girls, or something else. But when I made my own book cover (which I sorta suck at), I aimed for wistfully romantic.

Probably a mistake. What I really needed was bare chests or screaming red lipstick & fingernails, I think I would have attracted more hits.

The "top reads" on Wattpad at least all seem to feature covers like that.

 

[ErezMA]

Well that seemed to be my guess but I know from speaking with some women on the subject, was many enter a new world of kinkiness that they don't show others. It's like a little secret they keep to themselves.

Long story short, there's quite a bit of grey area and I figure if I asked something you didn't want to tell me, you didn't have to. Lol

 

[Latina Bunny]

As a straight, married male who is starting out writing romance, I can't say that I get super excited by naked male torsos as book covers either.

But I do have one observation after watching Wattpad during the Harlequin SYTYCW15 contest I'm entered in: Those covers draw hits. Lots of hits.

I don't know if it's Wattpad's preponderant demographic of what appear to be young teen girls, or something else. But when I made my own book cover (which I sorta suck at), I aimed for wistfully romantic.

Probably a mistake. What I really needed was bare chests or screaming red lipstick & fingernails, I think I would have attracted more hits.

The "top reads" on Wattpad at least all seem to feature covers like that.

Yeah, I know they're popular. Sex sells, simple as that.