Queer Machos: Gender, Sexuality, Beauty, and Chicano/Latino Men

Even though beauty is socially, culturally, and historically variable, it is clear that beauty standards have tended to develop in ways that privilege those who possess the physical attributes most valued in any given society at any given historical moment. As a result, hegemonic paradigms of beauty are established and they, in turn, regulate the visibility of bodies. Certain looks and body types are disproportionately displayed in the media, films, or art of any culture whereas others, especially those deemed abject, are not. The privileging of such bodies comes with real personal and socioeconomic consequences. For example, we now know that people who possess traits deemed beautiful, and especially those that are marked as ideal, are automatically granted several privileges: professional advancement, higher income, more friends, and more sex.2