Sex In The City: Young Men's Experience of Body & Identity Construction

Abstract

This research contributes to the scholarly fields of sport and health sociology and their parent discipline sociology by exploring the phenomenological experiences of three young men living in Sydney, Australia (aged 20-25). I examine how they construct and (re) construct their selves through various bodily practices (e.g. exercise, diet, grooming) to achieve the ‘ideal’ male body and persona during their early adulthood lives. Informed by a social constructionist perspective, I explore these young men’s experiences of their bodies using ethnographic research methods (e.g. life histories, visual diaries, interviews and surveys) and draw on a variety of theoretical resources particularly those in relation to Crossley’s (2005) reflexive body techniques, which encompas Bourdieu’s concepts of capital, habitus and field and Merleau Ponty’s theory of phenomenology of perception. I also explore the various social structures that influence the choices the young men make in changing their physiques and the effects these have on their health and well-being. Whilst acknowledging that these individuals have a sense of agency in choosing the kind of body and identity that they want to create, their perceived sense of agency is inevitably influenced by the discourses circulating within the contexts in which they live. These discourses include those derived from sport, health and medicine, masculinity, politics/government, education, class, sexuality and the media. Futher, the growth of the sports supplementation industry, the growth of the fitness and gym industry, the rise of the naked/semi naked ‘aestheticathletic’ male body in the media, the use of image enhancing drugs like steroids, illegal drug trade and importation of drugs, increased mental health issues and the increased rates of selfharm are phenomena that can and do shape how young men feel about their bodies and the practices they choose to engage in to shape them up. This thesis affords a unique glimpse into the day to day reflexive body techniques of three young men, and argues that their personalities, thoughts, bodies and identities exist within within a complex multidimensional social web, which ultimately influences how their biological embodied self can be rejected, (re) structured, hidden, constrained, controlled and presented.