The Beautiful Boy

From Adonis and images of St. Sebastian to James Dean and Calvin Klein models, beautiful boys have been quietly admired since the beginning of time. While most agree that women have been treated and depicted as sex objects, Germaine Greer's sensational thesis is that the erotic charge of male imagery has been rigorously repressed throughout history. Men and women alike have been blind to the sensuality and flirtatiousness found in images of boys, as well as to the many depictions of female bodies based on the juvenile male-from Michelangelo's female figures to waif like supermodels.

This iconic ideal of male physical beauty is revealed in hundreds of dazzling images by the world's greatest artists and photographers. The Kritios boy, Caravaggio's Love Triumphant, Larry Clark's Oklahoma City, Nijinsky in "L'Apres-Midi d'un Faune," Cellini's Narcissus, Donatello's David, Thomas Eakins' young swimmers, and many other examples, provide striking evidence that the models of today- with their wide shoulders and narrow hips-echo the boyish ideal.