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1980s and the young male aesthetic

Inspired by recent threads, an da comment on the Kiefer/RDJ apartment scenario...

Is there something that truly set off the boys of the 1980s from the prior and subsequent decades? Or is it just the nostalgia one feels for the time one sexually came of age?

I look at what i am informed is the current crop of male beauty and think...there really is something missing.

Is it just my own lost youth?

Or is there a danger, a sexual charge, a delicacy, however one would define it and whatever it was composed of, that is now absent?

by Anonymousreply 50June 4, 2024 6:14 PM

Aesthetics 2024 = lifting weights, broccoli hair, Seacow drool

by Anonymousreply 1January 18, 2024 5:31 AM

I have been a college prof for a few decades. Every generation is filled with the same mix of beauty and charm on a scale of 1 to 10. Surface details and volume may change ever so slightly.

by Anonymousreply 2January 18, 2024 5:48 AM

It’s nostalgia. On DataLounge, it’s always nostalgia.

by Anonymousreply 3January 18, 2024 5:57 AM

Prettiness briefly mattered more than handsomeness during part of the 80s. Timothee Chalamet is somewhat of a throwback to that.

by Anonymousreply 4January 18, 2024 5:59 AM

Male prettiness was a thing from the mid 60s to the mid 70s as well.

by Anonymousreply 5January 18, 2024 6:08 AM

80s boys had an undercurrent of danger which is totally lacking in today's stars. Kiefer and RDJ might introduce you to blowjobs and heroin. Tom Holland wants to introduce you to pickleball.

by Anonymousreply 6January 18, 2024 6:47 AM

OK I'll buy that.

by Anonymousreply 7January 18, 2024 6:50 AM

There was something tactile to male stars in the 80s. I can imagine touching their hair, their skin.

I think part of this was not just the increased beauty of the boys or the new interest in homoeroticism (Obsession and Calvin Klein ads, anyone?). I think it was photography and lighting improving as well. Thus the new interest in male beauty overall.

by Anonymousreply 8January 18, 2024 7:01 AM

....

by Anonymousreply 9January 18, 2024 9:01 PM

Natural, unadulterated beauty (then) vs. covered in tattoos and earlobe stretchings (now). Guys back then also seemed to be less aware of how hot they were which made them even hotter. And they weren't afraid to wear crop tops and short shorts! WOOF

by Anonymousreply 10January 18, 2024 11:47 PM

[quote]Kiefer and RDJ might introduce you to blowjobs and heroin.

And Judd Nelson might kick you in the head!

by Anonymousreply 11January 18, 2024 11:53 PM

I can't even picture Timothee or Tom Holland fucking. Actors today seem asexual.

by Anonymousreply 12January 19, 2024 4:20 AM

I like Tom Holland. I think he's great in the Spiderman films and he seems a likeable chap overall. But I agree - he's not quite sexless so much as he seems perpetually underage somehow.

Kiefer, Judd and RDJ at the same age suggested a complex (and possibly toxic) sexuality.

by Anonymousreply 13January 19, 2024 4:48 AM

[quote] he's not quite sexless so much as he seems perpetually underage somehow.

Draw a Venn diagram please.

by Anonymousreply 14January 19, 2024 4:54 AM

Kids aren’t fucking these days, nor are they trying to. They are pretty much sexless because sex involves other people. Their stars reflect this.

by Anonymousreply 15January 19, 2024 5:17 AM

Please - Tom Holland is having dirty, sweaty sex with Zendaya as we speak

by Anonymousreply 16January 19, 2024 5:20 AM

Charles Melton is the only young star to have sex appeal in the past 20 years.

by Anonymousreply 17January 19, 2024 5:22 AM

Kiefer was never considered pretty or handsome. He would usually play a creep.

by Anonymousreply 18January 19, 2024 5:24 AM

Crop tops and short shorts were the 70s, if I remember correctly. Not the 80s.

by Anonymousreply 19January 19, 2024 5:25 AM

Did someone say crop top?

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 20January 19, 2024 5:29 AM

Kiefer was hot in The Lost Boys.

by Anonymousreply 21January 19, 2024 5:33 AM

1980's beauty Christopher Atkins:

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 22January 19, 2024 7:22 AM

Long hair was in style for men. They had hairy chests and full bushes. Remember guys wearing tight faded jeans that hugged their nuts?

by Anonymousreply 23January 19, 2024 10:53 PM

Everyone was naturally slim back then.

by Anonymousreply 24January 19, 2024 10:56 PM

R24, they weren't necessarily in good shape, though. A lot of skinny guys/girls and people who existed on coffee, alcohol and cigarettes.

by Anonymousreply 25January 19, 2024 11:04 PM

R1 it's fusilli pasta hair! LOL

by Anonymousreply 26January 19, 2024 11:09 PM

[quote]Crop tops and short shorts were the 70s, if I remember correctly. Not the 80s.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 27January 20, 2024 12:48 AM

Never look back.

by Anonymousreply 28January 20, 2024 12:51 AM

OK what about the short shorts?

by Anonymousreply 29January 20, 2024 4:31 AM

Crop tops and short shorts were indeed a 70's thing, and shorts got much longer in the 80's but cropped tops had a comeback in 80's -- Bill and Ted, Flashdance, etc. I had an Ocean Pacific cropped t-shirt in 1985.

by Anonymousreply 30January 20, 2024 4:46 AM

Nylon running shorts were short in the 80s but all other shorts got longer, including tennis shorts and swim trunks.

by Anonymousreply 31January 20, 2024 4:50 AM

bump

by Anonymousreply 32February 10, 2024 12:14 AM

I'm with you, OP. I can't remember the last time I lusted after a male celebrity. Maybe it's because I was much hornier 20 years ago, but I almost never turn my head because of someone's raw sex appeal.

by Anonymousreply 33February 10, 2024 12:30 AM

Cigarettes back then roughed a guy up more

by Anonymousreply 34February 10, 2024 2:02 AM

Channing Tatum = sexy in 2011

Charles Melton = sexy in 2023

by Anonymousreply 35February 11, 2024 7:32 AM

RDJ was exceptionally handsome as a young man and would be in any era. Kiefer Sutherland is gross. Most male sex symbols today are very average looking

by Anonymousreply 36February 12, 2024 4:54 AM

Kiefer was a golden God.

by Anonymousreply 37February 12, 2024 5:00 AM

[quote] Or is it just the nostalgia one feels for the time one sexually came of age?

This.

by Anonymousreply 38February 12, 2024 5:51 AM

[quote]Most male sex symbols today are very average looking

Any thoughts on why this is so?

by Anonymousreply 39February 12, 2024 8:51 AM

This was an era when more women were getting professional jobs, moving into non-pink collar occupations, and delaying marriage. Young women had more disposable cash than in previous generations. This, along with increased gay awareness/acceptance (prior to the AIDS epidemic) may also factor into the reason young men were increasingly objectified in media in the 80s.

by Anonymousreply 40February 12, 2024 1:22 PM

It’s not them. It’s you. You’re old.

by Anonymousreply 41February 12, 2024 1:26 PM

In the early 80s, young men wore tight short-shorts and crop-top t-shirts. They were sexually on display in many ways you never see much now (with everything so goddamned baggy for the last couple of decades).

And guys were "naturally fit" more often than today, where the 'hot' guys are all juiced up, ripped, and over-the-top gym-bodied. There wasn't the obsession with gyms and workouts and protein powders and fad diets among men back then... the masculinity was more natural and less forced.

by Anonymousreply 42February 12, 2024 3:08 PM

This thread gave me fond memories of my self coming into my gay Awakening in the late 70s to the early 80s!

I remember my wardrobe choices from that era!

Tight Calvin Klein Jeans that hugged my glutes and showcased my 32 inch waist.

My Lacoste Izoid shirts with the knit sleeves that tightly highlighted my biceps and triceps.

My original 501 button fly jeans that I faded to perfection by putting them in my parents pool for one week . Always worn with the bottom button undone.

My white mesh briefs from JC Penny made from 100% Quiana

My ,unstructured linen jacket with the sleeves rolled up mid forearm.

by Anonymousreply 43February 12, 2024 4:15 PM

bump

by Anonymousreply 44June 4, 2024 1:24 AM

Russell Todd was 1980s young male aesthetic for me.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 45June 4, 2024 2:41 AM

[quote]1980s and the young male aesthetic Inspired by recent threads, an da comment on the Kiefer/RDJ apartment scenario... Is there something that truly set off the boys of the 1980s from the prior and subsequent decades? Or is it just the nostalgia one feels for the time one sexually came of age? I look at what i am informed is the current crop of male beauty and think...there really is something missing. Is it just my own lost youth? Or is there a danger, a sexual charge, a delicacy, however one would define it and whatever it was composed of, that is now absent?

Sweet Suffering Jesus.

by Anonymousreply 46June 4, 2024 3:51 AM

I miss short shorts and crop tops.

by Anonymousreply 47June 4, 2024 5:00 AM

The short running shorts and the ubiquitous tube socks.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 48June 4, 2024 1:19 PM

R10 Tattoos and earlobe stretching are NOT of now.

That is a mid-millennial look that died out in the early 2010s. Every guy who looks like that is between 30-40.

by Anonymousreply 49June 4, 2024 1:42 PM

2005 called...it wants its tribal tattoos back.

by Anonymousreply 50June 4, 2024 6:14 PM
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