marketwatch | Poor economies impact countries in a number of detrimental ways
including higher rates of poverty, unemployment and chronic disease.
Now, a new study shows the bad economy is to blame for another unfortunate trend: the rise of #swoleness.
Skim
through any fitness enthusiast’s Instagram, and you’ll find allusions
to being “swole” — or in Herculean shape. Since the 2008 economic
crisis, more men have taken to social media to post images of their fit
bodies, according to the Journal of Gender Studies report. The trend,
which experts have dubbed “spornosexuality,” reflects men attempting to
seek validation through their bodies, instead of more conventional
means, such as their work.
“Austerity has eroded young men’s
traditional means of value-creation so they have become increasingly
reliant on their bodies as a means of feeling valuable in society,” said
study author Jamie Hakim, a professor at the University of East Anglia
in the United Kingdom. “In theoretical terms, so-called
‘spornosexuality’ is an embodied response to material changes brought
about by neoliberal austerity.”
