In the realm of YouTube, somewhere between the “Charlie bit my finger” videos and “Baby dancing to Beyoncé,” lie thousands of videos on the subject of beauty. Whether you are looking for a Hollywood glam makeup tutorial or a review of the new NAKED eye-shadow pallet, you will likely find what you are looking for on YouTube. Presently, there are 419+ channels listed under the category beauty and fashion. While scrolling through a list compiled by YouTube of 100 beauty and fashion channels, it becomes apparent the beauty scene on YouTube is dominated by women. Among the 100 beauty YouTubers, or gurus, as they are commonly referred to in the YouTube beauty community, are only four males (YouTube). I decided to look into this small but bustling community of male beauty gurus and expected them to mirror their
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“Even in these so-called liberated times, if a man does not act manly, his sexuality is held in question” (Moss, 2012, p. xv) Because of the feminine nature of their subject, male beauty gurus often face charges of being gay. Defending and addressing the subject of sexuality is something all male beauty gurus, at one point or another, have to deal with. Comparatively, you don’t see many, if any, female gurus addressing their sexuality. This is completely specific to men because society deems that makeup is feminine and that ‘feminine’ men must be gay. Matthew Hall’s Brenden Gough’s, and Sarah Seymour Smith’s study on men’s accounts of makeup use on YouTube found that “when contributors endorse or reference cosmetic use they invariably attempt to inoculate themselves against potential charges of being ‘gay’” (2012, p. 309) Regardless of their sexuality, as Hall, Gough, and Seymour-Smith point out, the number of references to sexuality suggest that male beauty gurus are concerned that their cosmetic use implies that they are
“Even in these so-called liberated times, if a man does not act manly, his sexuality is held in question” (Moss, 2012, p. xv) Because of the feminine nature of their subject, male beauty gurus often face charges of being gay. Defending and addressing the subject of sexuality is something all male beauty gurus, at one point or another, have to deal with. Comparatively, you don’t see many, if any, female gurus addressing their sexuality. This is completely specific to men because society deems that makeup is feminine and that ‘feminine’ men must be gay. Matthew Hall’s Brenden Gough’s, and Sarah Seymour Smith’s study on men’s accounts of makeup use on YouTube found that “when contributors endorse or reference cosmetic use they invariably attempt to inoculate themselves against potential charges of being ‘gay’” (2012, p. 309) Regardless of their sexuality, as Hall, Gough, and Seymour-Smith point out, the number of references to sexuality suggest that male beauty gurus are concerned that their cosmetic use implies that they are