The Beautiful Boy

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Cover of The Beautiful Boy, showing Björn Andresen in 1970 by David Bailey
Cover of The Beautiful Boy, showing Björn Andresen in 1970 by David Bailey

The Beautiful Boy[1] is a book, ISBN 0-8478-2586-8, by Germaine Greer, published in 2003. Its avowed intention was "to advance women's reclamation of their capacity for and right to visual pleasure". It is a study of the youthful male face and form, from antiquity to the present day, from paintings and drawings to statuary and photographs.

The cover picture caused minor controversy when the subject of the photograph, Björn Andresen, a Swedish actor and musician who appeared in Death in Venice (billed by the director Luchino Visconti as "the most beautiful boy in the world") stated in the press that he objected to the picture having been used without his permission.[2][3][4]

The book contains some 200 pictures of boys through the ages, and is a history of boys in art. Pictures and discussions range from Cupid to Elvis, Boy George, Kurt Cobain, and Jim Morrison.

The book generated some controversy because "society is not accustomed to seeing beauty in young males", Greer claims. Greer has described the book as "full of pictures of 'ravishing' pre-adult boys with hairless chests, wide-apart legs and slim waists". She goes on to say that, "I know that the only people who are supposed to like looking at pictures of boys are a subgroup of gay men," she wrote in London's Daily Telegraph. "Well, I'd like to reclaim for women the right to appreciate the short-lived beauty of boys, real boys, not simpering 30-year-olds with shaved chests."[5] She was widely criticized for these comments with some writers labeling her a paedophile.[6]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Depending upon the edition the cover shows the title to be "The Boy" or "The Beautiful Boy", as do booksellers
  2. ^ 'The Guardian:' comments following use of Andresen's picture on the cover of "The Boy"
  3. ^ 'Fairfax Digital:' "I'm not Greer's play toy"
  4. ^ Permission for a photograph's use lies with the copyright owner, in this case David Bailey. While it might have been courteous to ask the subject's permission it is not expected or usual
  5. ^ Devine, Miranda (2003-07-10). Generation of taboo breakers are a selfish lot. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on 2007-09-09. “She wouldn't say exactly how young the "boys" are in her book but has cheerily admitted it will "get me into a lot of trouble" and expects she will be called a pedophile.”
  6. ^ Young, Emma (2003-10-23). Sticks and stones may break bones but not stereotypes. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on 2007-09-09. “The knee-jerk response to an older woman writing of her appreciation of semi-naked boys has elicited accusations of pedophilia. The delayed response should be a more mild questioning of why a woman who has passionately railed against the exploitation of the female body has identified the reversal of the gender roles in this same scenario of objectification as feminist.”
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