Representations and stereotypes: Why is attitude online so stereotypical?

• Note: while there are still many hypersexualised representations of men in attitude online, this content has significantly decreased since even 2019. This is for a number of reasons. For one, it allows it to appeal to a wider audience. It also shows Stream following wider societal trends, and perhaps shows them responding to criticisms of sexualisation. It may also be due to competition from specialist pornographic websites. Additionally, there are some negative connotations with labelling men ‘boys’, and the ‘boys’ tab on the website may have come under scrutiny.
• However, when it comes to sexualised representations of men, there is a clear bias and  preference to a certain body type. In the article “14 not entirely SFW images of gorgeous guys from BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! volume 7”, a certain body type is emphasised over others. Hegemonically attractive, muscular, outwardly confident, tall, nude, and universally hypersexualised
• Why lean into stereotypes so heavily? Firstly, it clearly makes money. These hypersexualised representations can appeal to queer audiences, and the use of heavy queer coding also inform the audience that these images are for them 
• Additionally, straightforward stereotypes are easy for queer audiences to understand, and this removes any confusion that this in fact may be a ‘straight’ website
• The website leans in to very traditional stereotypes of masculinity, and repurposes being masculine as being gay
• In heteronormative media, it is unusual to see men being sexualised so heavily. However, it has often been the case in queer media that men have been hypersexualised. The image of hypersexualised men has often been used to construct texts as queer. By positioning the audience as queer and as gay men, Attitude is constructing an inclusive world where men feel welcome and heterosexual people are not invited.
• While there are some exceptions, when it comes to sexualised representations of men in Attitude, there is a clear ‘type’ which comes up time and time again. In the article “14 not entirely SFW images of gorgeous guys from BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! volume 7”, we see clearly hegemonically attractive, buff, muscular and hypermasculine men take centre stage. Hypermasculinity refers to an extreme representation of masculinity. However, why is it that this is a gay stereotype? And why does attitude use stereotypes?
• The first potential answer is simply to minimise risk and to maximise profit. Simply put, hegemonically attractive and sexualised images of men sell the online magazine and therefore encourage clickthrough. 
• There are representations of men differently shaped and less hegemonically men. However, these articles tend to not sexualise these men, which further reinforces the ideology that some bodies are more desirable than others 
• The extremely attractive bodies function as a form of escapism for the target audience. The gay male target audience may wish to escape from the hegemonically inculcated ideological representations of women in heteronormative media, and therefore the hypersexualisation of men functions as a kind of protest. The intense queer coding of the hypersexualised images of men positions the audience directly as a gay man. Therefore these extremely stereotypical representations actually encode inclusion. This extremely complex set of representations therefore constructs a complex and even contradictory set of identities.