Branded Bodies: Investigating the Hypermasculinization & Hypersexualization of the Black Male Body in the Modeling Industry

Abstract

This thesis places the fashion industry under the microscope, illustrating its role in the construction, restriction, and commodification of Black identity. More broadly, I investigate the entertainment industry's reliance on distorted depictions of Black masculinity. In investigating the modeling industry as a space of aesthetic creation, I uncover a site of racialized meaning-making that upholds Eurocentric ideals. Through my ethnographic fieldwork, I center the lived experience of Black male models, revealing structural inequalities that challenge narratives of progress and inclusion. Ultimately, I question who gets to be represented, how, and by whom, calling us to reimagine modes of representation outside of the limitations of controlled-inclusion.