Do Ellen's Male Hunks Encourage the Objectification of Men?

Why are shirtless men acceptable on daytime television? Would it be acceptable if it were women in their underwear? Do Ellen’s hunks justify the objectification and sexualisation of men?

Ellen's Hunks take the 'Hubba Hubba Quiz Quiz'

Before we start I would like to say that I am a huge fan of Ellen DeGeneres and everything she does. Ellen is a positive, kind, caring and passionate person and what she does on her show is vitally important to society. However, I think male sexualisation can often be overlooked and not as much focus is placed on the issue compared to female sexualisation and objectification. I’m sure there are many other examples of male objectification within daytime television for example in soaps, sitcoms or drama series which are also bypassed by critics or feminists.

Ellen's Hunk Hacks on her Youtube channel 'TheEllenShow'

I will be focusing on Ellen’s male hunks as they are used regularly on her talk show - ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ - which aims to encourage equality and kindness. Ellen often uses the hunks to celebrate celebrities birthdays, within quizzes or games, on her YouTube channel through ‘Hunk Hacks’ or when predicting the Super Bowl. The men are often shown only wearing ellen underwear and when they are in full clothing it is because they will later be removed. Why is this deemed acceptable within society?

Women are not seen on daytime television in only their underwear as there would be uproar over the sexualisation and objectification of women. Twitter and the internet would explode with arguments of patriarchy, inequality and the view of women as simply there for their bodies. So why does the sexualisation and objectification of men go unchallenged?

Ellen's strippers dance around the audience to predict the Super Bowl

Ellen’s hunks are simply there to show the audience their body and nothing more; in fact the quizzes are often deliberately made difficult so they will have to take off their clothes. For a celebrity birthday or the Super Bowl the hunks dance around as if they were giving a lap dance or at a strip club. When they take part in quizzes the aim is to get them to answer wrong so they will have to take off their clothes and show their body. There is clear male objectification as they are seen only for their ‘sexy’ image.

What impact does this have? Well, as this is a daytime TV show there will undoubtably be young people watching, something we know to be true from images of young fans on the show. For both young boys and girls these images provide them with preconceived ideas about men or themselves. It tells girls that boys must have good looks and a six pack to be important or considered attractive. If they see this on Ellen, a positive uplifting show, they may subconsciously begin to develop prejudice towards those who look different, who may not have big muscles and ’sexy’ dance moves.

Games involving the Hunks on her daytime talk show

These images on screen will also have a huge influence on young boys. Despite the knowledge that Ellen strives for equality, love and respect for all, the images of male hunks do not appear to convey this message.

For boys of a young age who may not fully grasp this message, the images of hunks reinforces the idea that they need to look attractive, fit or sexy to get attention. When hunks dance around attractive female celebrities or the audience they see the positive reactions and may begin to feel they need to look that way in order to obtain a romantic partner. These ideas can cause self-esteem issues within young boys as they may feel they are not attractive enough because they do not fit the mainstream notions of male beauty or ‘good looks’.

Ellen celebrates Gwyneth Paltrow's birthday

So how can we move away from these hypocritical portrayals of men as sexualised objects? When we see men being portrayed as shirtless or in their underwear we need to consider whether this would be acceptable for a women to be so in the same context. For example, with Ellen’s hunks it seems obvious that women dancing sexily in their underwear around an audience or striping for a game would not be accepted on daytime television. Why is the objectification of men accepted when the objectification of women is so outrageous? If we think more critically we will easily be able to notice the double standard and can then begin to question it further.