Physique magazines or beefcake magazines were magazines devoted to physique photography — that is, photographs of muscular "beefcake" men – typically young and attractive – in athletic poses, usually in revealing, minimal clothing. During their heyday in North America in the 1950s to 1960s, they were presented as magazines dedicated to fitness, health, and bodybuilding, with the models often shown demonstrating exercises or the results of their regimens, or as artistic reference material. However, their unstated primary purpose was erotic imagery, primarily created by and for gay men at a time when homosexuality was the subject of cultural taboos and government censorship.
Early gay physique photographers advertised their work in "legitimate" bodybuilding publications such as Strength & Health before the inception of physique magazines designed for gay men.
A Tom of Finland drawing from a 1962 issue of Physique Pictorial. Sailors and leather-clad motorcyclists were common subjects of Tom of Finland's drawings.
Most physique magazines were printed in a small digest format, including Tomorrow's Man, shown here in the hands of founder Irv Johnson and comedian Jimmy Durante.
A 1953 issue of Tomorrow's Man, an early physique magazine ostensibly dedicated to health and bodybuilding.
Physique photography is a tradition of photography of nude or semi-nude men which was largely popular between the early 20th century and the 1960s. Physique photography originated with the physical culture and bodybuilding movements of the early 20th century, but was gradually co-opted by homosexual producers and consumers, who favoured increasingly homoerotic content. The practiced reached its height in the 1950s and early 1960s with the inception of physique magazines, which existed largely to showcase physique photographs and were widely consumed by a mostly-gay audience.
A 1950 photograph from physique studio Athletic Model Guild. Physique models were commonly photographed in "posing straps", the G-string-style undergarment worn here.
Photographs featuring frontal nudity such as this 1950s Bob Mizer photo could not be published, but were discreetly offered for sale directly to customers.
Eugen Sandow in 1894. Photographic depictions of the bodies of strongmen and athletes gained popularity through the early 20th century with the rise of the physical culture movement.
