MJ was a Sex God -- While Media Pretends Not to Notice

I really hope I'll never lose this feeling.It's too precious.I have never felt something like this for anybody in my whole life (celebrities or not) although I was in love several times and I am married.
To be honest I would feel quite uncomfortable having the hots for Michael while having a husband/boyfriend (I am married). I also can't imagine my sweetheart fawning over a celebrity. It would make me feel quite sad I think. But maybe I'm just a prude, I don't know.


These girls.... :shifty:
 
Oh my God, he was so stylin' in those last few years between 2006-2009. Those black skinny jeans, classic boots...
Just WOW. I remember when I first saw these photos and my jaw just about dropped. God, he was a good 30 years older than me and I STILL would've jumped him, haha! He just exuded gracefulness and for lack of better word, swagger. It was just the way he carried himself, to me Michael's beauty and charm never came from just his facial features. It was his lithe body and just everything about him put together as a whole that made him an amazing package.

You expressed this SO well. His grace and style are amazingly beautiful and sexy in these years. "Drill" and, is it Jam where he also has this style, in This Is It, were jawdroppers for me. I hit replay on Drill over and over...

Sorry, I have to disagree. Michael was beautiful right through to his soul...I don't think there was ever anything superficial about it..he just radiated inner beauty all his life, but sadly seemingly never saw it in the mirror. ........

We're not in disagreement. I meant how much of the world and media saw and so harshly judged him, focusing on superficial changes like skin color that he couldn't help, losing sight of his inner beauty, and his still overall physical beauty.


I'm so happy to have this thread revived! Don't forget y'all that this thread also focuses on media treatment of MJ's sexiness. Keep an eye out for references either to his sexiness, or lack thereof (grrrr!)
 
Elvis, Jagger, and Marilyn
Meet Their Match


You may not be old enough to remember this, but there was a time when Michael Jackson was ,in the eyes of the world,
"Michael Jackson, Sex God."

No superstar ever had more audience
screaming and fainting than MJ. But this was a black man making white women faint like never before.

Men wanted to be MJ, to dress like him, move like him.

But media execs gradually realized they could profit more from tabloids about Michael's purported "strangeness" than on posters for lusting fans' bedroom walls.

Michael had become the most famous person on the planet. One juicy story, true or not, could make an immense amount of money for an outlet. The competition began -- who could sell the "strangest" story about Michael?

Outlets offered irresistible sums of money to anyone in MJ's life willing to recount something that could be made to sound strange. Or to simply make something up.







Romanticized masculinity

Before MJ was ultimately dubbed sexless by the media, he was dubbed androgynous. Which can be pretty sexy, e.g. Prince, Bowie...but it isn't really MJ. Makeup alone does not make androgyny.

A more nuanced analysis finds he related solely to traditionally male imagery, especially as he romanticized it from earlier eras, from the Renaissance, to old Hollywood, to Brando-esque biker style.


The makeup

Plenty of macho rockers wore dark eyeliner.

As for the rest of it, and yes there was a lot...
it was simply to mask ever-worsening vitiligo. Insecurity about his looks, compounded with the botched nose job, led him at times to overdo it.

Sexuality had little to do with it.

The fake media narrative began in the Bad era. First we were told he wanted to "become Diana Ross." Of course, now we know conclusively he actually wanted to f*ck Diana Ross.

Next, they told us he wanted to "become a white woman." Again, we know conclusively they were wrong about his wanting to be white. So shoud we believe them that he wanted to look like a woman?

In his Bad era, the media always mentioned the nose work, but never the chin cleft-- because doesn't that blow their storyline? Someone wanting to look like a woman isn't craving Kirk Douglas' chin, for God's sake.

Around the world, MJ's new Bad look was called sexy, black-leather-and-buckle S&M-style. In the US, media called it... feminine? Huh?

Glam rockers and hair bands look dated and silly in retrospect. But MJ, always the artist, created a newer beautiful-yet-macho look that has remained timeless, copied by rockers ever since. It's time to recognize Michael Jackson's creative synergy of contemporary performance with classic romantic masculine imagery and dramatic eroticism.


Which of these is not like the others?

Bowie and Prince are brilliant, sexy and get the classic "androgynous" label.

But some critic or academic long ago needing to make a point for an essay included Michael Jackson in the group, which never made sense, but the label stuck.










Sexless?

Journalists once described MJ as "pure sex."

As the media narrative evolved, they stepped it up to "sexless," "asexual," "childlike," "virginal," "boy-man," "Peter Pan."

And then there's the evidence. Cognitive dissonance is a powerful thing.

While asexuality is a perfectly valid trait, it wasn't MJ's trait, and so was unfair to the real person. Worse, it attacked the very heart of his artistry.

They created a one-dimensional caricature; someone who was into amusement rides. That's it. No complexity allowed, no nuance.

In a contemptuous phrase, a cynical journalist can disregard a mindblowing catalog of heartrending music and performance about love and sex ...and claim the artist knew not, nor cared not, for the subject of his art?

Still, millions of screaming and fainting women and gay fans didn't get the memo.

New generations, who grew up comfortable with MJ's altered look, are entranced anew at his sexual charisma, and are rediscovering MJ all over again in record-breaking numbers.

There is today an astounding network of websites devoted to celebrating MJ's sexuality. Mostly women and gay men, many African-American, they are finding their voice on the Internet, breaking the media monopoly that for so long trivialized and marginalized their own experience and observation of MJ.

It is simply impossible to be at all familiar with MJ's live performances, then use the word "sexless" or "virginal" in the same sentence with the name Michael Jackson.

At the bottom of this page is a sampling of videos that are less well known.









When Jehovah's Witnesses
go really, really astray



"... the Force... you know it's got a lot of power..." spoken intro to "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough."

How to phrase this? There is a prominent subculture of MJ fans devoted to "The Force." They share their ample photographic evidence that the Force was strong in this one. Startlingly strong.

I haven't seen this in a biography yet.

MJ enjoyed himself on stage. A lot. Each tour was more sexual than the last. By the History tour, he was proudly flaunting his gifts, dancing free in the legendary Gold Pants.

Try a Google image search on the phrase "gold pants." That's all, no mention of MJ. The Force is everywhere. Two G-rated pics at right give you the idea...

The Force became so hard to ignore that the Bad tour crew placed bets on whether it would appear in his nightly duet with Sheryl Crow.

At right is an interview with Sheryl, which includes clips of their performances together.

This group of aficionados also enjoy one of MJ's most suggestive dance gestures -- an upward twirling finger, with body language and facial expression to match. Discussions take note of his 3-ring binder of clipped porn and sex articles in plastic sleeves found in the raid, including ones on the G-spot.








http://mjjtheman.wetpaint.com/page/Sex+God+vs.+Media
 
Ok, I'm sorry about yet another necrobump (lmao) from me, but I just spent hours, quite literally, reading this entire thread. I found it after thinking through my convo with @Hiker about media cruelty and ignoring his sex appeal in the other Bad era thread I bumped. This thread focuses entirely on his sex appeal and how it was ignored/erased by the media, while also leaving plenty of room for people to drool over it and share their own insights. Here's one person's overview of what the thread is all about:

To folks new to this thread, we're discussing how the "Prevailing Media Narrative" about MJ, in order to perpetuate their mythical image of MJ, omitted any references to his sex appeal. It's an underappreciated angle of the poor journalism on MJ.

You'll still see this today in their coverage of This Is It -- they'll rave about how wonderful it is... and carefully not mention his Billie Jean performance. And we all know why... :) I've found ONE reference in TII reviews to his sexiness. One. If you find more... drop us a link!

We're also interested in seeing examples of where the media DID acknowledge this. (Plus it's fun!) How was this handled internationally? How did it change over the years?

If you've got examples stowed in a box somewhere, dig 'em out! Give us links if you see anything online!

AMAzing, ani_geleia... too cool :clapping:

But seriously, I just read the entire thread (I am a freak) and there's a lot of great stuff in here. As to be expected, the photos and videos don't appear any more. But most of it is discussion anyway. There are articles linked and quoted in here about his sex appeal during TII, there are pages from a '93 Brazilian magazine naming him as one of the sexiest people in the world (translations included!). There are tons of straight male fans talking about finding MJ sexy. It's overall a great time lol.

You may not all be interested in reading all the posts people shared about their own feelings, but there are a lot of gems throughout of write ups about his dancing, his charisma, his fashion, etc.

Oh, and this was a video referenced in the thread that no longer shows up so I thought I would just share it here. It made me laugh.


Anyway, sorry if this seems like a redundant post with the other threads we already have. But this one is different IMO because it's really meant to be a discussion of the media representation (or lack of representation) of his sex appeal. I would personally love to see some people (including men lol) participate in this discussion because it's a topic of endless fascination to me!
 
Anyway, sorry if this seems like a redundant post with the other threads we already have. But this one is different IMO because it's really meant to be a discussion of the media representation (or lack of representation) of his sex appeal. I would personally love to see some people (including men lol) participate in this discussion because it's a topic of endless fascination to me!
Oh don't be sorry! I love these threads, feels like we are part of history now. I will read the whole thread at some point sooooon! Michael's sex appeal is undeniable. While straight men may not drool over him same way as straight women, but there is no shame in appreciating it :) .
I would love to hear more insight from folks who were fans at his peak career and how they perceived the obvious difference between what media focused on and Michael's real charisma and sex appeal.
 
Sheesh! Took a quick gallop through this page. Lots of stuff here. Stuff I agree with, stuff I disagree with, stuff I need to think about. It's a bit of an epic thread so it's gonna take a while.

I need to fill up the biscuit tin, lol.
 
Sheesh! Took a quick gallop through this page. Lots of stuff here. Stuff I agree with, stuff I disagree with, stuff I need to think about. It's a bit of an epic thread so it's gonna take a while.

I need to fill up the biscuit tin, lol.
I am not ashamed to say this thread dominated my entire morning lol.

Lots of stuff I agree (and disagree) with too! Take your time with it! 😊
 
Oh don't be sorry! I love these threads, feels like we are part of history now. I will read the whole thread at some point sooooon! Michael's sex appeal is undeniable.
I will not stop until every living person sees it and admits to it lol.

While straight men may not drool over him same way as straight women, but there is no shame in appreciating it :) .
I would love to hear more insight from folks who were fans at his peak career and how they perceived the obvious difference between what media focused on and Michael's real charisma and sex appeal.
This would be amazing!! Yes! OG fans, talk to us! Lol
 
@staywild23 This is such a great find (and necrobump lol) so proud of you lol

I remember when George Lopez's late night show was on and I saw that interview he did, it was so touching and so insightful I loved it.

And him asking Michael where he was gonna be on the stage I laughed so much, Michael has a way with the ladies lol ;)
 
I said in one post that In THE THIS IS IT movie MJ was SEXY! He was very sexy in that movie

@staywild23

Gotta say, I do agree with this. I could pick many moments but will just mention BOW. 🥵

and from upthread, Bo G said this:

"Yep. Now, I've always found the usual suspects in People Magazine pretty enough, Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington, George Clooney... (Johnny Depp's androgyny keeps him at the top, ironically!) And the women, Lopez, Berry, Brolie, etc.) Yes, they seem sexy... but in the most abstract way. I'm sorry Michael felt pressured to conform to this.

Michael was a singer, songwriter, and dancer, so his sexiness was rooted in his music, thoughts, and dancing. Thus it remained unchanged throughout the evolution of his face and physique.

Sexy is a state of mind. It's how you direct your body. Anyone of any age and shape can be sexy. The media promote a shallow and intolerant brand of sexiness. Some did not get it with Michael, but I think it more likely most did and were afraid to admit it." (end quote)
 
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I've read through my parents old articles regarding Michael and found some on the internet as well, and to be honest the media never seemed to portray michael as sexy, not even during the thriller era. He seemed too much of a boy for them at that time, and they kept talking about his childish and androgynous looks. I think they speculated even back then that he might be gay or asexual.
I don't have a great deal to say about this because I never took that much notice of Michael's media coverage. But, IIRC, the UK MSM coverage in the 1980's was very much that Michael was a dorky 'goody-goody' type of guy (he was very upfront about his Christian faith and that never plays well in the media) and therefore not at all sexy. Which I don't necessarily disagree with. A guy wearing a cute little cardigan didn't really do it for me back then, lol. I wanted something a bit more edgy. I'm talking about the coverage he got before the media decided to just endlessly slaughter him, I think that's a whole other story.

I think you've hit on one of the keys to the puzzle here, Nivea, when you say "Once you see him perform." I truly believe many journalists were reacting only to photos, interviews, and other press reports, and were therefore missing the biggest part of Michael -- his performances.
The missing link here is the coverage Michael got from the music press. I can't believe someone hasn't already researched this. Perhaps they have and I'm just not aware of it. The pop papers and music press would have been reviewing Michael's live performances. I can't remember what the pop paper reviews for BWT were like. I know for his 'Bad' image, some journalists thought he was trying too hard to be sexy or 'street' or tough or whatever. They didn't find the progression of his image convincing. Which I can sort of understand. Michael looks beautiful in the album photo but, to my eyes, he doesn't look entirely comfortable so doesn't look super hot. But what did the media say about BWT performances? Even if you missed the sexual allure of his dance performances in Beat It or SC or Bad, you could hardly miss it if you saw the live shows.

What were they writing when they saw DWT or HWT? I can't remember and, in any case, by the 90's, I was already pulling away from the whole music thing. Were the music critics seeing a sexy, sensual performance or did they think it looked ridiculous and OTT or did they just use it as an opportunity to bash Michael or what? I have no idea but it would be interesting to know. I haven't got the time, energy or inclination to try to research this but I constantly think how weird it is that no-one seems to know the answer to this. Cos the focus in these discussions always seems to be on MSM. But that would not have been the only media coverage Michael got.

Because Michael put so much of himself into these, any journalist is obligated ti review his performances over the years to understand the man. Not just the part of him that loved a carousel ride, for god's sake:doh: Yet this obvious bit of homework wasn't done.
In the UK we had 4 weekly pop / music papers, several weekly pop magazines and a few monthly music magazines. They wouldn't need to do any homework. Writing about music (mostly pop and rock) was the only thing they did. I do know for some parts of the pop press they didn't see Michael as 'cool' so were very dismissive of him. I think they wouldn't see him as sexy just because, in their eyes, he wasn't cool enough. Was there a split in how he was portrayed in the pop magazines vs the music papers? I can't remember.
 
Yeah, that part became so evident in TII movie when the woman choreographer was teaching the dancers the crotch grab and they were wearing sweat pants and they were grabbing their genitals in all kind of wrong ways. I was like eeeeuuuuuh yuk!

Only Michael can get away with it.
It did look really funny, that part of the film, when they are trying to get the hang of it. They are all so hopeless, lol.
 
@staywild23

This thread is really annoying. I want to bump almost every comment posted by Bo G. And that's just for starters. I'm only on P.7. There is so much good stuff here, lots of lovely stuff re TII which I am stoked about. SO much good stuff on this thread. I was supposed to be having an early night tonight. Not gonna happen. :D

Update - I want to bump almost every other comment by *anybody* on this thread. SO many sensible, thoughtful, insightful, carefully crafted things being said. Just Wow!
 
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The media did some articles acknowledging Michael's sexiness during his Bad tour performances you should take a look at this:
http://www.the-michael-jackson-archives.com/baduktour1.html

The first article describes his Bad performances as "erotic" and there are other articles saying the same thing. So, it seems during the Bad era Michael was sexy to the media. I don't remember seeing articles like this before Thriller and maybe not so much after.
Bumping for future reference. P.8

Wow, thank you so much for linking to that amazing archive! That's more references to his eroticism than I've seen anywhere yet... maybe there's more buried in there. But it's still remarkably downplayed in comparison to, say, a Mick Jagger review. But utterly fascinating reading -- thanks again!
 
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But seriously, I just read the entire thread (I am a freak) and there's a lot of great stuff in here. As to be expected, the photos and videos don't appear any more. But most of it is discussion anyway. There are articles linked and quoted in here about his sex appeal during TII, there are pages from a '93 Brazilian magazine naming him as one of the sexiest people in the world (translations included!). There are tons of straight male fans talking about finding MJ sexy. It's overall a great time lol.

You may not all be interested in reading all the posts people shared about their own feelings, but there are a lot of gems throughout of write ups about his dancing, his charisma, his fashion, etc.

Anyway, sorry if this seems like a redundant post with the other threads we already have. But this one is different IMO because it's really meant to be a discussion of the media representation (or lack of representation) of his sex appeal. I would personally love to see some people (including men lol) participate in this discussion because it's a topic of endless fascination to me!
Done. I'm knackered but so glad I read this. It runs out of steam a bit over the last few pages and gets a little repetitive but, overall, is a really worthwhile read. I definitely would read the first 10 pages again and I also need to take a proper look at the various articles which are cited or linked. Ngl, I've never been overly bothered by the lack of attention Michael's sex appeal gets from the media. I just could not get that indignant about it. Having said that, it would also be true to say I'd rather not think about the reasons why it was so ignored.

Really wasn't sure if I would be all that gripped by this thread. But I was.
 
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YES! I have said that the media notoriously gaslighted people into thinking he wasn't attractive.
oh, I'd forgotten you said that. I thought I was having one of my bonkers moments and decided to just go with it.

I'll read it when I find time. Thanks.
Sorry, I wasn't hassling you, lol. I really was just having a 'moment'. :D

I am gonna re-read it myself, though. I know for sure I want to read the first ten pages again. After that, I'll see. I've read the first page again and, yeah, there is some really good stuff in there. Although I can't take credit for finding the thing. That was sw23. She bumped it, I avoided it for ages, then glanced at it and was just ... Wow!
 
oh, I'd forgotten you said that. I thought I was having one of my bonkers moments and decided to just go with it.


Sorry, I wasn't hassling you, lol. I really was just having a 'moment'. :D

I am gonna re-read it myself, though. I know for sure I want to read the first ten pages again. After that, I'll see. I've read the first page again and, yeah, there is some really good stuff in there. Although I can't take credit for finding the thing. That was sw23. She bumped it, I avoided it for ages, then glanced at it and was just ... Wow!
No need to be sorry! I'm glad you tagged me! I'm just saying I need time to read it all. Doing it now :D
 
A more nuanced analysis finds he related solely to traditionally male imagery, especially as he romanticized it from earlier eras, from the Renaissance, to old Hollywood, to Brando-esque biker style.
Saw this old post and I want to comment on this bit!

I don't at all understand when people claim that cropped short hair, exaggeratedly roided muscles, poor fashion sense and personal hygiene, etc. are "traditionally masculine features". In the olden days, long hair was actually quite common for men, as well as good fashion sense and hygiene. Especially men of status were expected to follow this standard. I'm sure you've all heard of the concept of the "dandy", which is exactly what I described, accompanied with a good sense of humor. And even longer ago, both men and women of status wore large, powdered wigs, complete with elaborate clothing decorated with gemstones. Makeup was common for both sexes. Whenever I think of a "traditional man", the first thing that comes to my mind isn't some lazy bum with dirty socks, but a well-dressed, well-mannered individual who cares about the impression he gives to those around him. Not too different from Michael Jackson himself.

Nowadays, things like that would be considered "androgynous" or "metrosexual", which is why I often call him that. But had he lived in the Victiorian or Edwardian era, he would've likely been seen as much less out of the ordinary in comparison. I don't know when exactly it became normal for men to be lazy about this sorta thing, but "traditional" it is not, by any means. (I am also not a fan of it, if you couldn't tell. :ROFLMAO: )
 
Saw this old post and I want to comment on this bit!

I don't at all understand when people claim that cropped short hair, exaggeratedly roided muscles, poor fashion sense and personal hygiene, etc. are "traditionally masculine features". In the olden days, long hair was actually quite common for men, as well as good fashion sense and hygiene. Especially men of status were expected to follow this standard. I'm sure you've all heard of the concept of the "dandy", which is exactly what I described, accompanied with a good sense of humor. And even longer ago, both men and women of status wore large, powdered wigs, complete with elaborate clothing decorated with gemstones. Makeup was common for both sexes. Whenever I think of a "traditional man", the first thing that comes to my mind isn't some lazy bum with dirty socks, but a well-dressed, well-mannered individual who cares about the impression he gives to those around him. Not too different from Michael Jackson himself.

Nowadays, things like that would be considered "androgynous" or "metrosexual", which is why I often call him that. But had he lived in the Victiorian or Edwardian era, he would've likely been seen as much less out of the ordinary in comparison. I don't know when exactly it became normal for men to be lazy about this sorta thing, but "traditional" it is not, by any means. (I am also not a fan of it, if you couldn't tell. :ROFLMAO: )
I love everything that you wrote.

You know what? Even if MJ was a woman or a very feminine man, I wouldn't care. I like him, I think he is attractive. But "traditional masculinity" is different among cultures and historical eras. Was Mozart a metrosexual man cause he wore a wig and was sensitive to music? Whatever.

I just screenshot a quote on ig shorts which basically went like this: "remember back when we used the word 'metrosexual' because in the early 2000s we needed a term to distinguish heterosexual men who bathed".

I want to quote one of my favourite lyrics from one of my favourite musicals ("My Conviction" from "Hair"):

I wish every mother and father in this theater
Would go home tonight and make a speech to their teenagers
And say kids be free, no guilt
Be whoever you are, do whatever you want to do
Just as long as you don't hurt anybody, right? Right

I would just like to say that it is my conviction
That longer hair and other flamboyant affectations
Of appearance are nothing more than the male's emergence
From his drab camouflage into the gaudy plumage
Which is the birthright of his sex

There is a peculiar notion that elegant plumage
And fine feathers are not proper for the man
When actually that is the way things are in most species
 
Here's an extract from Susan Fast's book on Dangerous that fits this thread.

"Artistic performance is extremely powerful, can be lifechanging for those who view or listen to it, can create a world that folks can dream about or act upon, can awaken ideas about love, romance and sex that we hadn't thought possible before. Jackson created a sexualized presence on stage that is as real as it gets in that moment - he knew exactly how to conjure up a powerfully erotic body, just like so many performers do; and just as those other performers elicit 'real' emotional responses from their fans, so did Jackson. In fact, what sets Jackson apart is that he positively wrung feeling out of his performances; both his voice and body dripped with passion, pulling us into a world of sensuality so vibrant, so intense, impossible for most of the rest of us to express, or maybe even feel. He modeled it for us and to show us that it was possible to burn this brightly. How couldn't you be mesmerised? How couldn't some feel threatened?"
P.45 (emphasis in the original)
 
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