I enjoyed this book. It's a very easy read, both because the text is quite short and because Greer's prose is clear and well-structured. The illustrations are almost all beautiful pieces of art in their own right, and so worthy of taking the time to look at.

I found the ideas most compelling when they related specifically to art history and cultural studies. When Greer veered into anthropology or history, I had much less confidence in the points she was making. I don't know much about the content, but even I picked up a couple of errors and a couple of tendentious interpretations of artworks that made me wonder what other misrepresentations or mistakes I was missing. As a result, this is a book that stimulated thought for me but certainly wouldn't change my mind, except in the broadest terms.

The main point, in my view, is that boys are beautiful and that as a society we lose something by failing to enjoy that fact. This raises interesting questions about the the lines between beauty and attractiveness, and about the relationships between different kinds of attractiveness. A puppy can be attractive, in the sense of "pleasing or appealing to the senses", but there is no thought of sexual desire. A person can also be attractive without arousing sexual desire (for instance a gay man might find a woman attractive but not wish to have sex with her), but then they may also arouse sexual desire. Where does that leave us with boys, who at their youngest are not sexually attractive but at their oldest may be reasonably be sexually attractive to some? For instance, in an interview after the book was published, the fifteen year old boy pictured on the cover of this book expressed his discomfort at being ogled by adult men when the photo was taken (in the 70s, while he was acting in the film of [b:Death in Venice|53061|Death in Venice|Thomas Mann|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1627232919l/53061._SY75_.jpg|17413130]), but if the attention had come from fourteen year old girls he may have felt differently.

Of course the gender of the gaze matters, and rather than getting bogged down in the complexities of men and power, Greer's default position is that of the female gaze. This makes the discussion clearer, cleaner and lighter but it also means that Greer skirts the ethical issues of attractiveness rather than delving into them. As a consequence, this book is an entertaining, though-provoking piece of popular cultural studies, rather than a serious inquiry into aesthetics or representation in art. ( )

What is a boy? This book approaches that question through the artists' depiction of the male figure. Specifically, the history of male beauty through the ages and the ways that it has been expressed is the focus of this gorgeous book. Greer has the eye and the mind to bring the masculine figure to life in the many varieties that it has been displayed over the centuries. ( )

Wonderful book. Much more in writing than in pictorial support. The age of male beauty between childhood and manhood. Virtually unrecorded in our times and hardly to be found, even on the internet.

One of the books I referred to most often while studying art. Wink! A book that is mostly about women (and occastionally men) admiring beautiful boys... with pictures! Not a perspective often studied (or even considered) in art. ( )

I remember reading the review for this when it came out and was delighted to recently stumble upon it in my local library. I'm a fan of Germaine Greer and was intrigued at what she might have to say about the ways have been portrayed through art and history and if this has altered in our modern world...which seemingly it has a little.

This is packed full of beautiful images, of paintings, sculpture and photos, and it is the latter which Greer believes as altered our perception of 'the boy'. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on 'Soldiers' and 'The Female Gaze'. As the mother of sons some of this alarmed me and saddened me, I have never much considered the way boys have been objectified and defined by art. My ardent feminism has me constantly focusing on images of women, so what about the boy? He is beautiful and rare and over the centuries has been subjected to idealism with modifications as time, religion and culture move.

I loved this and will probably come back to it in a few years...meanwhile I am observing images of boys more and understanding their untouchability and sexuality, they are sacred and gorgeous and possibly as much the vicitms of scrunity as girls and women. Good one Germaine. ( )