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Swole: The Making of Men and the Meaning of Muscle
From a Washington Post critic and self-described meathead, a witty, incisive, poignant exploration of male body image, from the history of the gym to the politics of superheroes to the world of manfluencers
Michael Andor Brodeur is a Gen-X gay writer with a passion for bodybuilding and an insatiable curiosity about masculinity—a concept in which many men are currently struggling to find their place. In our current moment, where “manfluencers” on TikTok tease their audiences with their latest videos, where right-wing men espouse the importance of being “alpha,” as toxic masculinity and the patriarchy are being rightfully criticized, the nature of masculinity has become murkier than ever.
In excavating this complex topic, Brodeur uses the male body as his its role in cultures from the gymnasia of ancient Greece to Walt Whitman’s essays on manly health, from the rise of Muscular Christianity in 19th-century America to the swollen superheroes and Arnold Schwarzeneggers of Brodeur’s childhood. Interweaving history, cultural criticism, memoir, and reportage, laced with an irrepressible wit, Brodeur takes us into the unique culture centered around men’s bodies, probing its limitations and the promise how men can love themselves while rejecting the aggression, objectification, and misogyny that have for so long accompanied the quest to become swole.
Michael Andor Brodeur is a Gen-X gay writer with a passion for bodybuilding and an insatiable curiosity about masculinity—a concept in which many men are currently struggling to find their place. In our current moment, where “manfluencers” on TikTok tease their audiences with their latest videos, where right-wing men espouse the importance of being “alpha,” as toxic masculinity and the patriarchy are being rightfully criticized, the nature of masculinity has become murkier than ever.
In excavating this complex topic, Brodeur uses the male body as his its role in cultures from the gymnasia of ancient Greece to Walt Whitman’s essays on manly health, from the rise of Muscular Christianity in 19th-century America to the swollen superheroes and Arnold Schwarzeneggers of Brodeur’s childhood. Interweaving history, cultural criticism, memoir, and reportage, laced with an irrepressible wit, Brodeur takes us into the unique culture centered around men’s bodies, probing its limitations and the promise how men can love themselves while rejecting the aggression, objectification, and misogyny that have for so long accompanied the quest to become swole.
256 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 28, 2024
About the author
Michael Andor Brodeur
1 book25 followersMichael Andor Brodeur has been the classical music critic at the Washington Post since 2020. Previously, he held editorial and staff-writer positions at the Boston Globe and Boston’s Weekly Dig. His essays, humor, and criticism have also appeared in Nylon, Thrillist, Entrepreneur, Medium, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency and other publications. He has also released 5 music albums under different monikers, most recently writing and performing electronic music under the name New Dad.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
June 23, 2024
I loved this. Structured like a workout, it builds - getting stronger and more (emotionally) powerful with each chapter. It’s a beautiful look at the personalities, the personhood, and the cultures of the male obsession with strength that never felt like it was cheating or taking any short cuts
June 14, 2024
Skip this (sometimes) regressive humble brag-in-essays. If you’re interested in an academic, intersectional, and more nuanced treatment of masculinity, read R.W. Connell’s book, “Masculinities.”
November 25, 2024
I think this is a wonderfully insight and intelligent book, written for the 30/40 something and loaded with our childhood and popculture...I felt it had too many winding paths and diversions, long trails through sleepy personal ancedotes, to really be exceptional - but the core ideas, the point, the end of those roads are all amazing.
Early on I was struck, and will forever carry, "be strong enough to be gentle"
Early on I was struck, and will forever carry, "be strong enough to be gentle"
July 10, 2024
More of a memoir than an objective look into men.
February 28, 2025
More meditative than conclusive, which I found refreshing. This book offers a collection of reflections on various facets of masculinity, rather than the prescription for a cure to toxic masculinity that many books in the genre offer.
To his credit, Brodeur is a true wordsmith. He is a master of the pithy phrase, to a fault. There were times in this book when I wished he would dispense with the flowery words and just have out with it. When every sentence is a work of art, they all kind of lose their luster.
Solid read. I recommend it to anyone bewildered by the modern iteration of the masculine gender role.
To his credit, Brodeur is a true wordsmith. He is a master of the pithy phrase, to a fault. There were times in this book when I wished he would dispense with the flowery words and just have out with it. When every sentence is a work of art, they all kind of lose their luster.
Solid read. I recommend it to anyone bewildered by the modern iteration of the masculine gender role.
May 11, 2025
When I picked up this book, I was expecting that it would be a critical interrogation of masculinity as seen through the lens of the masculine obsession with muscular form. It wasn't quite that. It's more of a survey of historical and cultural influences which have shaped our contemporary understanding of the ideal male body, mixed with personal outtakes from Michael Andor Brodeur's life which accentuate and relate back to those influences. Each chapter is a magazine-style homage to different jacked cultural icons across American/Western culture, from He-Man and The Hulk, to Hercules and Milo of Croton, to Lou Ferrigno and Arnold Schwarzenegger. For what it is, Swole is good reporting and good writing. Each subchapter reads like a piece of long-form journalism mixed with personal essay/memoir. The strongest chapter, in my opinion, is the final chapter, "Bones." It is there, on the final page, as he recounts the painful details of his dad's aging body, that Andor Brodeur finally gets at what I think is the end-road of any serious interrogation into identity based on body image: "My dad isn't his body. None of us are." I just wish the rest of the book had done more to lean into that same ethos and inquiry-Ultimately, our bodies are fragile and impermanent and underwhelmingly real. What happens when that reality catches up to us?
April 18, 2025
continuing on my journey to tolerate and maybe one day even love men 💆🏼♀️
March 4, 2026
This book similar to The Will to Change by Bell Hooks is a fascinating look at masculinity and all of its complexities. I enjoyed the author’s personal input especially from an LGBTQ+ perspective since I haven’t really had the pleasure to learn about masculinity from the lens of the LGBTQ+ community. Overall I think this book discusses the complex interplay between masculinity and weightlifting very well and highlights how it affects the far depths of society. My only reason for dropping a star is that I feel it could’ve have gone deeper into the discussion.
January 27, 2026
Thoroughly enjoyable and thoughtful read on a topic I think is fascinating: I’m a sucker for the intersection of gender, the body, and physical activity. However, I think having just finished a lot of research on similar themes of the body/gender/sports in society led me to expect something more academic. This book is like a little dessert that goes down easily for a cultural anthropology major.
August 14, 2026
Both informative and personal, this reflection on masculinity through the lens of the body was enlightening and surprisingly touching. A fantastic read if you think a lot about gender, sexuality, self-expression, and social pressure. We clearly need more nonfiction from gay gym bro intellectuals.
September 23, 2024
Too many reps in this set. Written as if no one in the past 10 years has written about MRAs and the far right. Glad this author enjoys pumping iron as much as they do but it didn’t really make for all that insightful of a book. Would have appreciated more chapters like the one on his friend/former lover Little Big or containing a more focused look at the history of physical fitness culture. The sections bestowing what amounted to “workout wisdom” were quite unnecessary.
November 19, 2024
It was imperative I stopped.
If I had to read one more time about how big he’s gotten or is getting.
Methinks author thinks very highly of himself.
If I had to read one more time about how big he’s gotten or is getting.
Methinks author thinks very highly of himself.
October 18, 2024
Really why do people workout? The pursuit of swole or attractive or whatever is an endless chase of an impossible and ever changing standard imposed primarily by white supremacist views of beauty. A lot of us would say it’s for the stress relief and dopamine rush, or the routine it adds to life, or wanting to have a repellent from harassment, or could it also be the health benefits. But why?
We can talk about the “ideal masculine” body going back to Greek statues of ripped and beautifully white torsos, with rippling veins as an extension of whiteness, hetero-patriarchy, and nationalism. We can talk about the golden era of bodybuilding, the height of the WWF, and the rise of superheroes as an extension of Reagan-era consumption and a post-Vietnam reassertion of American global dominance. In the west (and largely in American culture) fitness is a way for us to self-actualize. It’s an individual achievement of autonomy that can be freeing in a hyper-individualized society. The meathead or Arnold or CBUM or whoever, is an icon for excess and an image of power. Our images of what we want to achieve are all fantasies. Whether that is a “natty” lifter on a stack of steroids, Hercules in repose, or Hugh Jackman being ripped at 50, how can we compare ourselves?
The body is weird. It’s the material and unspoken language that is spoken to everyone who can see it. The meathead can be viewed as thick in more ways than one. But do we ignore the Ancient Greek idea of “arete” and Marx’s ideas that body and mind are inseparable and both must be worked to be an honorable man. Are our muscles indicative of what’s underneath? The gender, the brain, does it make us a morally good superhero or a brainless henchman? But more than any of this, what are big muscles if not performance? As RuPaul said, “we are all born naked and the rest is drag!”
We can lie to ourselves and say that lifting weight is dominant but really it’s the most submissive thing men will do. It’s an endless pursuit of failure, something that “men” typically are not allowed to do. It’s when we don’t have to “no homo” the care we show to other men, we allow ourselves to learn, to grow. Weightlifting may be the only time “positive masculinity” is displayed openly and proudly.
Broduer shocked me. I picked this book up expecting a deep theoretical analysis of our interpretation of our bodies. This book is more of a memoir of queerness, masculinity, and the culture around weightlifting, all in the vein of Audre Lorde’s Zami. Though I wish the book went more into the philosophical and structural nature of men’s relationship with their bodies, I still wasn’t disappointed and that’s not the full intention of this book.
We can talk about the “ideal masculine” body going back to Greek statues of ripped and beautifully white torsos, with rippling veins as an extension of whiteness, hetero-patriarchy, and nationalism. We can talk about the golden era of bodybuilding, the height of the WWF, and the rise of superheroes as an extension of Reagan-era consumption and a post-Vietnam reassertion of American global dominance. In the west (and largely in American culture) fitness is a way for us to self-actualize. It’s an individual achievement of autonomy that can be freeing in a hyper-individualized society. The meathead or Arnold or CBUM or whoever, is an icon for excess and an image of power. Our images of what we want to achieve are all fantasies. Whether that is a “natty” lifter on a stack of steroids, Hercules in repose, or Hugh Jackman being ripped at 50, how can we compare ourselves?
The body is weird. It’s the material and unspoken language that is spoken to everyone who can see it. The meathead can be viewed as thick in more ways than one. But do we ignore the Ancient Greek idea of “arete” and Marx’s ideas that body and mind are inseparable and both must be worked to be an honorable man. Are our muscles indicative of what’s underneath? The gender, the brain, does it make us a morally good superhero or a brainless henchman? But more than any of this, what are big muscles if not performance? As RuPaul said, “we are all born naked and the rest is drag!”
We can lie to ourselves and say that lifting weight is dominant but really it’s the most submissive thing men will do. It’s an endless pursuit of failure, something that “men” typically are not allowed to do. It’s when we don’t have to “no homo” the care we show to other men, we allow ourselves to learn, to grow. Weightlifting may be the only time “positive masculinity” is displayed openly and proudly.
Broduer shocked me. I picked this book up expecting a deep theoretical analysis of our interpretation of our bodies. This book is more of a memoir of queerness, masculinity, and the culture around weightlifting, all in the vein of Audre Lorde’s Zami. Though I wish the book went more into the philosophical and structural nature of men’s relationship with their bodies, I still wasn’t disappointed and that’s not the full intention of this book.
June 20, 2026
“You are not your body, none of us are.”
Swole: The Making of Men and the Meaning of Muscle by Michael Andor Brodeur is one of those works that reminds me why I need to seek out more books by LGBTQ. It’s the gentle strength, mixing with an indirect permission to be yourself, to take the “shallow” path if it’s the authentic one. And a detailed tale on why physical aesthetics became thought of as “shallow”, despite demanding so much that a lot of people simply fail to achieve their goals.
The book is not an academically researched take on men’s gender. Rather, it’s a cautionary tale of culture that shapes the various facets of masculinity. From pop culture, America’s best export: soft power (temporarily former best export). To philosophy on what makes man a man. How the idea got perverted and twisted by cis/het men’s insecurities, and how it hurt men themselves, creating this true-toxic and false, shallow facet. Author uses his own personal tales to showcase what issues toxic men, and in turn society, have created, and where’s the exit out of this trap. My personal favorite, as a trans man, was the one on body dysmorphia/dysphoria. Something manosphere would tell you is a woman’s or LGBTQ folks thing, whilst men are getting body image issues before our very eyes. Eating disorders, fractured bones, looksmaxxing, all can and often are life-ruining obsessions, and lead to slow dying in silence. Whom are you going to ask for help if all the men you know are the same men who put you in this position, and you’ve been taught to hate or dislike women, even if deep down you know they’d understand and likely help?
If anything, this fine buff man will give you permission and encouragement to be authentically you (inclusively too). Author provides an almost meditative guide for building your personhood up, because there is no truth like being true to yourself. And this too entails as much effort as exercising in the gym. Because every step of the way, out of the dark cold woods, you might hate to face yourself, and figure out whether the truth is yours or, literally, someone else’s.
Swole: The Making of Men and the Meaning of Muscle by Michael Andor Brodeur is one of those works that reminds me why I need to seek out more books by LGBTQ. It’s the gentle strength, mixing with an indirect permission to be yourself, to take the “shallow” path if it’s the authentic one. And a detailed tale on why physical aesthetics became thought of as “shallow”, despite demanding so much that a lot of people simply fail to achieve their goals.
The book is not an academically researched take on men’s gender. Rather, it’s a cautionary tale of culture that shapes the various facets of masculinity. From pop culture, America’s best export: soft power (temporarily former best export). To philosophy on what makes man a man. How the idea got perverted and twisted by cis/het men’s insecurities, and how it hurt men themselves, creating this true-toxic and false, shallow facet. Author uses his own personal tales to showcase what issues toxic men, and in turn society, have created, and where’s the exit out of this trap. My personal favorite, as a trans man, was the one on body dysmorphia/dysphoria. Something manosphere would tell you is a woman’s or LGBTQ folks thing, whilst men are getting body image issues before our very eyes. Eating disorders, fractured bones, looksmaxxing, all can and often are life-ruining obsessions, and lead to slow dying in silence. Whom are you going to ask for help if all the men you know are the same men who put you in this position, and you’ve been taught to hate or dislike women, even if deep down you know they’d understand and likely help?
If anything, this fine buff man will give you permission and encouragement to be authentically you (inclusively too). Author provides an almost meditative guide for building your personhood up, because there is no truth like being true to yourself. And this too entails as much effort as exercising in the gym. Because every step of the way, out of the dark cold woods, you might hate to face yourself, and figure out whether the truth is yours or, literally, someone else’s.
July 29, 2024
ambitious nonfiction debut with a distinct (annoying at times) writing voice debut that is unable to provide anything more than initial layer deep commentary on masculinity and the idealogical origins/ history of masculinities through past civilizations , philosophers of antiquity to modern day super heroes. At times the book removes its pump cover and reveal what the book is trying to be : memoir centered around male bodies, homosexuality, body dysmorphia, and the intense desire of approval and physical touch between men, which is the most interesting and human part of the book. I hope the author gets to tackle it at some point in the future, and the gym bro writing voice became tiresome very fast.
3.5 stars.
3.5 stars.
July 17, 2026
I enjoyed this book! I initially thought the book would be about the history of weight lifting and how it mirrored with body building and men’s physique. In a way this book does talk about that. It is mostly about men’s relationship to masculinity and just the absurdity of the manosphere. He highlights a lot of terrible men now and mirrors them with men of the past and how similar they are. He also compares this with his relationship to masculinity and his coming out . Along this he talks about how the gym helped him and if men saw the gym different how it can possibly help them. It is a great book I really enjoyed it and I didn’t anticipate how much I would like a book about masculinity.
May 5, 2025
Nonfiction book about the pressure on men to be buff. Interesting parallels to the pressure on women to be thin, and some men can get just as obsessed to unhealthy levels. Lots of info on this topic going back in history.
August 6, 2025
A bit repetitive at times, but a great reflection on the role of masculinity in society throughout history, and how it has changed and stayed the same. I personally enjoyed the anecdotes - the book did lag a bit towards the end, but overall an enjoyable read that everyone can learn something from. I appreciated his critique and self awareness around how certain ideals around masculinity are charged by race, sexual identity, etc.
December 3, 2024
erotic non fiction is hot
March 21, 2025
Not what I expected but I enjoyed it anyway.
November 19, 2024
I enjoyed this book like I enjoy everything exercise related. The book was well written and had fun stories about the author’s life.
August 19, 2025
I was super excited for this but I found it to be pretty boring and honestly a bit regressive? Probably would’ve been more a more impactful read in 2010. Also, this guy loves himself. A lot.
May 24, 2025
this is an excellent, extremely well written book that's part memoir, part cultural history, part cultural criticism all about male identity and male bodies. very thought provoking
June 22, 2026
As someone who enjoys going to the gym and who's own social media feed is comprised of fitness content and scantily clad muscle-bound men, there was a lot in this book that I could relate to. Brodeur takes a critical look at fitness, masculinity, and calls into question what is it, people who obsess over their bodies are really hoping to achieve.
September 1, 2024
I enjoyed Brodeur's voice a lot, and most of these essays were engaging enough, but I wanted more. More of him, more personal elements. The integration of memoir with cultural history or criticism is very hot right now, and some people do it really well, and others not so much. I think this book felt a little first-drafty to me. Like I said, I just wanted it to go deeper on the personal, or more contemporary elements of his ideas. I would definitely read more from Brodeur though.
November 21, 2024
Interesting read. Started soon after it was reported how much the toxic manosphere had a part to play in reelecting Trump (though it was already in my TBR pile) so that made some of it more prescient. Overall a very interesting history of the ways Masculinity (tm) has been shaped by history through art and culture as well as the author's own memoir about growing up and their own struggles and history with fitting into masculinity. Not all of it stuck with me (some of the history slid off my smooth brain) but it was interesting to see how we have always idolized the "perfect male physique" and yet so rarely admit how unattainable it is and all the damage it does to try to fit into that shell.
June 29, 2024
Entertaining to read but left me wanting more. I expected/hoped for a bit more critique of the performance of masculinity. The book instead takes the construction of gym culture and its impact on masculinity on its face. Fun and touching as memoir, underwhelming as cultural critique.
June 17, 2024
Great writing but I could never get to the heart of the purpose.
June 19, 2024
No pun intended, but the whole thing could have been tighter. That said, it is an engaging and humorous read.
September 27, 2024
Loved the scope and intersectionality — social media, feminist theory, gay culture, personal memories — but really wished it had more conclusions/proposed more theory
Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews