can a man be voluptuous?

December 16, 2005 8:05 PM

can a man be voluptuous?

this is a question that has been floating around my workplace for a few years now. i get all kinds of answers. what do you think, either way, and why?

posted by brandz to Society & Culture (23 answers total)

A man can exude sensuality, which means yes if you're going by the dictionary. However, I always think of "voluptuous" as describing a pleasingly shapely woman, so when I picture a "voluptuous man," I just see man boobs, and, to me, that is not pleasingly shapely.

I bet most of the voluptuous men are in Italy. (The sensual kind, I mean ...)
posted by Airhen at 8:12 PM on December 16, 2005

I'd use "voluptuary" for "devoted to sensual pleasure" and reserve "voluptuous" for curvy women, but the dictionary disagrees with me.
posted by TimeFactor at 8:19 PM on December 16, 2005

I agree with Airhen.

The connotation I have with the word is definitely a feminine one. I just picture a shapely, busty, attractive woman when I hear it. Men need not apply.

Although now I may very well picture man-boobs when I hear the term and for that I am very sad.
posted by Anizev at 8:20 PM on December 16, 2005

I think if you're talking about the dictionary definition of the word, then yes. I have known quite a few men who are "giving, characterized by, or suggesting ample, unrestrained pleasure to the senses" and/or "characterized by or devoted to pleasure and luxury as a lifestyle". But the word as commonly used has taken on a very specific and very feminine meaning.

When I hear the word "voluptuous" I automatically think of a curvy, sensual, sexual woman. If I heard someone describe a man as voluptuous I would immediately think of a man with ample, womanly curves. Although, come to think of it, I have also met more than one man with ample womanly curves so my answer would still have to be yes. Whether or not the label is a flattering one? Harder to say.
posted by LeeJay at 8:25 PM on December 16, 2005

Men can be other things, but in American English, men are not voluptuous.
posted by Ken McE at 8:27 PM on December 16, 2005

Best answer: Voluptuous for me means big breasts, wide & generous hips.

So, it's possible for a man to possess similar qualities, but is hardly associated with mainstream (positive) sexuality.

Perhaps "beefcake" or "hunk" (think Chippendales) are the male equivalents to that adjective?
posted by PurplePorpoise at 8:29 PM on December 16, 2005

I think a man can be voluptuous... by which I mean curvy in a good way. I'm thinking sumo wrestlers here.
posted by pompomtom at 8:52 PM on December 16, 2005

Golly, I thought you were asking permission for men to be curvacious. So---man titties? Absolutely NOT. I'm with anizev on this one. Devoted to pleasure and luxury as a lifestyle? Uh, have this guy call my cell.
posted by DawnSimulator at 8:54 PM on December 16, 2005

No. If the dictionary disagrees, then that dictionary is not in tune with the way people today use the word, at least in the US.
posted by bingo at 9:32 PM on December 16, 2005

Response by poster: the dictionary ascribes no gender to the word voluptuous yet people seem to.
posted by brandz at 9:34 PM on December 16, 2005

I know what the dictionary says, but here is the real answer: Yes, but only if he has serious gynecomastia. And a push-up bra.
posted by booksandlibretti at 9:53 PM on December 16, 2005

A man can't be voluptuous in the sense of having giant milky breasts and wide child-bearing hips, no.

But a man can be voluptuous in the sense of being a bit thicker here and there, and/or a bit better endowed in the bum department, than standard-issue hotties on tv, but still be not-unattractive.

Compared to celebrities now, someone like Shatner in prime Kirk green-chick-of-the-week era might be "voluptuous."
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:00 PM on December 16, 2005

Sure.
posted by rob511 at 11:06 PM on December 16, 2005

Salma Hayek is voluptuous. Kevin James isn't. ;)
posted by madman at 11:06 PM on December 16, 2005

They can be curvy and "ample" but calling a man veloptuous is a negative comment.
posted by travosaurus at 11:17 PM on December 16, 2005

Just last night I was talking to a hefty male friend about this very thing. In a fit of self-deprecation, he was saying that society obviously doesn't value big guys because there's no vocabulary for describing them as attractive - whereas women can be curvy, voluptuous, zaftig, or whatever all else.

I know lots of sexy big guys, but I'm not sure how to describe them except as such. Men of substance?
posted by tangerine at 11:30 PM on December 16, 2005

BHM - big, handsome man is common usage within the appreciative community.
posted by Triode at 12:41 AM on December 17, 2005

Chunky hunks? Chubbylicious? Big teddy bears?

Yes, I think men can be voluptuous and women can be handsome. Men can also be pretty and alluring.
posted by PY at 12:43 AM on December 17, 2005

Lots of women's shapes are sexy, which is what "voluptuous" used to mean, but the word has been used as a sort of euphemism for a specific variety of sexy -- the busty and curvy, small waist and big hips variety, and not, for example, the equally sexy thin and slinky variety -- for so long now that it would be impossible to apply "voluptuous" positively to the average man in a way that the average man would take as a compliment. A voluptuous man is busty, curvy, maybe a transvestite.
posted by pracowity at 6:14 AM on December 17, 2005

i would not see it as a compliment
posted by suni at 6:50 AM on December 17, 2005

Calling a man voluptuous is like calling a table sexy. People would know what you meant but it also involves a small repurposing of a word that people are more used to hearing in different contexts.
posted by jessamyn at 7:56 AM on December 17, 2005

in American English, men are not voluptuous.

This is true.
posted by languagehat at 10:26 AM on December 17, 2005

Response by poster: i like beefcake as an alternative.
posted by brandz at 4:16 PM on December 17, 2005