ABSTRACT
Since the history of homosexuality is a history of the body and desire, it could be said that it is essentially the history of the production of physical culture-the organization of meaning in the body. This entry treats physical culture as it pertains to the deliberate shaping of gay male bodies in those parts of the world in which globalizing (post) modern gay culture has a presence. As other articles in this encyclopedia suggest, the construction of homosexuality is historically contingent. The focus is on developments over the last quarter century, since this is a period in which there has been great interest in the shape and meaning of the male body in global gay culture.
