Baljeet becomes buff: Are our brown boy influencers going too far?

By Kireth Sandhu - August 2024

Studious, socially awkward, and physically unimpressive. These are the typical traits of a young South Asian male in Western media. From Phineas and Ferb’s Baljeet Tjinder to Raj from The Big Bang Theory, brown boys haven’t had the best stereotypes in mainstream media. Yet open any social media app, and you will find a dozen melanin men sharing their gym journeys with physically impressive builds. How did our community shift so suddenly from meek to masculine? And are there harms in the rise of a buff boy gym culture?

Retaliating Hard to the Stereotypes

If you’ve grown up as a brown boy it’s more than likely you’ve cosplayed once as Aladdin. Looking beyond that 1992 Disney Film for positive brown representation in Western media reveals a pretty barren space. We’re traditionally secondary characters, humorous foils to the lead or nerdy accompaniments to the hero. You never see a brown guy successfully with a woman.

Open the comment section of a popular post tangentially related to brown men on Instagram, and you will find an array of discriminating comments. These go beyond nerdiness and social ineptitude to comments on smell, appearance and cleanliness.

The bright light to this solution are the rise of the “buff brown boys”. These influencers have emerged quickly and plentifully, each with a male majority following. Their profiles inspire our boys to do better by working on themselves in the gym, providing technique and an equal dose of challenge and encouragement. These are of course complimented by physique photos, flexing with weights or in attractive outfits in front of the camera. They’re reclaiming the space by force.

Are we going too far?

This physical transformation becomes a powerful statement against the prejudices brown boys have faced. It’s about showcasing their strength, resilience, and social capability, countering the outdated depictions of South Asian men as weak and passive.

Boys also hope to ascend the social ladder. Joining the gym and building a strong physique helps young South Asian men be more confident among their peers, especially in a society where it is typical for boys from other backgrounds to hit the gym from their teens. The photos shared on social media show hard work and increase clout.

They also act as a clear social indicator stating “I am dateable”! It’s no secret that most of us seek relationships, and with the social media and dating apps being viable avenues based on physical appearance, brown men aren’t going to leave themselves underperforming.

However, this raises concerns of comparison and self-validation. In trying to avoid negative stereotypes and disassociate from the Western narrative, we ironically are becoming like other typical gymbro influencers and losing what makes us unique. There is a form of comparison inherently part of each post shared, as individuals see the physical progress of others and again are pushed to compete. Perhaps most dangerously of all, this type of behaviour could point towards deep self-esteem issues that are only being dealt with in a physical appearance level.

So what is the brown boy standard going forward?

Males from our communities have often wrestled with their own self image in comparison to the culture. We applaud the recent rise of buff brown boy influencers, and have shared some on the Melanin Magazine Instagram page.

However we have to recognise the deeper reasons behind this movement, and acknowledge some of the harms in making physical appearance the most focal point of your identity. The challenging and changing space of brown boy representation does not reflect individuals. If we take up the gym journey, are we working towards positive self-growth or are we working to compare ourselves or prove yourselves to the mass of social media?

Keep sharing your gym progress pics as inspiration, and fight the negative stereotypes wherever you see them. This social shift is not just about physical appearance but us being able to reclaim our identity, redefining and shaping what it means to be a South Asian man in Western society.

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