Idris Elba Named People’s Sexiest Man Alive

Actor Idris Elba was named the Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine on Monday night. Elba is only the third person of color of the 33 men that have been awarded the title after Denzel Washington received the title in 1996 and Dwayne Johnson received it in 2016. Elba being chosen as People’s Sexiest Man Alive represents a good step toward racial diversity in the media since most representations of male attractiveness are white men. People’s Sexiest Man Alive yearly title though is an example of the rigid gender representations that we see in the media as all the men that have held the title are successful, rich, fit and heterosexual. People’s Most Beautiful title also faces the same problems as it only shows women who fit into the rigid beauty standards that the media has set about what makes a woman beautiful such as being thin, heterosexual and white. These types of titles by the media feed into the gender constructions created by society that men and women feel they must fit into in order to be considered beautiful and do not show diversity in race, body size, or gender identity. While it is a positive step to choose Elba for the title, People has a long way to go when it comes showing racial diversity and different types of beauty and attractiveness.