Geek Sex Doesn’t Sell

By Lisa Fary

People’s Sexiest Man Alive issue is the only issue of that magazine that I like. I don’t care about celebrity gossip, the 50 most beautiful people, or the 25 most intriguing people according to People. However, I do like gratuitous pictures of hot guys.

What’s not to like about People’s Sexiest Man Alive issue? Especially when Hugh Jackman is the pick for 2008? It’s a guarantee for hot photos of Hugh Jackman being sexy and talking about being sexy. So, really, what’s not to like?

Oh, just being snubbed by mainstream entertainment media. Again.

I’m still not on board with words interrupting the Sexiest Man Alive issue, but People is promoting the issue with an excerpt from their interview with Jackman. The excerpt pushes Jackman as the leading man of Australia, due out Thanksgiving weekend and makes no reference to the role that introduced his sexiness to Hollywood and publications like People:

Wolverine.

We didn’t know jack about Jackman until X-Men hit in 2000. Sure, he’d worked in Australia prior to that and he may have been noticed internationally at some point without appearing in a huge American movie, but it was X-Men that put him in front of millions. Without X-Men, he may not have been People’s Sexiest Man Alive today.

Granted, this is only an excerpt running on People’s website. The full interview may well go into being a geek icon, but the impression this gives is that geek isn’t acceptable for promoting sexy.

And now, enjoy some gratuitous photos of Hugh Jackman.

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Lisa Fary’s early exposure to classic Battlestar Galactica in 1979 is largely responsible for her lifelong interest in science fiction and her childhood ambition of being an intergalactic space cowgirl. She thinks diagramming sentences is a fun alternative to Sudoku.