Big muscles equal a big man, or so the logic goes for many young men in Azerbaijan. For them, the ambition to bulk up through diet and exercise is more than just a matter of health: it is a symbol of masculinity.

While some believe large muscles embody the true nature of a “real Azerbaijani man,” sociologists worry physical strength has become a symptom of toxic masculinity in the culture.

Bodybuilding is a passion for Vugar Mammadov, a 20-year-old from Azerbaijan's second largest city, Ganja. Working out actually led him to a job he enjoys: Mammadov currently works at a gym in his home town. He goes to the gym four times a week and maintains a strict diet.

“I started to work out in the fifth grade at school,” he says. A common nightmare is dreaming that he loses his muscles. “When I imagine that I can wake up without my muscles, it’s a huge shock for me.”

Bodybuilding is popular in Azerbaijan, in part due to the widely-held belief that men should be strong in order to protect their families from any external attack.

Gulnara Mehdiyeva, gender expert says that sports and healthy lifestyle are positive things. They become problematic, however, when a man's strength or athleticism is used to gauge his worth as a “real man.”

“Interpreting the image of a 'real man' as a person who is tough, emotionless, and has a dominant authority over women is toxic masculinity,” she says. Unfortunately, she adds, for many today in Azerbaijan, a “real men” should be “homophobic, see women as a sexual object, necessarily love sports, use strength to solve problems and have sex with as many women as possible.”

Masculinity in Azerbaijan – and in the wider Caucasus region – demands that a man abstain from many things.  He cannot be weak, vulnerable, timid or soft. And he must not suffer from self-doubt.

“Victims of toxic masculinity are afraid of appearing weak, speaking up when they feel sick or helpless, or asking for help,” says gender expert Mehdiyeva.

For bodybuilder Mamed Ismayilov, 25, signs of weakness are tantamount to losing respect.

“You should never show a woman you are weak, if you give her any slack - that’s it. She will not respect you. I had a moment in life when I gave ground and it was the worst feeling ever,” he says.

“Later on, you try and figure out if there was a better solution and you realize that there was not. But still you hate yourself, because you are a man, and you shouldn’t be weak,” he adds.

Ismayilov, a resident of the capital Baku, has been working out for two and a half years. When he started, he said, he was a weakling, someone who was bullied and pushed around.

In Azerbaijan, he notes, the strong often pick on the weak.

Today, however, after hours of bodybuilding, he has become someone his friends turn to when they need to fight.

In addition, stronger muscles have given him more self-confidence, Ismayilov says, which is crucial to winning a different kind of fight that Azerbaijani men face every day -- the public test of wills.

For Azerbaijani men, these daily fights boil down to a stare. When men look into the eyes of each other in public, and the one who first takes his glance away loses. “It is about your personal courage, not to glance away, and this eye fight decides whether a real fight will happen or not,” Ismayilov says.

MAKEUP FOR MEN

He notes, however, that his main motivation for working out was to improve his appearance.

“Muscles are makeup for men. With muscles you stand out. You are not an ordinary walking piece of meat," he says.

Ismayilov says that going to the gym radically changed his life. If before he was pushed around, now “even if I do all sorts of nonsense, I am accepted more seriously and with respect,” he says.

Big muscles have also made him more attractive to women, he says.

“No one would love you for your soul, if you have a disgusting appearance,” Ismayilov notes, adding that his wife likes to show off her good-looking husband.  

“When two couples meet, where one man has a good body and another doesn't, it is always obvious how the girlfriend of the second one envies the first girl. She can’t boast about her boyfriend.”

 A BODY LIKE FERRARI

Nijat Aliyev, a 24-year-old bodybuilder from Ganja, agrees that having a toned physique is an enviable goal.

Aliyev came to bodybuilding from soccer – he played the sport for ten years but ultimately gave it up to dedicate his time to building muscles at the gym.

“Who would not want to have a Ferrari? A big body is like a Ferrari,” Aliyev says. But he adds that while bigger muscles have also increased his self-confidence, he says stronger men should not use their muscles to bully the weak.

“Men often are ashamed of pictures that show their body before bodybuilding. I never had such a complex. It is very important to understand that regardless of which body – the old or the new – it is still the same you,” Aliyev says. 

Masculinities

April/May 2019