You call them “moobs,” the hideous and juvenile portmanteau of “man” and “boobs.” I refer to them as “hevage,” which elegantly combines a male pronoun with the word “cleavage.” We are talking about the same thing, which doesn’t so much describe the male chest as the act of making it visible—or the reciprocal act of beholding it in public.
Men have been ditching their shirts since primordial times. Then civilization progressed in such a way that occupying its highest echelons meant putting on as many shirts as possible. One century ago, typical men’s fashion dictated shirts whose collars rose to graze the chin, especially for galas or operas. But at the most recent Academy Awards, several cisgender male guests showed up with shirts unbuttoned or nonexistent. Ryan Gosling, nominated for best-supporting actor as Barbie’s Ken, appeared handsome, stylish, and visibly hairless from cheekbone to sternum.
