Earlier this year, British singer Olly Murs sparked some serious online discourse when before-and-after photos from his “12-week gym transformation” went viral on social media.

Instagram @greg_thenutritionist / Via instagram.com

It all started when an X user ran an online poll to ask men and women which photo they preferred. With just under 5,000 people voting, another X user was left in disbelief when they noticed that most women said that they preferred Olly’s body in the before photo. 

Sharing a screenshot of the poll result alongside the original photos, the second X user wrote: “why are women lying about this? like what's the actual cause?” and before long, men and women were embroiled in a passionate debate. 

And one of the most popular quote-tweets from a woman ultimately summed up the discourse, reading: “We’re not lying. Men cater to the male gaze more often than they realize.”

But it seems as though men have learned absolutely nothing from this viral moment, with the same conversation erupting on X again just last week. This time, it stemmed from a right-wing X account sharing photos of Hugh Jackman and Alan Ritchson in character as muscular Wolverine and Jack Reacher respectively. The user wrote: “Notice how no one, not a single soul, has ever complained about the female gaze in entertainment.”

Marvel / Paramount / Via x.com

Rage-bait or not, this tweet undeniably struck a chord, and it has been seen more than 41 million times since it was posted on Thursday.

And at the time of writing, tens of thousands of people have shared their response in the replies and quote-tweets, arguing both for and against its original message.

Unsurprisingly, the overwhelming consensus was that, once again, these hench male action heroes with bulging muscles are actually catered to other men.

©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection

“both photos represent a perfect example of entertainment catering to the MALE gaze,” a viral quote tweet reads. “did straight men learn nothing from the recent before and after gym photos of that british singer?”

©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

Somebody else shared a photo of the stripper characters in Magic Mike, led by Channing Tatum, writing: “That's not shot for women. This is shot for women. See the difference?” For reference, while the Magic Mike cast are toned and muscular, their bodies are nowhere near the level of Wolverine and Reacher.

“LOUD INCORRECT BUZZER. the female gaze is actually this,” another wrote alongside a GIF of Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy in the 2005 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice. 

“I’m going to hold your hand while I tell you this…. But the male power fantasy you’re showing isn’t the female gaze…. The female gaze is less about muscles for show (that aren’t even functional, they’re severely dehydrated for that effect) and more about EVERYTHING ELSE,” one more viral tweet reads.

While one more concluded: “Not that women hate muscular men but this kind of ripped look mostly caters to male audiences. The biggest admirers of gym bros are other gym bros."

Perhaps expectedly, men have continued to argue in the replies of all of the viral rebuttals — proving that there is simply no getting through to some people.

As always, let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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