opinion

Why Mamamia decided to name Australia's 50 best blokes.

One of my first tasks at Cleo magazine when I was a young writer was to help compile the magazine’s annual list of Australia’s 50 Most Eligible Bachelors. It was a hideous job, as you can imagine.

I was 22 and I had to help select, interview and shoot 50 hot single guys. Many of them were also rich or famous or both. Because that’s what made a man eligible and desirable back then.

In the 80s and the 90s, it was the perfect fit for Cleo magazine. The idea for the list had come originally from Lisa Wilkinson, my then boss and mentor, who had stared down Kerry Packer in the 80s when she took over Cleo and decided that the Centrefold was a bit…..old school. Cheesy.

Model George Loring as the Cleo centrefold in 1978.

Her predecessor, Ita Buttrose had launched Cleo magazine in the 70s with the centrefold as it's foundation and it was a genius idea. The idea of women ogling men was a uniquely feminist take at a time when the women's movement (or women's lib as it was called back then) was taking off.

 Greg Bonham was the Cleo centrefold in 1973.

How better to subvert the system than to make men take off their clothes - just as women had been doing for decades to titilate men.

But Lisa felt the centrefold was emblematic of a different time. It was the 80s and she was editing the magazine for a new generation. She came up with the idea of publishing an annual list of Australia's 50 Most Eligible Bachelors to replace the centrefold because she understood you couldn't just take something away to update your brand. You had to add something in its place.

 

Bachelors was the 80s version of the centrefold. And it was brilliant. The list became the most sought-after media property in Australia. Every single man wanted to be on it. Every single woman wanted to pore over it. It embodied a specific time in our recent history. Greed was good. Materialism and fame and fortune were intertwined in a glorious display of conspicuous consumption. At first, the men weren't photographed without their shirts but as the 80s became the 90s and then the 00s, the achievements of the men on the list took a back seat to their bodies.

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The group of 2013 Cleo bachelors. (Image: Getty) [/img_caption]

Lisa had well and truly left Cleo by then and the modern version of Bachelors appeared to be a stripped down version of her original idea - literally.

Perhaps this too reflected the times and the interests of the young women Cleo was trying to attract.

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What do I know? I'm not 22.

Then Cleo closed and the bachelors assumed their place in Australian folklore history along with centrefolds. RIP ripped men.

END OF HISTORY LESSON

This year, at Mamamia, we were thinking about men. We were thinking about all the great men we know and the great men we don't know and how what it means to be a great man - or a good bloke - has changed.

And we wanted to start a new conversation about what it means to be a good man. A good bloke. In 2016.

We wanted to create a new definitive list of Australian men. Not based on whether they were gay, straight, married or unmarried. Regardless of how they might look with their shirt off.

We wanted to celebrate Australian men who were doing good things for women and in the community, acting as positive role models. A list for a new generation of Australians that says everything about what we value as a society in 2016.

So we compiled a list of 100 men - some well known, some not - and we asked 5000 of our most engaged Mamamia audience members to vote for their best blokes. We also asked them to nominate and vote for any we hadn't included in the original list.

And they did. What we now have is a definitive list of fantastic, inspiring, wonderful Australian men.  They  are a diverse bunch - all ages, nationalities, religions and sexualities. And they make us proud.

To view Mamamia's list of Australia's best blokes, click here.