His body is nuts though. And I bet he doesn't look like that now. To look 'good' as a man, you can set the bar a lot lower than the model.

What does this achieve? It's such a long way from these guys (who were heroes)

Nah, all of this is legal for straight guys. See e.g., Speedo Mick:

You're out of date I think. Men gotta look hot now.

Suicide is often linked to a complete identification with image

Even if we discount height, I don't agree. To look jacked and ripped without assistance you need very good genetics. Here are some ideal body types from the 50s.

The s1/s2 chain is the cut. Objet petit a is the remainder. Desire moves around the s2 chain. Its slide is a gliding-defence against jouissance. Jouissance, fuelled by objet petit a, hooks on the s2s where desire temporarily stalls. A specular object of desire (eg tight speedos from behind) might trigger a stalling of desire at s2.

'The Real is the excess of jouissance unrepresented by the symbolic and imaginary orders—an extimate effect that fantasy both screens and retroactively posits (so it appears to the subject that full jouissance is possible). Within the fantasy frame, the empirical object of desire (e.g., hairy abs) anchors desire, suturing the void of the true cause of desire: the objet petit a, the structural loss and remainder generated by our entry into language.'

"The academic looks at the twunk and feels desire; the S_1 is the twunk's bulge, acting as a representable lure (objet de désir) that circles the unrepresentable objet petit a, mobilising the S_2 metonymic chain: speedos - big cock - stud - twunk - status."

The S1/S2 chain that links "attractiveness" to "youth" has a lethal flaw (aging). When aging occurs, this chain breaks, potentially triggering a crisis. It might be reworked. The signifier "Sexy Daddy" is a defensive adaptation. It doesn't deny aging; it re-signifies it. The subject does not have to traverse the fantasy.