A rather common gay stereotype. A man who is constantly concerned with working out at the gym, not to stay healthy, but as a rather vain attempt to hold onto his youthful looks for as long as possible. It's not unusual for him to be Hollywood Pudgy, thinking his body is never quite good enough as he dives headfirst into anorexia. He also uses the Gym as a possible meeting place for potential mates. In many cases, he shows an interest in sports and athletics as well, especially when younger. In this instance, he is generally just portrayed as the gay version of a Jock or a Straight Gay. In many cases, however, he doesn't know the first thing about sports and is only exercising for the superficial benefits.
Among gay men, "muscle mary" is another nickname, but take note that neither "gym bunny" nor "muscle mary" are commonly used by gay male gym-goers themselves, who generally see the terms as snide at best and insults at worst. They are "fitness enthusiasts," thank you very much. "Muscle bear" is another term with a more positive connotation, though it refers more specifically to guys that are furry and/or bulky. See also Manly Gay and Macho Camp. Compare/contrast with Lesbian Jock, who tends to have a more genuine interest in athletics but might also use it to pick up women. Compare also the Lipstick Lesbian; both the Gym Bunny and Lipstick Lesbian are used as opposite sex fanservice in very similar ways (a gay character that an opposite-sex viewer is likely to find attractive).
Examples:
- Greg Giraldo had a bit talking about fit gay men. "Yea, he could be a linebacker. Look at him. He's built like a gay guy! How much can he bench? 300 pounds? Wow, that's really gay!"
- Scary Movie: Brenda's jock boyfriend Ray. He doesn't explicitly come out of the closet until the end of the movie (and claims Situational Sexuality due to forced abstinence), but many unsubtle hints were dropped as a Running Gag.
- Burn After Reading the Ambiguously Gay Chad is a ditzy and extremely fit gym employee.
- Benji's new boyfriend, "Idaho Guy," from The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy. Eventually turns Benji into a Club Kid with a drug habit.
- Miracle Mile: The manly, muscular helicopter pilot our heroes find in a gym insists on fetching his lover before he'll agree to fly the group out. His lover turns out to be a man.
- Redfern Jon Barrett's alternate history novel Proud Pink Sky is set in the world's first gay state – and features Adonis, a district dedicated to athletic gay men.
- Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: White Josh is a fit gay man who works as a trainer at a gym. His attitude toward fitness is not considered specifically gay, though, and one episode "Nathaniel Gets the Message!" sees him bonding with Nathaniel, a straight guy who's also hard core about working out. That said, Josh is more outspoken about fitness than Nathaniel is—but that's probably because he's a trainer so encouraging others to be fitter is his daily job.
- Gilmore Girls had Michel Gerard, a character who constantly watched his calorie intake and apparently spent a lot of time working out to keep what he considered a proper male figure. However, Gerard was specifically shown to not be gay, but rather, a depiction of a modern dandy.
- Riley in Degrassi: The Next Generation could be seen as this, except that the reason he works out so strenuously is to convince himself that he's not gay.
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Mac evolved into this trope over time. Originally written as an immature musclehead who is obsessed with the male physique and being badass because he's never progressed past adolescence, Mac is highly prone to making statements that sound homoerotic in the early seasons. This evolved into Mac being heavily implied to be a closeted gay man. After this was finally confirmed in season 11 by him coming out of the closet, Max remains just as obsessed with fitness and muscles.
- On Los Espookys, Andrés's boyfriend Juan Carlos is a fitness fanatic who hosts a channel dedicated to workout videos.
- The whole cast of Queer as Folk (US). Taken to an extreme with Ben during the steroid arc.
- Kevin from Dante's Cove. Several other characters from the show also have elements of this.
- One of MADtv (1995)'s skits with Lida and Molina (a pair of ditzy Latinas) has them hanging out with a group of buff men at a park working out...only to later realize that they're all gay.
- Discussed on Sex and the City. When asked why gay guys spend so much time at the gym, one of the women says it's because of the possibility of having sex, and points out that if straight guys had the opportunity to have sex at the gym, they'd go more often.
- Letterkenny introduces Dax and Ron in season 4, two openly gay and very fit men who spend all their time cat-calling and hitting on other men at the gym.
- The video
for "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John.
- Pansy Division: Two of their songs, "Musclehead" and "Who Treats You Right", take aim at gym bunnies as being boring and self-centered.
- Grand Theft Auto IV:
- The vain, unstable, misogynistic, but ridiculously loveable Ensemble Dark Horse Brucie Kibbutz. A caricature of a testosterone-poisoned Brooklyn hypebeast who uses performance-enhancing drugs and surrounds himself with gaudy luxury, it is strongly implied that he is bisexual, even if he's only ever seen around attractive women and is quick to clarify that he's just joking about being attracted to Roman. He's extremely insecure, being Formerly Fat and gripped with jealousy of his brother Mori, a former IDF soldier who is presented as both the man Brucie wishes he was and also a way bigger douchebag.
- A more open example would be Bernie Crane, born Florian Cravic. After he moved from the former Yugoslavia to Liberty City, he declared his old self dead and became much more flamboyant while still as physically fit as he was when he fought in the war.
- The gay nightclub Hercules, featured in more detail in the expansion The Ballad of Gay Tony, is also built around this aesthetic.
- Final Fantasy:
- Just about the entire gym in Final Fantasy VII crossdresses. The spot is notorious in the area for this, and is presided over by an apparent local transvestite Aeris has heard of by reputation. Cloud can win a long wig from there by demonstrating his superiority in a squatting contest.
- Lampshaded in CollegeHumor's "Gay Men Will Marry Your Girlfriends" video:
Guy in Kitchen: "All of us are ripped. It doesn't seem statistically possible, and yet it's true."
- Stewie leaned in this direction in the Family Guy episode in which he was taking steroids.
