What About the Guys?

When body image is discussed, most students, professors, and family members direct the conversation towards the pressure placed upon women to be “perfect” to be “slim” and polite. Words like anorexia, depression, bulimia, and abuse are commonly spoken. Women are often portrayed as victims of an unfair society, and unattainable standards set by men. Teenage girls tend to be the center of the conversation, mainly because they are viewed as insecure and very impressionable. They are brainwashed by the media to look a certain way and not embrace themselves for who they are. While all this may be true, it is very rare to observe someone sympathizing with the male side of the story. People seem to forget that the phrase “body image” does not solely refer to women. The pressures and influence the media has on body image is seldom thoroughly considered form a man’s point of view.
It is easy to say that men support unfair and unrealistic standards regarding women, but how about the standards women have of men? If an adolescent boy plays sports, he has to be a jock; he is expected to have bulging muscles (guns), and six pack abs. Anyone who has played sports knows that a six pack and guns don’t develop overnight, and certainly not from playing on a town or school sports team. To be in shape a man doesn’t have to be buff, women cannot seem to wrap their heads around that terribly complicated concept. If a man is slim, or muscular he is assumed to be healthy, just as a skinny woman is considered healthy. This assumption is not true, a man with muscles could be a frequent steroid user, and that skinny woman could have crohns, high blood pressure, or an eating disorder. While most frown upon the statement of women, few mention the same stereotype of men.
A more simple misrepresentation of the male gender is that for any man to be tough or attractive he has to play some sort of sport and has to be incapable of discussing his feelings. Society seems to find it difficult to accept a heterosexual man that is open about his feelings. Woman claim they want a sensitive husband, or boyfriend, but the second a boy shows an emotion other then anger he is labeled a “fag” a “homo” he is instantly considered gay. In contrast women laugh and cry as they please, they are unpredictable when it comes to emotions and no one even thinks twice about it.
American men are unable to touch someone of the same sex without having the gay card pulled. If a handshake lasts too long, if a pat on the back is deemed inappropriate by one person, those involved are suddenly gay. Once a man is called homosexual it is very difficult to set things straight (no pun intended.) This is yet another area, in which women are given more leeway, girls hold hands, accompany each other to the bathroom, and hug, without consequence. It is arguably more common for two men who touch to be considered gay, than it is for two women.
Both genders are equally victims to an unrealistic body image; they each go through spurts of self-hate and depression due to the images forced upon them by the media and society itself. People have been brainwashed with slim fast, boflex, and swimsuit models from the time they are able to turn on the radio, watch television, comprehend the images and words on the screen and even look at a newspaper or magazine. Images of slim, blond haired blue eyed hotties haunt the everyday person, not the teenage girl, not the woman with the eating disorder or the one who cuts herself because she can’t stand to look in a mirror. It affects the young boys trying to impress their first girlfriends, the ones that resort to steroids, the ones afraid to show their true emotions. It is disturbing to consider how many people ignore the male side of the story, how many other ill effects of the perfect body image are there that we aren’t even fully aware of because the topic is rarely discussed? Next time body image is discussed don’t be like most students, professors, and family members refrain from directing the conversation towards the pressure placed upon women to be “perfect” to be “slim” and polite, instead look at it from a new perspective, try to consider the hardships men face, you might be shocked.