These three articles highlight how their is a new wave of body dissatisfaction happening for men as well as women. The need to “bulk up”, have abs, and big muscles associates a new type of unrealistic standards set by society and depicted by social media.
http://time.com/3086207/body-image-men-women-media/
Let me guess…when you hear body image issues and the media, you probably automatically assume women, right? Well, that’s not the truth anymore in today’s society. Men receive a lot of comments about “Man Up” and “Be a Man” because the media depicts them as strong, buff, and hot. The fact of the matter is that there is an unrealistic expectation for men to when it comes to media selling their images for fashion. These men are oiled up, abs showing, and usually have great facial hair and let’s face it not every guy has a six-pack or huge biceps and that’s okay. But in the reality of social media, men have a social standard set to appear attractive to the opposite sex and when you are outside that social standard then “good luck buddy, you are not hot enough.” The thing about social media and body image for men is that it is not something that is assumed to be happening. Society sees men as these big, strong, bruiting characters that do not let anything bother them but the reality is the same feelings of inadequacy that women feel, men feel too. Men have the pressure of having to bulk up, hit the gym, and protein, protein, and more protein to get those sexy man pecks and abs. The media promotes this idea that in order to become “what women want”, men can take whatever means to achieve the desired image that society promotes such as eating disorders or steroids.
In today’s society, there is a set standard for each gender and for men you need to be chiseled in such a way that it appears unnatural just like it can be seen for women needed to be super model skinny. Society needs to recognize that both men and women are affected by this depiction of unrealistic body images. Society needs to stop marketing images that are unattainable for society and social comparison is at a constant war for what society portrays as “hot or not” and what individuals are interpreting. Society needs to realize its shaming attitude towards body types that do not fit into “the ideal” and that there is stigma now attached to men and their body types along with women.
It's my body, but society's perception of it? 