To Clarify Just A Bit...

After rereading my first blog entry, I realized that I was very one-sided on the topic. I want to be clear that men absolutely struggle with media's and society's ideals for body image too. The body image topic is very often geared towards women, and as it really should be as women suffer eating disorders, body dysmorphia, etc. much more often. Men however struggle with this as well, as society has an unrealistic idea for what a man should look like, how he should interact with others and how he should carry himself. From birth, boys and men are told to be the biggest, best, strongest, fastest, pretty much any superlative that can be correlated to strength. This is reinforced with phrases like "Grow a pair!", "Man up!" and my personal favorite "Don't be a pussy!" (because according to society, there's innate weakness in having or being a vagina). Not only is this a singular story phenomenon, meaning that all men want to be "masculine" or those who identify as a man are the only ones who can express masculinity, but it can be extremely harmful to a man's body image. There's also the fact that society pushing men to be powerful not only creates unequal opportunity for different genders, but it is a major catalyst for rape culture

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As many have said before me, it's important to empower everyone. All genders, all ages, all sexes, all sexual orientations, all races, all ethnicities, all heritages, all classes, all family situations, everything. Putting an empowerment exclusivity on men is dangerous to women and men alike. If this emphasis on men being buff, toned, strong and powerful continues, men will have the same self-esteem epidemic that women in this country are currently in. It's important to talk to our sons about how society and media portrays attractiveness and power in men, and that it's not realistic or healthy. 

In short: it's okay not to be buff, fellas. It's okay to not be the strongest. It is okay to be the strongest, ladies. Go ahead and get buff if you want. Or don't. It's okay to be masculine even if you are not male-bodied. It's okay to be feminine if you are male-bodied. Wear whatever you want, dye your hair whatever you want, tattoo whatever you want. It's all good. You are perf.