This article starts out discussing the presence of a 'moral panic' and 'body panic' in modern society. It attributes it's creation to our current "consumer culture." The article claims that "the salvation once sought to be derived through the soul has moved to the body." In my opinion, this makes sense, it seems at least that nowadays there is a lot more emphasis on a man's body and appearance than the concept of him being a so called 'good man'.
This panic seems to be attributed to a few things. The first, HIV/AIDS, had a focus on athletes. There are huge qualms associated with this disease having anything to do with a major athlete. Maybe it has something to do with the association of this disease to the gay community that clashes with the hyper-masculine image of most athletes. Another is obesity- not surprisingly. There has been a huge increase in the level of obesity present in the country lately, so it should come as no surprise that an increased number of men are showing concerns about this.
The article then moves on to talk about the financial gains created by this emphasis on the male body. Billions of dollars have been spent by Americans on gym equipment and memberships, and that number is only rising. What surprised me, though, is the amazing increased popularity of men's magazines. In my mind, this doesn't really go along with the manly, masculine identity I'm assuming most guys are looking for- going through a booklet of pictures of men for what is essentially beauty advice. But in any regard, I'm sure this has had a lot to do with the increased pressure men are feeling about their bodies, just as it does for women.
I think one of the biggest points in this article comes on page 72 where, through discussion of the different satisfaction levels among gay and straight men, we reach the conclusion that "men overall are in the process of becoming less satisfied with their bodies." This dissatisfaction is linked to the notion that men need to be big and macho in order to stand a chance-- hence, size matters.
I found this article to be very interesting. Hearing everything this man had to say about the way he views himself and what he does to 'fix' himself was so intriguing. I found it quite comical, though, that they claimed this was a disorder. They just seem so concerned about these men worrying about their appearance- have they ever met a woman?? It just seems so ridiculous that when a man displays the exact same behavior as a woman it is seen as a huge issue and there's clearly a very good medical explanation as to why he would behave in such a way, yet for the opposite gender it's simply because we're women- that's just what we do.
What I found interesting in the diagram was that a lot of the biggest concerns of men match up to those of women. With hair, for example, most women very clearly care a lot about what their hair looks like at all times of the day, but for men I feel this issue is more with the amount of hair. For most guys I assume that they care pretty little about the actual styling and placement of their hair, and more about the fact that it actually exists.
I think it's great what Natalie points out on the second paragraph, because I do agree with her that it is somewhat comical that a man's self-concisouness about his looks is seen as a disease, while women's, it's just considered normal!
ReplyDeleteAlso, going along with HIV topic, i thought it was so interesting on the article how men instead of blaming themselves or other men for it, they blamed the issue on women, and how they desired those men, and the men were doing nothing but "what any normal man would do".
-Aline
I really liked Natalie's comment about how when men freak out over their appearance its diagnosed as a disorder but in reality women do this daily. I didn't realize that when I was reading and I was enormously concerned for these men. Now I am laughing at myself and the article. Yes, the extremes some of the these men went through is horrible and they definitely have intense self confidence issues, but I think most women are just as bad. When I was little I cut off the pieces of my hair that wouldn't reach into my ponytail. I remember seeing models in my sister's Seventeen magazine who had perfectly slicked back ponytails. I would have freak outs because I didn't have perfect hair like these women. Maybe my hair cutting isn't as extreme as the man who hammered his nose but I believe that every person tends to overly freak out about their appearance. The article "The Adonis Complex" stated that "most men don't want to look great- they just want to look acceptable." This seems true for men and women. The many extents people go through to make themselves look socially acceptable, in my opinion, make all of us very crazy.
ReplyDeleteJill Dahrooge
I found the connection of the male body panic and our society’s consumerism to be an interesting point. With a growing consumer culture and men more concerned with body image, there is great opportunity for financial gain with gym memberships and male magazines. I also find the increased popularity of male magazines kind of comical because I wouldn’t attribute flipping through pictures and beauty advice with the ultra-masculine identity men are aiming for, but it does demonstrate how this consumerism is contributing to the epidemic of body panic. Men buy these magazines to get advice on how to achieve the extremely muscular look plastered all over the cover and pages. Every picture focuses on size, which perpetuates the idea that men must look a certain way to be accepted by society. In order to do this, they continue to buy the magazines and the gym memberships.
ReplyDeleteSammy Secrist