TJ Brady
Every day there is more and more emphasis on men's bodies. The articles Beyond Muscle and Fat and Size Matters show how men are subjected to ridicule through fitness and overall physical appearance more and more every day.
Beyond Muscle and Fat showed many specific personal examples of men suffering from BDD. BDD is "body dysmorphic disorder", and "men with BDD develop health-threatening worries that something is terribly wrong with how they look, when in fact they look fine to others. In reality their appearance defects are minimal, even nonexistent…Others try to reassure them that they look fine, but the reassurance fails." (Harrison 153). Most of the men described in the chapter didn't only look fine to others, but people thought that they were good looking men. One example of this is Steve, "Steve was rugged-looking, tall, and muscular, with a bright smile and thick brown hair…he lifted weights every day and mountain-climbed on weekends. He was in great shape, and many men envied his good looks…In fact, his friends-and even strangers-told him he looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger and should consider an acting career."(Harrison 150). Although many other people thought Steve looked great, he felt very self-conscious and insecure about his hair, which he takes over an hour to do every morning. Steve's fiancé says this is a big problem for them and is "eating away at our relationship"(Harrison 151). BDD affects 1-2% of the male population and has led certain men to do drastic things to change their appearance. One example of this is what Jeremy did to his nose, "He also slept with a clothespin on his nose, trying to make it smaller. In desperation, after several plastic surgeons had refused surgery, he deliberatey smashed his nose with a hammer. That way they'd have to fix it."(Harrison 157). The effects of men valuing their appearance more is shown in the hair industry. Over the past 5 years, sales of men's home hair color kits increased by 50%. Two more problems that were discussed in the article were height and penis size. The article said 1 in 6 men are dissatisfied with their height, Bruce stated that "In all the movies and on TV, the guy is always taller than the girl"(Harrison 168). This drove some men to wear lifts in their shoes and spike their hair up so that they appear taller. Penis size was also discussed, a man stated that, "Penis size is what makes you a man. Guys don't talk about it, but they all think about it."(Harrison165).
The article Size Matters discussed the fitness craze that is occurring and how fitness is making men more and more self-conscious. The stereotypes about men and women are that men are big hulks and women are supposed to be tiny. This stereotypes forces men to put a lot of emphasis on weight lifting and size, which leads to insecurities when they can't attain the bodies they desire. This is evident in men's magazines where most covers show a shirtless, muscular man flexing. In men's magazines such as Men's Health, only 88.8% of the articles focus on gaining size, mostly in the upper body. In women's health magazines, only 10.5% focused on gaining strength(Dworkin). Men's articles almost always focus on building their upper bodies, while women's focus on toning their legs and lower bodies. Even when the magazines addressed the same body parts, they addressed them in different ways. When men's articles described ab workouts, they described getting ripped, shredded, washboard abs (6-8pack). Women's articles described getting a flat stomach. The article also discussed how sports and military are so important to men because they are supposed to be the pinnacle of men.
I thought these two articles were very interesting. I was shocked to read some of the testimonials from Beyond Muscle and Fat. Some of them were just sad to read. Size Matters was very interesting to me because I got the impression that maybe the rise in importance of fitness and size for men is because of the women's movement. Maybe men feel that they have to be bigger and stronger because that is the last place a man can be a man, since women now are viewed as equals in the workplace and everywhere else. One man shows this in the Size Matters article by stating that "A woman can do the same job as I can do- maybe even be my boss. But I'll be damned if she can go out on the football field and take a hit from Ronnie Lott."(Dworkin 100). I think this shows how the rise in emphasis on size is because of the women's movement, and how men are just trying to claim something as their own.
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ReplyDeleteI think it's great that TJ pointed out the extremes that men with BDD go through to achieve that so called ideal appearance, not only there was who stapled his forehead to give himself a face-lift, but a man like Jeremy broke his own nose after the refusal of plastic surgeons to "fix it" for him.
ReplyDeleteAnd about the body panic article, like Tj pointed out there is a huge emphasis on man being big and women being small,because if you read any health magazine it is true that all of women's exercises will be about loosing weight, while men's is always about getting bigger.
-ALINE
TJ, I too was shocked by the "Adonis Complex" article. For me, I think I was most perplexed by the vast variety of different body parts that men with BDD are so haunted by when they look in the mirror. I was always under the impression that it was mostly women who were so obsessed and driven to achieve perfection when it comes to their bodies, and I had no idea how much it affected the male population. In your discussion on "Size Matters," I think you made a very interesting point about how you believe that men's fitness obsession has become so exacerbated by the growth of emphasis on the women's movement. It is fascinating to me that men will send their bodies into fitness overload and attempt to build themselves up to the fitness levels of men supreme strength (ie. men in the military, police men, fire fighters, etc) as well as potentially putting their health at risk just to be superior (physically) to women. It's interesting that as the women's movement propels onward and more and more women are assuming roles of power, how men feel the need to build themselves up physically even though many of the strides women are making are economical, political, and throughout the workforce--aspects of life that have no correlation to body size and strength.
ReplyDelete-Annie Husted
DeleteTJ. I like how you addressed the BDD issue. When I was reading it, I thought of one person: Michael Jackson. He wasn't a bad looking guy, and yet his image of "beauty" was the white male, so he made drastic physical changes to his appearance in order to fit his image of what society thought was beautiful and acceptable. This is a perfect example, because he was good looking before, but didn't see himself as it.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of mens fitness and bulking up, yes I can understand how it would hurt men's egos and expectations, but honestly I think that it is motivating. If there is a standard that you feel you have to meet, usually you will do what it takes to reach that standard. And that involves exercise and eating right...and those arent bad things.
Zael
TJ made a very interesting point when he stated that “the rise in importance of fitness and size for men is because of the women's movement”, I never thought of it that way but it is extremely plausible. The world has changed to accommodate for the competent women, allowing her to almost surpass man in his achievements, and so their retreat into the gym could be seen as their only haven. TJ briefly discussed the correlation the media places on sports and the military. I was quite shocked when I saw the picture of the NFL player with a military gas mask on his head, and when I read that an article was saying “nobody shapes up like the army” (Dworkin 87). The media is defining masculinity in a way that promotes violence and barbaric behavior, and it is really disappointing to see.
ReplyDelete-Zeina