Sunday, February 15, 2009

Men...

This week in class we discussed Barbie and her influence on young children. Barbie's impossible standards are something young girls around the world will never quite live up to... But this week in class it wasn't the Barbie discussions that raised questions for me, but the discussion of male body image. We generally think of women when we think of body image issues. Women are usually the ones with the insecurities, fears, and pressures. However, nowadays more and more men and young boys are dealing with body image issues. Pressures to stay in shape for a sport, or to look good for a girl cause many young men to have view themselves in a negative light. Wrestlers need to diet and exercise to make a certain weight class, football players need to stay at a certain weight to maintain their position, and male models are now also faced with the need to be stick think in order to book certain jobs. Negative body image is more and more becoming something men and women need to take on together. Our society as a whole will be a lot healthier when men and women, alike, are focusing on staying healthy instead of fitting into an ideal body image.

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