As I read the article “Rise of the Adonis Complex”, I
couldn’t help but think back to the conversations we had last class about
Female Genital Mutilation and the complex web of free will and culture
surrounding body modifications. The same confusion exists in this topic as to
whether we can condone, condemn, or ignore the changing bodily practices of
men. Again, it appears there are social factors influencing the change in ideal
male body image such as greater equality between the sexes and pervasive images
of steroid induced bodies in the media, but as we established in class, one
could argue that all of our decisions are influenced by social factors, so we
never really have free will. If that’s the case, then how can we judge one
practice to be better or individually determined than another?
One thing
that I thought was interesting about this article was its reference to the fact
that, in accordance with masculine ideals, men are not supposed to express
their thoughts or feelings, particularly when they suggest self-doubt or
indicate attention to their own physical appearance. With that in mind, I
wonder what the psychological effects of being concerned about one’s looks,
while at the same time knowing that one should not be concerned, have on men.
At the end of the article, the author suggested that women’s acknowledgement of
impossible ideals and dialogue about being comfortable in all kinds of body
types have led to great gains in women’s perceptions of their own body type. I
think it could be really beneficial for conversations to be opened about the
influence being exerted over men’s perceptions of their body. Especially because
I never even considered pressures on men to have great bodies as being
particularly strong.
A fact that
surprised me was that “men are more likely than women to want to look
attractive to the opposite sex”. It seems we have talked a lot about women
defining their worth in terms of their desirability to the other sex. But I
suppose we have also spent time discussing how part of being masculine means
having sway with the ladies. For this reason, it would make sense that it is
highly important to men to be desired by women. Another thing that surprised me
was that all ages are pretty equally plagued by dissatisfaction with their
physical forms. Like the author, I would have guessed that concern over
physical appearance would have risen sharply in the teenage years, declined
slightly, then risen again around middle-age.
Ellie I too never really thought that men had pressures besides sports performance that affected their body image and desire to change it. When a girl asks me about how she looks I know how to respond, but recently a male friend of mine asked if I thought he was more attractive or one of our other friends. I had no idea how to respond. In fact it made me uncomfortable because I was thinking: “why are you thinking about this, this is weird.” Before reading this article I did not realize the extent of men’s dissatisfaction or the pressure they feel to look a certain way. As you brought up Ellie, it makes sense that boys want to appeal to the opposite sex, so they can get a lot of girls and embody that masculine ideal. What you said about this phenomena makes perfect sense, but I find it wicked disturbing.
ReplyDeleteEllie brings up an important point, that males are not supposed to express their thoughts or feelings especially regarding appearance. Our society has made appearance and looks a female issue and desire, men are supposed to “not care”. However as the article proved men are just as obsessed with their bodies, and this should be expected. Ellie makes an important point that in addition to the constant battle over body image male experiences they must also be plagued with the idea that they should not care about their bodies or their appearance. These conflicting ideals are to blame for the lack of knowledge and awareness surrounding the issues surrounding the Adonis Complex. I also think that if men were given the opportunity to discuss and openly admit to feeling certain pressures surrounding body image, the problem would gain both awareness and lead to gains in male perceptions of their own bodies. Like female body issues this problem will never disappear and the pressures will still occur but maybe not to such extremes.
ReplyDeleteEllie, I think that you bring up a wonderful point when you say that our society needs to have a more open dialogue about the skewed perceptions of the physical appearances of men. Since men are deemed "weak" or "feminine" if they openly express their dissatisfaction with their bodies, many people assume that men do not experience insecurities about their physical appearances. This is rather ironic because we have evidence that men engage in many instances of plastic surgery and steroid abuse in order to make themselves appear to look more masculine or more physically appealing, yet we really do not discuss the causal factors (social, psychological, cultural) behind these blatant displays of bodily dissatisfaction. I always believed that women were members of the more oppressed gender, yet I think that men are, too, oppressed, yet in much less obvious ways. We will never know the psychological impacts, as Ellie stated, of these insecurities if men are not allowed to discuss them. More importantly, these insecurities cannot be resolved if we do not break the taboo of men's preoccupation with their bodies by having discussions about societal pressures faced by men to maintain a certain masculine appearance.
ReplyDeleteMen are pressured just like everyone else to look a certain way. I don't understand why people do not realize this. Some men do just work out as a hobby but others don't. Others do it because they feel that they have to in order to be portrayed a certain way. Men are no exception to this rule of wanting to look good just as women are. There is a certain way that both a man and women should look according to society. There just maybe different standards for both. Men have to muscular and women have to lean. Both men and women feel the same pressures but both just show it in a different ways. Just because a man doesn't complain about his body doesn't mean that he is okay with it and same could go for a women.
ReplyDeleteJae
Ellie, I was interested that you thought of our recent article on female genital mutilation, because I noted the subject of free will too while reading this piece. The FGM debate argued that the female patient must not be coerced in any way (whether by a partner, family member, etc.) but I brought up in class that it would appear that society and culture are the true factors of coercion. Why else would a woman want genital cosmetic surgery if she had not felt she needed to conform to the ideal images she has previously seen? But, this article, too, touched on the idea that culture was the guilty party, for even men feel pressure to load themselves with muscle milk and protein powder. Yes, they are not being physically coerced (though John mentioned in his post that his coach required him to gain weight) but they are essentially being pressured by society, which is an equal offense.
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