Women and Gender

Shields: Movies create unrealistic male standards

When most people think of negative body image, an insecure woman who is either overweight or struggling with an eating disorder comes to mind. However, men also face an unrealistic and unhealthy pressure to fit a certain mold.

An April 23 Slate article addressed the role superhero movies play in male body image issues. Actors in all genres, especially those in action movies, are facing an increasing pressure to be tall, strong and muscular. Actors are enduring twice-a-day workouts, strict, grueling diets and shots of human growth hormone.

This is not just bad for actors. Men consuming today’s media aren’t walking away from the theater thinking “that was just a movie.” They are internalizing this standard of beauty and this intensified definition of what it means to be a man. This creates an impossible standard for men to have every inch of their body to be muscular and chiseled.

More and more men are opting for upgraded gym memberships, all-protein shake diets and even shots of HGH in order to achieve this impossible standard, according to the article. This may not remind you of girls who go to extreme lengths to reach impossible beauty standards, but it is the exact same thing. Both are clear cases of body dysmorphic disorder and involve disordered eating.

They also feature everyday people competing with celebrities who are paid to look good. They have to compete with celebrities who have personal trainers, professional make-up artists and a team of people who can remove every blemish in a picture with the swipe of a mouse. For the average person with more responsibilities and fewer resources, this is nearly impossible to achieve.



But this standard is about more than a man’s exterior. It is a physical manifestation of the pressure that men already face to be mentally and emotionally strong. The phrase “man up” has probably been etched into every man’s brain. This phrase has nothing to do with being a good person or doing the right thing. Instead, it is about showing no emotion at all.

This is probably why there are rarely conversations about the impossible beauty standards men face. They’re supposed to suck it up and get over it. Men aren’t expected to have eating disorders or to suffer from depression as a result. This is because they aren’t expected to care about these standards — they’re just supposed to live up to them. In short, they have to suffer trying to meet these standards and they can’t even cry about it.

If men are permitted to show emotion, the only acceptable form of expression is usually anger. It’s more acceptable for a man to lash out and yell, or even hit someone, than it is for a man to cry. This leads to every emotion being converted to anger and displayed in that way.

This also promotes a one-dimensional idea of what it means to be a man. It turns men from human beings into flat characters who never cry or express their emotions. It also reinforces gender roles, keeping men and women in perfectly categorized boxes. These gender roles aren’t genetically ingrained in each person based on their gender; they’re taught and retaught to us by our society.

Mandisa Shields is a freshman newspaper and online journalism major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @mandisashields. 

 





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