An article called, ” Steamy mags bad for men’s body image, too: Guys who check out sexy models feel like they don’t measure up, study says” was posted yesterday on MSNBC.com
I think it is important to talk about men’s body image, but I am also deeply distrubed the masoginistic and heteronormativity of this article and the survey’s it uses to back up.
Read the article for your self, but basically it talks about men who look at magazines like Maxim and the like, have lowered self image and heightened anxiety after looking at images of “beauitful” women. The sruvey tries is argued to show that men feel less attractive when they look at women they deemed extremely extracitve.
I think this whole article and the surveys included reek of a web of serious issues and assumptions. First of all, it makes me feel like they are blaming women for their self image. It also places women as an object of sexual desire, entangling this male self image with based on the fact that there is this “ideally sexualized” woman, which causes them to feel bad about themselves because they dont think “a girl like her” would have sex with them. Because OBVIOUSLY the women in the magazine are straight, or into men, or available for sleeping with them, like it’s their sole duty. like the only thing holding the men back from the sex they COULD have with these women is their own appearance (ie of COURSE these women want to have sex with them…)As if the women are supposed to be in a men’s magazine anyway? And dont just lump all men in the same category, make sure the call it “straight men’s magazines”. Call your target audience.
I know that this probably is coming out very jumbled, but take a look. And hopefully you will feel enraged too.
Basically, thanks for all of the assumptions in your survey, and for blaming women for men’s lowered self image.
