“Beauty (Re) Discovers the Male Body” Essay examples

Film, television, and the media are a huge part of our culture. Especially in the modern age of technology, it is impossible for us to avoid being exposed it. It is on our phones, computers, and TV. It is our entertainment, a part of our education, and it serves as a reflection of our society. The problem with media, however, is that has the power in manipulating us to feel certain ways. The most problem of which is the way we perceive our own bodies. Leading media industries such as Hollywood sets. An example of the ideal body that we are expected to have in order to look good and be perceived as handsome or beautiful by society, but, behind the scenes, actors and actresses of Hollywood go to extreme lengths in order to attain that ideal look.

Body image has always been a huge part for women in their lives. In the beginning of the essay Bordo gives a great opening with a good description that open your eyes. She speaks about how a young girl standing in the mirror who thinks she is fat when in actuality she is the right size according to her doctor’s chart. The young lady only thinks she fat because of what she sees on TV and how actress, singers, and artist’s bodies looks. With the media it has people thinking

As you begin Beauty (Re) discovers the Male Body your read of author Susan Bordo spilling her morning coffee over a shockingly sexual advisement of a nude man. Initially, I rolled my eyes and settled in assuming, I was going to read about the tragedy of how men are now being objectified and exposed in adverting like women. As I flip through the pages looking at the scantily clad images I’m not really shocked; this essay was written fifteen years ago; I see these kinds of images going to the mall. What was shocking, however, was how Bordo a published, woman philosopher born in 1947 wrote about these images. I felt myself blush as I read “it seems slightly erect, or perhaps that’s his nonerect size, either way, there’s a substantial presence

Masculinity is not a single-definition trait; it relies on an ever-changing spectrum which can never be truly measured because of all the different factors having to be considered. The “manly” man of the 1800’s, who’s emotions were hidden to display strength, would no longer be considered the “ideal” male in society. As shown in the ads of Suistudio; feminist ideals have permeated into the “thick coating” of the masculine archetype. No longer is “femininity” in need of the male protectorate as a sturdy platform to build a steady life on in an ever-changing world, for they are becoming one in the same. Suistudio’s recent ad campaign shows that preferred-masculinity is changing from its traditional firmness to a strength shown by a man’s emotional comfort within an evolving world while protruding the outward appearance of physical health.

In today’s society, concepts of gender roles and body images plague the minds of young ladies and men of the millennial generation. These are enforced by popular culture in song, video and magazines that are published. These roles and images are seen by and influence the minds of mainly young girls but not more popularly seen, young men. Magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Vogue and Sports Illustrated flaunt slim women and very muscular men with “perfect” bodies and hair on their covers and give no thought to the readers and how it may influence their minds. Also, the artists of this generation also have a large influence on how young men and women see themselves and perceive their gender roles to be. These affect the minds of persons in ways such as they end up having a lower self-esteem as they cannot live up to societal image standards, young men and women tend to follow the gender roles that they see and young girls and boys ultimately turn to drastic measures to fulfil the body images that they feel they should obtain.

The use of sexualization also reinforces a pattern of gender roles that are currently circulating throughout advertisements. More often than not, women who are used as ploys in ads are seen doing household chores like vacuuming, changing the toilet paper, or making coffee. Females are rarely ever seen in a work place, and definitely not in a powerful position. In fact, the directors of most of these ads place women below or behind the man to show who has the power in actuality. Women are seen as skinny, fragile, and immobile in high heels, while men are strong and powerful. By setting up such a strong binary between the two different groups, it is obvious that the majority of the American society will not be able to fit into these roles, and it leaves a sense of rejection for the average person. This rejection, accepted by the viewers, manifests

Gender role bias in advertisements has been so prevalent for so long that the untrained eye wouldn't even discern it. All the same, these biases, for the most part, put women in subordinate positions and men in dominant ones. This assumption on both the genders is unfair and demeaning. These ads portray women as subservient and play toys for men. Not only do the models depict an image nowhere near close to reality, but their bodies are scantily clad and what few clothes they are wearing are very revealing.

In Susan Bordo’s article “Never Just Pictures: Bodies and Fantasies” this is an article that is informative as well as interesting. Bordo mentions celebrity names like Alicia Silverstone and famous dieting products like Citra Lean to introduce the “thin” trend in today’s popular culture. The author explains how today’s society explores different media cites to acknowledge how individuals should appear in today’s world. Advertisements have also become a big part on the reflection of society’s beliefs. Bordo talks about body figures that were once considered normal, have become known as an abnormal appearance. Bordo wants to convince the audience that being thin has become an issue that must be addressed by the general public,

This transformation exhibits how society changed in its perspective on physical appearance. This marked the beginning of men’s desire for what women had been calling the “perfect” body. Before World War II, money was not lavishly spent on the perfection of the body (Luciano 11). After the return of the soldiers, men had more money as women retained their postwar jobs. With women making substantially larger paychecks, men had the ability to spend more time and money to make themselves look like the models displayed in the media. With the new advertisements by Calvin Klein, such as the Mark Wahlberg, also known as Marky Mark, steamy ads for men’s briefs, the appearance of male bodies has intensified (Luciano 112). More and more men, now with the monetary means of looking good, are trying to achieve perfection with their bodies. They want to have the same bodies as those shown in the advertisements and, at times, will not stop until they have reached that goal (Grogan 95).

Today in modern society, we are driven by social forces. Not only do we strive for human approval and companionship, we also thrive on social media. The media plays such a pivotal role in what we buy, eat, wear, etc. that we are conditioning ourselves to fit the mold for the “perfect” or “ideal” body type. This social construct has been a pressing issue for many years regarding the female physique, but not as much has been said on behalf of men. When confronted with appearance based advertisements, men are more likely to experience muscle dissatisfaction, weight disparities, and anger and/or anxiety toward showing their body in public. This paper will address these facets of the media’s effect on male body image as well as presenting what has been done to address this quietly debilitating issue.

Eating disorders are not the only thing males also suffer from. Expectations from the media are also a strong push into worries about body image. Despite popular belief, guys struggle with images broadcasted by the media as much as girls do. Andrew Shrout, a junior at U.C. Berkeley feels the weight that is put on him to “be a man” and pretend like nothing is wrong. “Men are pressured to have as little fat as possible--but you’ve got to pretend like you don’t watch what you eat” (Alpert 1). Also, men are expected to “up their game” as women get more power financially as well as keep their bodies well maintained. Clinical instructor at the Harvard Medical school psychiatry department Roberto Olivardia states that men and young boys deal with the same images broadcasted out as women and young girls do. “Boys are growing up now with the billboard of the guy with perfect pecs and biceps” (Alpert 2). Media pushes the perfect way to look at men in commercials, magazines, male models, and even movies. Girls often complain about the unfair portrayal of women in comic books and video games with enormous boobs and tiny waists, but guys deal

Different styles go in and out of fashion; the same goes for body types. For a long time there was a clear divide between which body types were seen as fashionable, but recently the divide has been vanishing. Lean bodies used to be seen as being more fashionable than curvy bodies, but that is no longer the case. Glamour laborers are rewriting history, just look to Kim Kardashian and Beyoncé who have become the face for a new age of fashion. This new age, dubbed “post fashion”, claims that individuals can wear their own skin just as much as they can wear fancy clothes.

The extent to which women were presented as sex objects was calculated using a coding system. Every woman in each of the randomly selected 30 magazines was interpreted using a system that was similar to the method that Blaha used. Some of the categories that were coded were the percentage of face shown, gaze, product, expression, body pose, body part focus, degree of clothing, type of clothing, and whether or not the ad was seen as respectful

The media have constructed attractiveness for a long time many sociocultural standards of beauty and. Especially women’s body images have been a primary concern because the value of women has been measured how they look like. How women have similar body traits with the modern female body images has been a significant and essential issue, historically. The sociocultural standards of beauty which have been created by the greed of the media have dire impacts on young females. The current beauty level of the female body image in the media is thinness. In fact, the preferred female body images have been changed through the media. Throughout history, sometimes skinny women’s body images were loved, and sometimes over weighted women’s body images were preferred. Whenever the media have dictated the ideal female

Representations of men in media have a different approach—they tend to focus on strength, power, physique, independence, etc… The first ad portrays a clearly athletic, strong, male individual. His expression is one of determination and focus—He’s not going to let anyone get in his way. He is aggressive, and overflowing with testosterone. It is unclear what the product is, something to do with athletic performance. The next image is fitted with the caption “Always A Champion”, making it simple to realize this ad is all about the male ego. This man has a very intimidating expression, one of strength and—almost anger. His positioning shows off his clearly muscular arms and his aura is almost overpowering. In both images, the idea that a true man should be strong, aggressive, etc… is presented. For any normal male individual viewing this ad, he would feel like that is what he should be—if he was a “real man”.