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Angus Malcolm Professor Lorrie Graham ENG 1100B: Workshop in Essay Writing 21st November, 2013 Unrealistic Expectations: The Western Media's Portrayal of Male Body Image In the 21st century, media is becoming increasingly prevalent in everyday life. No matter where a person goes, they see billboards, advertisements, and television programs that dictate what we should wear, what we should eat, and what we should look like. Body image, and how it relates to the self-esteem of men and women, is becoming an increasingly serious issue that requires attention. Social media has resulted in many positive changes, with many campaigns circulating asking for women to love their bodies and be comfortable in their own skin. However, often unrepresented by the aforementioned self-esteem building campaigns are men. Unfortunately, men are subjected to the western media's image of the ideal man: muscular and strong, with a full head of hair, good looks, and style. This body image is shown to all demographics through a myriad of mediums, from action figures to fashion models. The unfortunate thing is that the majority of males in North America do not fit the medias preconceived notion of the perfect male, thus resulting in a large number of males becoming increasingly uncomfortable with their own bodies. Western medias portrayal of the male body negatively affects male self-esteem.

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From a young age, children in the western world are exposed to what the media defines as the perfect male body. One popular medium that is used to show impressionable children what the ideal man looks like is through the use of action figures, such as the popular G.I. Joe figurine. Pope, Olivardia, Gruber and Borowiecki found in their study of action figures that since 1975, action figures have become increasingly more muscular, displaying ripped abdominal muscles, large pectoral muscles, and big arms that are highly sought after by adolescent males (67). Children who receive these action figures from their parents are going to be subjected to a false portrayal of the male body that is detrimental to their personal development. The target audience will grow up from as early as five years old believing that the body shape of the action figures are normal, and therefore, it would not be unlikely to hypothesize that action figures are the beginning of the problem when it comes to children's self-esteem. Children who grow up playing with action figures that have grossly disproportionate muscles are more likely to suffer from low self-esteem further along in their lives. Sport is one of the most enjoyable activities for the standard man, and rightfully so: sports are fun, challenging, can foster competitive skills, and ensure that a man gets enough exercise. There is, however, a roadblock that exists to deter people from entering into friendly competition: judgement. Professional athletes in the 21st century are usually fit, attractive, and in peak physical condition. Christian Holle implies that "Both self-perceived overweight and underweight men reported less intent to volunteer for activities that would have exposed them to scrutiny of the body by a panel of judges" (858). This article is arguing that the majority of men are afraid to compete in sports or activities, in which there is the possibility of someone judging them, because they feel inadequate when compared to the athletes highlighted in popular western media. While it isn't the case for all athletes, a large amount of athletes depicted in the

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media are very healthy, toned, and muscular, which further proves to be a cause of self-esteem issues amongst males. The average male examines the body that western media deems is the body of a champion, and upon comparison of their own body, they discover that they may not have the same chiseled physique or attractiveness, thereby refusing to be subjected to the judgments of others, regardless of whether or not they have any athletic talent at all. The media's portrayal of the perfect male is demonstrated through the showing of professional athletes, further leading to males suffering from self-esteem issues when they then compare themselves to the archetypal professional athlete. Even in the hallowed halls of antiquity can people find the western media's earliest sphere of influence in the definition of the ideal male figure. Greek art, and more specifically Greek paintings, often depicted what was defined as the perfect and ideal male figure. In his article "Never Too Buff", John Cloud suggests that "many men desperately want to look like Adonis [a Greek God that was said to be a very attractive male] because they constantly see the 'ideal', steroid-boosted bodies of actors and models" (540). Cloud points out that males look at the art figures of the Greek God Adonis and view him as someone that they ought to look similar to. Adonis was the ancient ideal male, and it was portrayed through the popular mediums of the time period: sculptures, paintings, and other works of art. In the 21st century, the average male can see these pieces in museums throughout the world, thus causing men to feel inadequate because they do not have the same features as the classical Greek males. The average male when comparing themselves to Adonis, or other works of Greek art, envy their attractiveness and desire to look more like them, resulting in lowered self-esteem. Moving onto the modern western media, advertisements reign supreme as one of the biggest and most widespread forms of selling a product. Advertisements are found literally

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everywhere: in print, billboards, the sides of buses, on buildings, the internet, television, and even written in the sky. Unfortunately, the majority of advertisements available to most people are unfair to both sexes. Leit, Gray, and Pope write that "This study suggests that exposure to muscular male figures in advertisements produces measurable body dissatisfaction in men, as reflected in an increased difference between the level of muscularity they perceive themselves to have and the level they would ideally like" (337). Essentially, after viewing advertisements featuring muscular male figures, the average man feels that he does not have nearly enough muscle mass as the person in the advertisement, leading the male to feel inadequate, which in turn lowers his self-esteem. Males, like females, do not deserve to be subjected to the western media's views on what a "real man" should look like. When selling products, often an attractive male is placed in the advertisement with the intent that a man will see the attractive male and make the logical bridge that if he buys the product shown he will be more like the man in the ad itself. An example of this would be an advertisement found in Playboy Magazine's October 2013 issue, in which an advertisement appears selling a cologne called "Dark Obsession For Men" (Playboy). The black and white picture is of a man with his shirt open showing his chiseled abs and muscular physique, with a small bottle of cologne directly in front of him. The presumption made by the advertiser was that the readers' eyes would be drawn to the man's abdomen, which women deem an attractive quality in a male person, and the man would therefore assume that by purchasing the cologne he will become as desirable to women as the muscular fashion model. Advertising pieces like this make the average male feel as if they are not muscular or masculine because this man's job is to look good on camera. If the man does not purchase the product, he is not as much of a man as the model in the advertisement.

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When looking at the average male, it is important to consider how western media has played its role to mould who that person is today. The male image portrayed in artwork, advertisements, action figures, and movies have all served to damage the self -esteem of the average male person. Studies show that "Male body dissatisfaction may occur as early as age 6, and body areas that males across age groups tend to be most dissatisfied with are the chest, stomach and shoulders" (Leit et al., 526). From the moment that a child becomes self-aware to the time that he is in the grave, unless he resembles the people that he sees on television, in advertisements or films, he is doomed to grow up and live his life dissatisfied and crippled with a lack of self-esteem. The image that is portrayed in western media paints a negative image of what a man should look like, causing a perfectly fine and average male to feel inadequate and not good enough, merely because he cannot live up to the unrealistic expectations that western media presents. The average man is fine the way that he is, and without the perversion of western media it goes without saying that men would feel more comfortable in their own skin. When a person is born, their father's sperm and mother's egg combine to form a baby, with the 46 chromosomes deciding what the person will be like when they grow up. The way that they look when they are born, and who they grow up to be is inevitable. In modern western media, men are portrayed as juiced up, muscle-bound men who look more like professional wrestlers, actors and models. Furthermore, the men that the average male sees in modern media are nothing short of a minority group within the population. Therefore, although one may not have the best looks, the majority of people in the world are in the same boat. Men everywhere need to shed the taboo that it is not okay to show emotion and realize that women are not the only ones who can feel inadequate in the face of fashion models and celebrities. Men do not need to conform to Hollywood's ideas of what they need to look like because individuality is what

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makes life interesting. If everyone looked the same, life would be one monotonous parade of uninteresting clones, with no individuality or personality. In summation, men, if there is one thing that I can ask of you, it is this: worry not about what the media says you should look like and instead be comfortable with what you look like and who you are. The only people that really care about appearance over substance are people that do not deserve to be a part of your life. Look inside yourself and realize that you are perfect in your own way, and no advertisement, work of art, action figure, or celebrity can change that.

Word Count: 1719

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Works Cited Cloud, John. "Never Too Buff." Time International. 155.16 (2000): 540. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. Dark Obsession For Men. Advertisement. Playboy Magazine. Oct. 2013: 4. Print. Holle, Christian. "MALE BODY IMAGE: SELF-PERCEIVED WEIGHT STATUS AND AVOIDANCE OF BODY EXPOSURE."Perpetual and Motor Skills. 99. (2004): 853860. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. Leit, Richard A., et al. "The Media 's Representation of the Ideal Male Body: A Cause for Muscle Dysmorphia?." International Journal of Eating Disorders. 31.3 (2002): 334-338. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. Pompper, Donnalyn, et al. "MALE BODY IMAGE AND MAGAZINE STANDARDS: CONSIDERING DIMENSIONS OF AGE AND ETHNICITY."Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. (2007): n. page. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. Pope Jr., Harrison G., , et al. "Evolving Ideals of Male Body Image as Seen Through Action Toys."International Journal of Eating Disorders. 26.1 (1999): 65-72. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.

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