Whether or not we like to admit it, guys actually have feelings and emotions. We might not express them often or even express them at all, but deep down, guys face most of the same problems that girls do, especially when it comes to body image.
Body image has become a mainstay in the media, ranging from Kim Kardashian losing significant baby weight in some outrageous amount of time to her brother Rob, who seems to be constantly putting up bigger and bigger numbers on the scale.
Body image is constantly critiqued in today’s society by individuals and groups. Some people might be really excited about losing three pounds ala “Mean Girls,” whereas some people are on the other side of the story and are riding the “sweatpants are the only things that fit me right now” train.
The sets of problems guys deal with are different but cause the same mental stress as girls’ problems might. Whether you have the chiseled, probably photoshopped Justin Bieber body or the less attractive Paul Blart physique, guys have pressure on them all the time.
The fit guys, or the gym rats, have to have the strongest bench press and the most defined muscles. Guys still feel insecure because there’s always someone else, someone bigger, stronger and faster, who is going to get more attention from the ladies, and they get left in the dust.
The “husky” kids, the ones who look like vintage Jonah Hill, just want to make sure their clothes aren’t too tight or the entire day at school is literally hell on Earth because apparently no one has ever seen an overweight person before and feels the need to let the person know they are overweight. They fear going to gym class because no one wants to be the sweaty kid who actually gets tired from the workouts. They feel depressed over the fact that girls never look in their direction, and when they do it’s probably on accident.
The real part in all of this that bothers me is the simple fact that comments are made and reacted to. If you call a girl fat or make an insensitive comment about her looks or weight, you become the devil and are scolded for being mean and a bully.
Make a comment about a guy, and it’s shrugged off; he deserved it, no big deal. But after you come to school day after day after day and the insults keep coming, you don’t want to come anymore. School becomes something you get physically sick from.
If you walk away from reading this and learn one thing, I hope it’s that men are just as concerned, if not more concerned, with their body image as girls are. So why is it acceptable to verbally berate a guy over his weight but not a girl? All I’m asking for is equality.