28 replies to this topic

[nymh]

I would like some feedback. Yes, it is for an assignment, but I don't see the harm in asking some males how they feel about this. It would definitely be better than trying to write it from my own perspective as a woman.

So, objectification of men in advertisements is on the rise, to the point that now it is close to that of women. Recent studies (none cited) show that advertisements such as these have had a negative effect on the self-esteem of boys and men. More men are reporting dissatisfaction with their bodies, and eating disorders among men and boys are on the rise (again, no citation).

If you are a man, do you notice any of this? I asked my boyfriend, and he said, "Fuck no, I don't pay attention to that shit." Not very helpful, unless that is the general sentiment of men. Do you care? Does it make you feel differently about your body?

(Sexual objectification behind spoiler)

Spoiler

I appreciate your thoughts

[Waser Lave]

Doesn't bother me.

[iargue]

I think your boyfriend probably put it right, "Fuck no, I don't pay attention to that shit" The general consensious amoung all men, are to be happy with who they are, not care less about how people compare them to others. The majority of males feel as they are perfect the way that they are, and don't need to change. Most males either carry the, "I'm better then everyone and have to show it" or the "I'm better then most people, and will gladly prove it when challenged, otherwise, who cares" attitudes.

I personally have never even seen this "objectification" bullshit that has been spread about. People claim that its degrading, blah blah blah. How does porn objectify a woman, when there is 90% of the time, a male there as well? Its entirely upon the female to choose if shes being objectified, or included, and being that she willining partifipated, I would say shes being objectified, shes just participating in a natural human act. The people who claim it, claim it without knowing the person at all, and not knowing the situation or context or anything. They simply want to have something to be upset about to fight for "women rights" and all of that. The rest of the women know that these people made a life choice, and the fact that they can make their own choices means that they are equals, not being objectified.

I wouldn't imagine many men, unless being raised by women who taught them to act this way, or if they think thats how they should act because of whatever reason, will have a problem with this. Most men that I meet who are unhappy with their body, just go and work out. They do pushups, or lift weights, or whatever, and that gives them what they need. I've never met a man who starved himself because he was unhappy with his body. Perhaps seeing muscular men on tv will hurt more mens ego now days, but instead of starving themselves as a woman would (As they need to be "thin" to be pretty) they would instead turn to lifting weights.

I play pickup games of football with plenty of people who are more muscular then I am all of the time. They take their shirts off during the middle of the game usually. It doesn't make me feel like there is anything wrong with me. I see them as no threat, and all it does is remind me to play dirty if I end up having to fight them

I just don't see it having a negative impact on males from what I know of being a man (Given my equipment, and all of my friends that I hang out with). None of us are sensitive enough to feel as though we are ugly because we can beat the guy who plays Jacob Black in the movies in muscles. We just laugh about how stupid he is, and what a lame movie he played in to make ourselves feel better, and then move on to anything else. Though, maybe some of my friends may have lowered self esteem, they have always been too man to admit anything like that, or let down appearances for a second, so maybe its crushing the male population, and no one wants to admit it

[Therion]

Advertisement or media? I don't pay much attention to advertising as I know how manipulative it is. But media does, and has effected my self esteem negatively despite my common sense telling me that it shouldn't.

iargue, on 07 November 2011 - 01:05 PM, said:

Though, maybe some of my friends may have lowered self esteem, they have always been too man to admit anything like that, or let down appearances for a second, so maybe its crushing the male population, and no one wants to admit it

This is probably the case. Suicide rates in men are higher than women, in part because women tend to have close circles of friends they can confide in emotionally whereas men deal with problems alone and often don't attempt to seek help in the form of somebody else. There is a very real case of negative perception among men, and muscles are not everything. Take conditions such as eczema or freckles, these are not something a workout will fix and when looking at perfectly tanned and photoshopped underwear model with seemingly flawless outside appearances it can bring you down to know there is no way you will look like that without major cosmetic surgery.

Edited by Therion, 07 November 2011 - 01:12 PM.

[Random]

If it bothers you, you're too soft to be a man.

[iargue]

Random, on 07 November 2011 - 01:06 PM, said:

If it bothers you, you're too soft to be a man.

That's exactly what I feel the common opinion is

[Boggart]

I would say any self-esteem issues I have are not brought on by the media and more-so from my stupid critical family. I'm not stupid to think that everyone in media are "normal". I think only stupid people can't discern TV from reality.

[California]

Can people please post more visual references? I think I'm having trouble understanding...

[Scot]

California, on 07 November 2011 - 01:32 PM, said:

Can people please post more visual references? I think I'm having trouble understanding...

[Foe]

nymhs boyfriend said:

Fuck no, I don't pay attention to that shit.

[Sida]

If I see a dude on tv with an awesome body I'll think something like "Damn I'd love abs like that". Anyone who says otherwise is chatting shit, although of course not necessarily that exact thought. Other than that, most guys really couldn't care less.

[Boggart]

Sida, on 07 November 2011 - 02:36 PM, said:

If I see a dude on tv with an awesome body I'll think something like "Damn I'd love abs like that". Anyone who says otherwise is chatting shit, although of course not necessarily that exact thought. Other than that, most guys really couldn't care less.

Would I love to have abs? Yes

Does it make me go "oh man I should diet and exercise and work for it!"? No. Partially 'cause I'm a lazy ass fuck.

[Sida]

Boggart, on 07 November 2011 - 02:38 PM, said:

Would I love to have abs? Yes

Does it make me go "oh man I should diet and exercise and work for it!"? No. Partially 'cause I'm a lazy ass fuck.

Yeah I don't mean it makes everyone go omgomgomgomg must go now or life will suck It's just a thought.

[Therion]

Am I the only dude here with physical insecurities not relating to abs or the lack of?

[Sida]

Therion, on 07 November 2011 - 03:05 PM, said:

Am I the only dude here with physical insecurities not relating to abs or the lack of?

Always the abs man, always the abs xD

[soul__stealer]

Therion, on 07 November 2011 - 03:05 PM, said:

Am I the only dude here with physical insecurities not relating to abs or the lack of?

You're just the only one willing to admit it.

I have no issues with my self esteem though... I copped a lot of teasing and shit when I grew up because as "multicultural" as Australia is, we are all really a bunch of racist fucks. My mother was born in Sri Lanka and her parents moved here when she was little... My dad was born and raised in this country... But I got a lot of my mothers genes when it comes to ethnicity so I used to get called wog/leb etc... In the end I learnt to deal with other peoples shit because I'm just awesome, and much better then they are.

I don't care about women objectifying men in the media. If a guy is fit and healthy, good on him. It takes a lot of work to keep your body in shape, and it's something I really need to do but just finding the time is tough with 12 hour shifts. The only time that this would bother me, and only in a way that pisses me off, is the women that objectify men in the media (which includes music, movies, advertisements, models etc) then turn around and crack the shits about men objectifying women.

Tldr;
Eye candy is fine... Doesn't matter where younger your appetite, as long as you eat at home

[Sida]

soul__stealer, on 07 November 2011 - 03:17 PM, said:

The only time that this would bother me, and only in a way that pisses me off, is the women that objectify men in the media (which includes music, movies, advertisements, models etc) then turn around and crack the shits about men objectifying women.

Behind every successful man is a woman who helped him get there. Behind every successful woman is a man looking at her arse.

[Boggart]

Therion, on 07 November 2011 - 03:05 PM, said:

Am I the only dude here with physical insecurities not relating to abs or the lack of?

I also wish my eyes opened fully

[Waser Lave]

Boggart, on 07 November 2011 - 03:22 PM, said:

I also wish my eyes opened fully

Epicanthoplasty is your friend.

[kittycat]

Umm, it's more so people in real life who have better bodies than me which makes me insecure/pushes me to work harder with exercising, etc.

Not so much random celebrities, I think men think more like, what is their direct competition around them, compared to women who are insecure of everything

[Abradix]

nymh, on 07 November 2011 - 12:46 PM, said:

Fuck no, I don't pay attention to that shit

Men are far less inclined to give a shit about their physical appearance. We have far more important things to worry about, like how awesome it is to have a penis or how funny it is that women think they make the same amount of money from doing the same job.... Or like when women think they can drive cars. That shit gets me every time.

[Sida]

Abradix, on 07 November 2011 - 07:33 PM, said:

Men are far less inclined to give a shit about their physical appearance. We have far more important things to worry about, like how awesome it is to have a penis or how funny it is that women think they make the same amount of money from doing the same job.... Or like when women think they can drive cars. That shit gets me every time.

I bet your girlfriend feels so special with you

[Jakerz]

I just laugh at em now cause I have a better body then them though thinking back, I probably originally got here because of seeing those men in advertisements or what not and thinking "Dang, wish I had a body like that".. not sure if it ever effected my self esteem or anything though, I sure didn't admit it if it did

[Leaf]

Im 23 Years old... i don't think guys really look at things like that and judge themselves or let it effect their self esteem. From my experience when i see advertisement of super cut guys on t.v. the only thing i think is, "hmm i bet a could pull a lot more girls if i looked closer to that" lol... but that's about as far as i go.

from another experience... I had to do 9 months in a county jail. A lot of overweight, underweight, and unfit people go threw there. And when they first arrive you can tell that they are a little embarrassed to work out with the rest of the guys, but once they start seeing "how big they can get" sort of speak... they actually start trying to do something about it and you see guys work their asses off to lose some pounds and gain some muscle. So it doesn't so much bring guys down as it does motivate us to be something better. And yes i mean better... there's nothing wrong with a chubby guy, but honestly i guy that works out or at least stays fit will be a lot more healthy in the long run.

Edited by LeafMashes, 24 December 2011 - 11:55 AM.

[redlion]

I'm betting your assignment is over and done with, but I'll volunteer my opinion as well.

I think there is a difference between the sexes on this. If you were to ask the same question to women, the overwhelming response would not be "Fuck no, I don't pay attention to that shit". I took a film course a few years back, and it was all about the institutional mode of representation in classical hollywood cinema. Basically the argument went that women in film are objectified, while men are identified/sympathized/empathized with by the audience. Women are the object of our gaze, whereas the audience, even women, will subconsciously identify with, and view from the viewpoint of the men in the film. One need only watch a transformers movie to see what I mean.

I think this has a lot to do with how men and women view their roles in society. I was reading Inver's thread on being single yesterday and some chick (don't remember idiots, so I can't give you a name to search by) was going on about how if she used her boobs right, she could get whatever she wanted. This is the basic difference: women put much larger stock in their appearance on the whole. Men care, but not nearly as much. And nowhere near enough to compare ourselves to models.