Modern Masculinity: theguardian.com/media... - Men's Health Forum
Modern Masculinity
Yes. Yes. And yes. I’ve been speaking out about this for ages. The way men and women are shown in the media absolutely has negative effects on everyone. It’s often only spoken as something only women can suffer with and men seeing themselves in a horrible light when seeing six pack ripped superstars or models on the tv silver screen and advertisements.
I’m not saying those who get into that “Hollywood” shape are bad but they should explain the negatives getting to and maintaining that shape.
Two have: (paraphrasing somewhat)
Zac Efron (when shown a pic of his ripped body): I don’t want people thinking this is the norm. It isn’t and it isn’t health to aim for it. I starve myself of food sometimes for shirtless scenes to get that look. I do not look like that all the time.
Hugh Jackman (radio interview about his later Wolverine body): that is not good. I mean on screen it looks good but health wise it isn’t. You have to go on such an extreme diet to get that shape to have every muscle show it is under medical guidance that you sometimes end up ignoring. I dehydrate to get Less than 10% body fat. It damages mental health as my wife can attest to. It is not a body shape I want or like to have. Please don’t aspire for it. Just aim to be healthy.
You might wonder why I know these words and it’s really simple I hate my body. I hate the sight of myself naked heck shirtless I feel disgusting. I do not have a mirror that is for anything other than my face. For years I wanted to look that way but could never reach it.
Thank you for sharing your perspective and for the quotes you've shared from key media figures. It is probable that health is a balance of a number of dynamics but having an archetype that is deemed desirable or ideal might not help in the achievement of that balance, either for individuals or populations.
What do other people think and feel?
