I think that boys undergo some of the same media bombardment that girls do about their appearance. The media portrayal of males from my perspective as one of them is that they are supposed to wear baggy/plain designer clothes, have well defined muscles and be tall. Some of these things we have control over but others are even more impossible to achieve than what is directed toward girls. Perhaps the most stereotypical representation of guys in American media is football players. The average guy is encouraged to watch and play sports; so by giving plenty of media attention to men who could be described as 6' 1"-6' 3" 250-350lb. juggernauts, the average guy is encouraged to try to become one.
I am lucky in that I am naturally physically fit and what I like to do keeps me that way but I cannot change how tall I am. Height is a subtle factor in media portrayals of men and it may be coincidence but I doubt that. If you look at actors in particular there are not many who are less than six feet tall and they are rarely shorter than the actresses in the same movie. This, as you might imagine, can create a huge pressure against the acceptance of guys who are only, say; five foot six simply because they are six inches shorter than the "average" media portrayal. Take Kevin Kline for example: he is an actor who commonly plays an average man, but he is actually six feet two inches tall. Even actors who are overweight or wear glasses fit into this height regimen plus they are almost always in comic or scapegoat roles. Example: you would never see a man who is overweight or wears glasses in the role of the suave secret service agent 007, or even as the hacker out of the middle of nowhere who saves the day.
The pressure to meet these modeled standards might not be as much as a girl would have to face when it comes to beauty as shown by the media but they still have an influence on everyday life. I would argue that the standards set by media even affect what the other gender considers attractive and can override what people say directly to someone regarding looks. This seems to be true for girls more often than it is for guys; that is, if my own experience is anything to go by. This may be because of greater pressure or just differences in psychology. Either way it would seem that cheerleaders in skimpy clothing and linebackers shaped like tall, lean, muscular bricks are what everyone should strive to be... or so the media tells us.
I am lucky in that I am naturally physically fit and what I like to do keeps me that way but I cannot change how tall I am. Height is a subtle factor in media portrayals of men and it may be coincidence but I doubt that. If you look at actors in particular there are not many who are less than six feet tall and they are rarely shorter than the actresses in the same movie. This, as you might imagine, can create a huge pressure against the acceptance of guys who are only, say; five foot six simply because they are six inches shorter than the "average" media portrayal. Take Kevin Kline for example: he is an actor who commonly plays an average man, but he is actually six feet two inches tall. Even actors who are overweight or wear glasses fit into this height regimen plus they are almost always in comic or scapegoat roles. Example: you would never see a man who is overweight or wears glasses in the role of the suave secret service agent 007, or even as the hacker out of the middle of nowhere who saves the day.
The pressure to meet these modeled standards might not be as much as a girl would have to face when it comes to beauty as shown by the media but they still have an influence on everyday life. I would argue that the standards set by media even affect what the other gender considers attractive and can override what people say directly to someone regarding looks. This seems to be true for girls more often than it is for guys; that is, if my own experience is anything to go by. This may be because of greater pressure or just differences in psychology. Either way it would seem that cheerleaders in skimpy clothing and linebackers shaped like tall, lean, muscular bricks are what everyone should strive to be... or so the media tells us.
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