Thoughts on the male physique, vol. 1

I’m not working today, so I’m spending today in my pajamas…by which I clearly mean gym shorts and a ratty T-shirt. But I was thinking about something today which I find fascinating: Beauty. Handsomeness. Attractiveness.

What makes these qualities and who determines them? I’ve come to believe that media controls popular thinking and popular thinking determines majority opinion. That being said, I present you with some of the things I fight with on a daily basis:
Here is an Abercrombie and Fitch model. Can you tell me what he is advertising?

What clothing is the A&F model selling?

I can’t find what he is selling either. Last I checked, Abercrombie and Fitch doesn’t sell hoses. You can find the original image here.

This image is less irritating to me, because I can actually tell what he is selling.

Selling two items from the waist down. Classy.

You can tell he is selling pink swim trunks, maybe those jeans and that shirt he isn’t wearing. Given that Hollister is a surf/beach clothier, I am willing to believe that what is being sold in this shot is the swimwear and men don’t generally wear tops when swimming, so fine. But, this shot is still telling men that to be “beach appropriate” or even “beach ready” as this photo suggests (with the trunk under the pants), you have to look like this. Otherwise you will be visiting Omar the Tent Maker for a tragic looking one-piece.

Women don’t have it much better. In fact, they have it worse. Men just have to be bombarded with images of 6 packs, rippling muscles, that V leading to your ding-dong…women, on the other hand, are often marginalized through media, especially print media. They are told their boobs aren’t big enough (or in same cases that their boobs are too big), waistlines need to be the size of your pinky, men don’t like big chicks, etc, etc, etc. Take a look at what I mean…

Necklaces are shirts now?

See what I mean? Now, all of these images were conjured up by searching for “male models” or “female models”. If a model is something that is the prototype for mass production, it would stand to reason that these people are the prototypes for what people should look like since people need clothes and clothes are made for these models. Of course we know that isn’t exactly the case as retailers carry several varying sizes…sometimes. Now let’s see what happens when I search for “plus size male model” and “plus size female model”…

 

 

 

 

 

 

I find it quite interesting that these models are put in situations exactly like their thin counterparts, yet I had to do a completely different search for them. Women’s fashion goes so far as to define a separate category for them (Plus Size), while men get the same fashions just in Big & Tall.

My point is that you shouldn’t care what society or the media (particularly the media) says about the way you look. There are beautiful, handsome, attractive people in every size and for every taste. If you don’t look like one of the first three pictures I posted, I think that’s great. I think the last four pictures are more realistic and are actually better representations of what clothing is supposed to do: enhance your features and make you look good. This is not to say, of course, that the first three models aren’t necessarily attractive. They are. Sex sells. Which is a whole other issue for a different day.