Men Are Body Shamed Too and We Need to Talk About It!

I recently saw an article that was titled something along the lines of “chubby girls can get any guy they want,” which is cool and all, but 2018 seems to be the year that we celebrate body acceptance for only full-figured women.

As someone who has been plus size their whole life, this seems great until I noticed that men are still stuck in the same body complex that I have been my whole life.

This article started by bragging about how the author is obese and she scored a guy with washboard abs and had been a model in the past. The whole thing was bragging about double standards. I’ve never rolled my eyes harder while reading. In a revolution of body acceptance, why is the perfect desirable male still fit and muscular with a chiseled face?

Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Hold your thoughts. You might be thinking that women deserve this moment of body acceptance after decades of being photoshopped into societies standards of perfection and oppression in almost every way imaginable. You’re right. But men are still expected to look and act a certain way, and it’s nearly 2019.

If you have ever heard the phrase ‘man up,’ or ‘grow a pair,’ then it should be easy to understand that men live under the same weird stereotypes that women are supposed to uphold. Men are supposed to wake up, grow a beard, build a house, and do all that manly stuff. If not, they are gay. Even if they aren’t gay, they are called gay for not looking or acting tough. Thanks, Game of Thrones.

A lot of men will say that this banter between each other doesn’t bother them, and a lot of them mean it. Being told to ‘man up’ or ‘grow a pair’ really doesn’t faze them. However, some really are affected by this because the opposite sex is conditioned only to appreciate a man who has abs. I, myself, am a documented chubby-chaser but most women aren’t born into this preference and are all drooling over the bearded, buff, 6-foot-and-over sword-wielding gentlemen. Again, Game of Thrones.

Before anything bad is thought, I’m not telling thick women to lower their standards and I’m not telling fit women to be into men who won’t exercise with you. Love is love, pure and simple. I’m just saying that men have been dealing with the same garbage that women have been. They have been dealing with these standards just as long as we have, but we haven’t really acknowledged it. Have you ever noticed how 99% of men on whichever dating app you are using state somewhere in their bio that they are 6’ or taller? And for whatever reason, if a guy says he is 5’5 on his profile, you’ll swipe left. Why are we like this?

Real talk, men suffer from the same things women do. I’m talking eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and being bullied to the point of trauma. In recent studies, men clarified that they were trying to bulk up and taking dangerous supplements just to potentially be in a relationship. None of us see this kind of stuff happening though because we are too focused on the obese female being accepted.

Men struggle with the same issues every day, and it can be devastating considering the average women expects certain standards from a male partner. It’s time to change the way we view body types on both genders- not just one.

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About The Author: Natalie is a published article writer who has traveled the world and now resides in a small town in Kentucky enjoying the outdoors and family