When I flip through a magazine I always thought that media was creating and reinforcing a stereotypical and unachievable depiction of females and femininity. It has never came to my attention t hat media also reinforce prevalent idea about men and masculinity. After reading Media Representation of Gender I soon realized the media can really stretch and skew appearance. Images of women in the media are everywhere and for the most cases it’s not just any women it’s beautiful, tall, skinny women. When woman look through a magazine they tend to be envious of the models appearance, so do men do the same? What we don’t take into consideration is that media and magazine ad’s aren’t only desirable and competitive for women but men as well. As we discussed in class the other day we have the idea of the ideal man and women. The women and gay man has extreme similarities about appearance, fashion and health, but these are all stereotypes. Man regardless of stereotypes are just as apt to flip through a magazine and desire to be as muscular, fit and sexy as some of the males in the ad’s. The men depicted are you’re your everyday males, and for the most part are touched up and air brushed on the computer for hours until it could we put onto paper. Few men in fashion or body ad’s are perceived as small or feeble they give off a strong masculine appearance and for women you will rarely flip through pages and see an overweight slop posing for the latest fashion. Although male fashion is typically business like or casual it still comes off as high class, so not only do you have to meet the standards of body type but its “cool” to wear expensive clothes to be more like the models who have power like David Beckham or Brad Pitt. In my perspective I think that males do feel they need to meet a certain standard and male appearance in the media is definitely taken into consideration by both men and women. What I do think the difference between men and women in this instance is women are more comfortable saying they want to be more like beautiful celebrities and have the same bodies as some models. On the other hand man whether it is our of protection of their sexuality or just the desire to be apathetic towards something as feminine as appearance. It is rare to see a guy reading a magazine saying “Damn, he looks good I want to be as muscular and as hot as him” and if you were to hear that chances are you would question their sexuality. It raised the idea that maybe it is the media that makes these imaginary standards for both women and men but it is the roles that society creates of the “ideal” gender that restrict who should discuss it.
Post 10 – Male Representation in the Media
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