Good evening to all at the Escapist,
This is simply a follow up (or a part 2) to my previous thread about women who felt pressured into reaching a certain 'standard' when it came to appearances growing up throughout life. I found of all the responses very enlightening and interesting and has opened my eyes more into how much stress women can go through. Link is below;
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.842378-Women-of-the-Escapist-Keeping-up-appearances-in-order-to-reach-perfection
So today I want to draw this subject to the men here at the Escapist. Over the past 5-10 years, there has been an increase in cases of men going under the knife to have either something removed or altered to fit a certain way. Even cases of more young teenage men suffering from anorexia and bulimia and a feeling image conscious about themselves growing up. 10-20 years ago, you wouldn't be hearing studies and cases like these in the news media. They may have happened, but it weren't be seen under the news radar.
It's not just young men too might I add. Even those who may be going through a "mid life crisis" (I didn't like using that phrase but it's more universally known), often look for something to capture their youth that may involve an appearance change, eg. botox, Liposuction, tummy tuck, hair products to darken hair colour or sort out the fading hair line, and so forth.
Now, I want to make clear that there is nothing wrong with making yourself feel and look good because we all have our own ways that we can make ourselves feel comfortable without feeling like you are having an out of body experience, attempting to follow the latest trend. This is more on the lines of if men also feel pressure to look good and reach a certain perfection, similar to women.
Does seeing Hollywood men like George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pratt etc, getting model type "beautiful" women, have you, yourself, feeling like you can either, never reach that stage or work overly hard to achieve that (may often reach a stage of obsession)? Even for me when I see certain movies and see how Chris Hemsworth and Henry Cavill get so much praised and of course the noise women make when they have a topless scene, make me think to myself,
"Damn I gotta go to the gym and build my arms and abs and something, to get that that kind of response from the opposite sex"
That comes to my mind and many men feel that same way. I know of course those guys had personal trainers that cost thousands and paid for by the studios but the thought still comes into our heads. So tell me what you think and be as open as you wish because I know at times it's hard for men to open up about stuff like this and no one here will force you nor hold anything against you.
Added Extra: Now, I was going to add something on Metro-sexuality but I actually had no idea what to say about it. I know what it means but I don't know if I should ask if Metro-sexuality plays a major with men keeping up appearances. This is where YOU can come in and add something into this discussion and does it play a part. If it does, how much of a part does it play? More men including are including more vanity into their lives? I have a friend who was all about "mans mans being a man with muscles, beard, and blah blah", and now he is all about looking good in a different way, eg. hair saloons, waxing chest, checking hair in the window/ mirror every 30 secs and so forth. I have zero problems with him doing it. Anyone can do it if they wanted too, if they are happy and comfortable with it. He's a good looking guy (Yeah I'm not afraid to say that another guy is good looking and handsome), before and after the sudden changes. I just don't know if he is doing it 100% for himself or just proving the ex wrong. His ex-girlfriend broke his heart and he wanted a change after that, which every guy does and goes through. Boy break ups can really hurt and affect people.
Thank you for reading. Anyone can feel free to comment and ladies if you know of any male friends or brothers or boyfriends, you may add in their thoughts on the subject and you comment on this also. It's an open topic really.
This is simply a follow up (or a part 2) to my previous thread about women who felt pressured into reaching a certain 'standard' when it came to appearances growing up throughout life. I found of all the responses very enlightening and interesting and has opened my eyes more into how much stress women can go through. Link is below;
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.842378-Women-of-the-Escapist-Keeping-up-appearances-in-order-to-reach-perfection
So today I want to draw this subject to the men here at the Escapist. Over the past 5-10 years, there has been an increase in cases of men going under the knife to have either something removed or altered to fit a certain way. Even cases of more young teenage men suffering from anorexia and bulimia and a feeling image conscious about themselves growing up. 10-20 years ago, you wouldn't be hearing studies and cases like these in the news media. They may have happened, but it weren't be seen under the news radar.
It's not just young men too might I add. Even those who may be going through a "mid life crisis" (I didn't like using that phrase but it's more universally known), often look for something to capture their youth that may involve an appearance change, eg. botox, Liposuction, tummy tuck, hair products to darken hair colour or sort out the fading hair line, and so forth.
Now, I want to make clear that there is nothing wrong with making yourself feel and look good because we all have our own ways that we can make ourselves feel comfortable without feeling like you are having an out of body experience, attempting to follow the latest trend. This is more on the lines of if men also feel pressure to look good and reach a certain perfection, similar to women.
Does seeing Hollywood men like George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pratt etc, getting model type "beautiful" women, have you, yourself, feeling like you can either, never reach that stage or work overly hard to achieve that (may often reach a stage of obsession)? Even for me when I see certain movies and see how Chris Hemsworth and Henry Cavill get so much praised and of course the noise women make when they have a topless scene, make me think to myself,
"Damn I gotta go to the gym and build my arms and abs and something, to get that that kind of response from the opposite sex"
That comes to my mind and many men feel that same way. I know of course those guys had personal trainers that cost thousands and paid for by the studios but the thought still comes into our heads. So tell me what you think and be as open as you wish because I know at times it's hard for men to open up about stuff like this and no one here will force you nor hold anything against you.
Added Extra: Now, I was going to add something on Metro-sexuality but I actually had no idea what to say about it. I know what it means but I don't know if I should ask if Metro-sexuality plays a major with men keeping up appearances. This is where YOU can come in and add something into this discussion and does it play a part. If it does, how much of a part does it play? More men including are including more vanity into their lives? I have a friend who was all about "mans mans being a man with muscles, beard, and blah blah", and now he is all about looking good in a different way, eg. hair saloons, waxing chest, checking hair in the window/ mirror every 30 secs and so forth. I have zero problems with him doing it. Anyone can do it if they wanted too, if they are happy and comfortable with it. He's a good looking guy (Yeah I'm not afraid to say that another guy is good looking and handsome), before and after the sudden changes. I just don't know if he is doing it 100% for himself or just proving the ex wrong. His ex-girlfriend broke his heart and he wanted a change after that, which every guy does and goes through. Boy break ups can really hurt and affect people.
Thank you for reading. Anyone can feel free to comment and ladies if you know of any male friends or brothers or boyfriends, you may add in their thoughts on the subject and you comment on this also. It's an open topic really.
