Body Image

In this post i am going to look at the idea of body image for identity. However i am not going to look at female body image which, whilst still being important has been done to death. I am going to look at male body image. I am a female so i know i have been guilty of deciding whether or not a male, any male has the perfect body or face. In a study i discover it showed that 45 percent of men are dissatisfied with their body. This was only slightly less than women at 55 percent. In the same article where i got these statistics from there was a quote from a woman saying "it's only fair that men get a chance to see what its like to be us". I dont think thats right, men have always been men and in that sense have always been unhappy with their bodies. Just because they are "men" does not mean they dont actually have worries and fears about what they look like. Too thin, too tall, too fat and too short, these apply to men aswell. If we take a look at the models that can be seen in magazines.
http://www.persianmirror.com/Images/Articles/1468/CameronAlborzian1.jpg
You can see why some men may feel intimidated by what they see. However a large amount of preening must have been done to this male before the photograph was taken. Thats another clear sign that males are becoming more concerned about what they look like. Whereas before men tended not to spend time infront of the mirror moving individual strands of hair to the right place, now there are specific male grooming products, shavers and trimmers for their facial hair and even the odd manicure. We have all heard the phrase "sculptured jaw and cheekbones"
so lets look as some...

                                                 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_(Michelangelo)

This is a statue sculptured by Michelangelo. This statue was produced to be aesthetically pleasing to its owner.Therfore the chances are that Michelangelo intended the male figure in this statue to be what a woman would want. Other images depicting the male figure are also made in the same way. They all have the perfect body, the perfect face and hair. And when we walk past or read a magazine and see the photograph of the half naked woman and feel a bit ashamed and depressed by our own body the chances are that the bloke infront has already clocked the men's health magazine.

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/mbi1.html

References
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/mbi1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_(Michelangelo)
http://www.persianmirror.com/Images/Articles/1468/CameronAlborzian1.jpg