Men! Let’s talk about men!

So, let’s talk about men. Body image online affects men as well as women and it can of course, have the same negative outcomes. Looking at celebrities, there are noticeable differences when it comes to how men expose themselves and the messages they promote in comparison to women.

As (hopefully) you read on my previous blog, there are in my opinion different types of celebrities who use their social media accounts as a fan base and to post whatever is going on in their exciting lives. I discussed Selena Gomez and her classy posts, contrasting to Emily Ratajkowski ‘s exposing selfies. Reality stars also have huge fan bases online, Marnie Simpson (from Geordie Shore) explicitly posing for her Instagram followers, conflicting to Billie Faiers’ (from The Only

Way is Essex) picture-perfect family life (excuse the pun!) but for men, there are both similarities and differences.

The most followed man on Instagram currently is in fact the professional footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and although he’ll have impeccable fitness and a (chiselled!) body, he very rarely posts any topless or half-naked photos. His photos consist of his career and his huge success, a really positive message for his vast number of followers and young people – there are no signs of promoting stereotypical body image but instead encouraging hard work and success. I would say Ronaldo is ‘playing’ it right!

In acknowledging this, perhaps it could be said that the expectations for men and women are different when posting online. Do women such as Emily Ratajkowski and Marnie Simpson feel they have to expose their bodies to become more famous and liked? I did struggle to find men who were considered very famous (to match Emily, Selena and so on) or with a heavy number of followers that got their kit off as much as women do. Or is it that it’s more acceptable for women? I would find that hard to believe. It is a difficult and controversial topic, the social norms and expectations of both genders body image differing.

However, an example of someone who is doing the opposite, is Dan Bilzerian. Not only does he often pose topless on Instagram exposing huge muscles, he is surrounded by half-naked or often fully nude women 24/7.

They are nearly always very thin and curvaceous, with big breasts and legs that go on for miles, rarely will you see a different body shape scrolling down his feed. This man is only famous for being good at poker (and winning a LOT of money as a result) and then becoming ‘Instafamous’. He is promoting the idea that if you become rich and famous, you can be surrounded by stereotypically ‘hot’ girls and that their tiny body shape is probably the only one you’ll want. Not only is this a really bad message to send out to boys and men, but is also a derogatory attitude towards women…surely we can all agree these messages and ideas are not the ones we want to be sending out to young people?

A reality star that follows a similar pattern to that of Marnie’s is Gary Beadle also from MTV’s Geordie Shore. He does post topless photos, a slight scroll down his Instagram feed revealing a completely nude selfie with a strategically placed towel…so maybe there’s a trend with reality stars? Or is that a really broad generalisation? I guess this could be whole other topic. The point is, these role models that constantly post exposing photos on social media need to be aware of that affect they can have!

I delved in a little further and found a study that looked into the impact media has on male’s, since there is little research into it. In fact, it did find that when men were exposed to body ‘ideals’ they became more depressed and dissatisfied with their bodies compared to the men who weren’t exposed to these ideals. This does show that of course men can be affected just as much as women, we need to be aware of this and discourage the idea that what you see online and on social media is realistic – the majority of the time these body shape ‘ideals’ are unattainable and you certainly don’t need them to be classed as attractive. What happened to personality?!

Thanks for reading guys, don’t forget to check for new blogs!

xoxo