Continuing with my theme from yesterday, I have two examples
I forgot to mention in my last blog post about this double standard regarding
men’s and women’s physiques:
A woman I know grew up in Argentina, and at some point she
went back for a class reunion. A guy from her class said, “You’ve gained
weight!” She had gained about ten pounds, but he had gained more like forty, so
she retorted, “So have you!” He cried, “That is so rude of you! I can’t believe
that you would say that!” She used this story to illustrate why she prefers
living in this country to Argentina, but I’m not sure we are that much better
here. Male hypocrisy knows no national boundaries.
The second example unfortunately involves our local baseball
team, the Mallards. Now my regular readers all know how much I love the
Mallards, as much for their silly promotions as for their generally high
quality of baseball. However, they currently have a promotion going on called “Dad
Bod Jersey,” encouraging men to send in photos of their out-of-shape torsos to
plaster on a jersey. I find it strange that they would glorify male
unattractiveness, because you know darn well they would never have a “Mom Bod
Jersey” contest. And I would argue that a mother has earned her flab more than
a dad has, because childbirth wreaks havoc on the body, but the one thing the
man had to do to become a dad does not cause weight gain, stretch marks,
flabbiness, etc. In a man, it’s caused by pure laziness and gluttony, not from
carrying a living, growing human around inside. I actually entered this contest,
giving my name as “Famous Hat” so that I wasn’t obviously a female, and then
for the front and back photos of my torso I provided shots of beautiful beaches
with palm trees. In the section where I was supposed to explain why my “Dad Bod”
was the one worthy of being put on a jersey, I let them know I was a loyal (for
now) female fan who was very disgusted with this promotion, since women who don’t
have perfect bodies are shamed in our society. So why are men with imperfect
bodies glorified?
I think it’s because men are in charge, and so they get to
make the rules. It’s hard work to have a perfect body, taking dedication and
deprivation, so they say it’s fine – even cool – for their kind to have fat,
flabby torsos. Since women are not in charge, we are not only expected to be
perfect-looking, but to allow men to be totally imperfect. Any indication that
we find them less than acceptable gets hit with the charge of being shallow, so
that they can shame us into looking perfect ourselves but accepting total
imperfection in them. Well, I for one refuse to play the game. As the Daughter
of Denni once told Tiffy, “A woman can take up as much space as she wants.” Not
that I am advocating obesity, just saying that it’s getting a little old to see
so many sitcoms where a fat guy with a lousy job has a hot wife, as if women
should have no standards themselves. As if our standards should be based on
such things! How about we judge people by their kindness and reliability, which
rules out the flabby sitcom husband hurling insults at his beleaguered,
attractive wife. That is one sitcom trope I would love to see die!
Famous Hat
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