Male Body Shaming : The Dirt Ball

I have grown up with men who have been called out with harsh words because they looked a certain way. These words defined who they are and what they are. Gradually they started to change themselves on the basis of these judgements. From going on intense diets to working out, their lives revolved around making the ‘best version’ of themselves. You know what preceded after this? Anxiety, self loathing, obsession with self image. All this caused by body shaming.
And yes, men are also body shamed.

We live in a contemporary society where technology has seen a lot of advancement, but on the other hand, social thinking hasn’t shown enough progress. We hear news about women being body-shamed and people speaking about it on different platforms, but are we talking enough about men being body shamed?

Men being fat-shamed isn’t considered to be a problem.

“Ae motu, chal khana band kar” ; “Body banalo, shakal ka kya!”
We expect men to tolerate all such comments and not get swayed by any of this. “It was a joke. Don’t be so serious.” is what you will hear as a reply if a man raises his voice against this. But we don’t realize how profoundly it’s affecting them mentally. We think they should take all this as a joke and not as a serious comment on their body. We forget that they have feelings which need to be respected. You know what? Men feel insecure too.

Bollywood and their Six Packs

Often in movies and advertisements, we have seen shirtless male actors and models with a well-toned body and six-packs wooing women off their feet. From Salman Khan, Ranveer Singh, John Abraham, Hrithik Roshan, Varun Dhawan and this list goes on. These actors have set an ideal body shape which has six-packs, eight packs, biceps, triceps. Even advertisements are doing their best to make people conscious. Hoof! Lets take a break from this. We forget the pressure that men feel to look a certain way because of these set ‘ideal bodies’ or the chocolate bodies as a few would like to call it. But should these really be the set beauty standards of acceptance in the society? I really don’t think so.

“That’s how men are- Strong, bold, tall, handsome.”

Nowadays, the worth of a man doesn’t just depend on his success and his personality but also his physique. Men are being pushed to have a perfect body but at the cost of self-loathing. What about self-acceptance? Men’s voices are hushed in the disguise of a joke or a pleasantry making them question their own body. Even social media plays a big role in this. It has become so easy to shame someone on social media because of which people are careful about what they post. #PicturePerfect . It has become the new medium of social acceptance. And men are conscious about self-image too.

Effects of Body Shaming

Comments like “A woman will never say yes to your mousy face.” or
“You are so skinny, but you still look fine.” or “You should drink Complan. You know for better height.” or “Why don’t you go to the gym?” is definitely not something a man would enjoy hearing. There have been cases where men have committed suicide or are facing mental illness because of such harsh comments in their day to day life. Anxiety, low confidence, depression, questioning self-esteem, obsessing over self-image, eating disorder are some of the effects of body shaming. So are we doing it right? Judging someone on the basis of their body?

Let’s take a deep breath

Not only adults but kids are victims of body shaming too. When a person receives this dirt ball, he carries it with himself and then throws it away in someone else’s court. This ball keeps rolling from court to court, leaving a mark on every individual like a lifetime disease. Wash off this dirt. Let’s shape our minds and bring about change.

In conclusion, weight is a number; penis size is not an identification proof; a six-pack is a choice; tall, short, fair, dark is not how you measure success and one’s body is for them to love and not for you to question.

Also read: Things our generation needs to do differently