Now men are expected to be skinny

I found this on the New York Times website and thought I'd share it since sometimes we have discussions about body image/unrealistic expectations of beauty.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/fashion/shows/07DIARY.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

http://menshealth.about.com/od/conditions/a/eating_disorder.htm

its not just men its women as well they are being sold an idea, generally by diet companies, (over $60 billion a year profit). but also the plastic surgeons, everyone who makes money from the idea of beauty.

everyone is being pushed to be physically beautiful, which is a very strange thing, you have cultural beauty, the polynesians they generally like bigger women, but even they are being changed or pushed to change how they appear.

the most beautiful woman i ever met, wasnt classically beautiful she wasnt even a good looker, but as soon as she smiled you fell in love with her, the most hideous woman i ever met was a so called "beauty", but she repulsed me, she had nothing in her but her physical form.

wrinkles, double chins, saggy boobs, are all according to some, are a sign of a moral laxness, and that justifies discrimination, justifies all the bullying that occurs

its only really last century that women are pushed to be this thin look like that, and more so from the 60's onwards, when twiggy, when the starvation chic took off. now seeing all the obesity panic and hysteria, its creating more unhealthily THIN, of both sexes.

i know people who have suffered from anorexia and bullimia, and its so hard to see anyone go from being full of life to become a walking skeleton.

http://rioiriri.blogspot.com/2008/02/fat-hating-boss-from-hell.html#links

i feel sorry for the sister of the fat hating boss. there is something so sick in this culture that forces women and men to mutilate themselves, when many studies show happiness is accepting yourself for being yourself.

i say if you cant accept yourself, how can you accept others. i know my flaws and my failures, but i accept that sometimes i cant do this or that, and so i accept others, being flawed and failing.

*** because we cant discriminate against sex, or race (or we shouldnt), who is there to hate, fat people in particular. becasue as some people say they wouldnt be fat if there wasnt something sick or wrong with them, who would choose it, therefore they are moral wrecks.

this is a good site about size acceptance

http://www.largesse.net/education.html

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I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein

Unfortunately, body image has been something going on in the States for quite sometime. I don't know if this is a trend in the UK or elsewhere but the metrosexual look has been the thing in the USA. Years ago, pectoral implants were the "in" thing for men. I do not know why a person of either sex should be pressured to put foreign items and chemicals into their bodies so they have bigger breasts or appear to have more muscle. Body building is another activity that wears down a man's body even if he thinks he is looking "good". With Fat Bashing being the "vogue" thing in American culture, even boys are upset with being "fat".

I admit that I thought it was all geared towards women, but I am seeing more and more shit towards fat men, too. Granted, fat guys still don't get it as bad as fat women, but fat hate in general is bad all around.

It's as merc wrote: The push is for women and men to be "hot" and "fit" according to society's standards or you're not worthy or deserving of life.