It goes both ways

Last weekend I was in Penn Station in NYC and I was browsing magazine covers. That’s when I stumbled on this sequence of covers: This is interesting. Glamour, which is a magazine for women, is running their June issue as a celebration to women of all shapes and sizes. There are also many other articles in the issue that encourage women to embrace themselves and their uniqueness. But, if you skip over Cosmopolitan’s cover (which features P!nk), you will see Vanity Fair’s issue – showcasing two very muscular men. The two men are professional athletes, but it is interesting to see the different messages magazines are sending in current issues – different messages to men and women. I think the message that Vanity Fair is sending to men is that they have to be extremely buff and athletic. This message has been echoing for a while (similarly as it has with women). An example of the insecurities men are having with themselves would be Spanx for men, which is a new product that claims to slim men’s torsos. This is just another product that is responding to the pressure society is putting on men to look a certain way. There are millions more. In the last few years, a good percentage of men have been paying more attention to the way they look – which is not a bad thing – but, many are becoming more insecure as a result. There has been a lot of buzz recently about women embracing themselves – we need to do the same for men. This is an issue that anyone could be affected by. As long as we are happy and healthy, we should be able to live without judgment, regardless of our physical appearance.

About The Author

Patricia Colli, Editor of Beutiful Magazine, is a human rights activist, equality advocate, and promoter of health, acceptance and wellbeing. Having experienced disordered eating, unhealthy exercise patterns and poor body image, she is especially passionate about shedding light on eating disorders and the power of body acceptance.