John Cloud and the Media for Men

As the media depicts him, the perfect man is shirtless. Always. He doesn't have an ounce of fat on his body. His hair seems messy and effortlessly sexy, clearly without the use of hair gel or any other such products. He isn't grotesquely buff, though he's muscularly toned with the definition of every abdominal and pectoral muscle easily discernible. His jaw is firm set and his skin is flawlessly clear.
In his essay "Never Too Buff", John Cloud explains how men have self image issues in much the same way that many women are thought to because of images just like this one. And who can blame them, really? The overload of media images of "perfect" men is a never ending reminder that our society expects men to achieve such an unrealistic and nearly unobtainable look. How is a man supposed to meet the cultural standards of beauty? Through obsessive workouts and steroid usage as Cloud warns? I say not at all. Be who you want to be, inside and out; men and women alike. We are more than the media says we should be.
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