It’s no shock that the portrayal of women in magazines makes women feel like dirt. But did you know images of hot chicks make men feel worse, too? Everyone knows that the way women are portrayed in our culture – sexy, skinny, tall – makes the average woman feel a bit like the gum I had to peel off my shoe this morning. When we look at magazine ads or watch TV shows, we women feel inadequate – and it’s no wonder, when the average woman model weighs up to 25% less than the typical woman and maintains a weight at about 15 to 20% below what is considered healthy for her age and height. But the 40,000 or so ads the average American is exposed to a year aren’t just affecting the girls. A new study coming out of the University of Missouri found that men react negatively to unrealistic ads, too. What’s interesting is it wasn’t images of hot men that got the guys feeling self conscious – it was images of hot women.
The research began by trying to see if men were as negatively affected by men’s magazines as women are by Cosmo and the like. Men that were given men’s magazines like Maxim had lower self image, which got the researchers to question exactly what about the magazines cause the drop in self esteem. So they showed men just the pictures of objectified women, men, and the articles and again checked their esteem levels. They found that, surprisingly, it wasn’t the images of idealized men that made the guys feel inadequate – it was the women. Even more surprising was that the male fashion group reported the least amount of body self-consciousness among the three groups – the guys couldn’t care less what the other men looked like.
If you’ve ever been in high school, it’s obvious why seeing a hot woman would make a less than ideal looking guy feel bad. I mean, what guy hasn’t choked when trying to talk to the head cheerleader? Attractive women are intimidating, and the mere sight of one is enough to cause any average joe to give themselves a quick once-over.
The theory is that a beautiful women makes a man self conscious because the he’s reminded that he’s not in her league – that is, they take one look at a hot girl and quickly realize there’s no way they’re good-looking enough to bang her. Since women have the larger investment in offspring, they tend to be considered the ‘picky’ ones, evolutionarily speaking. The men and their billions of sperm have to compete with other guys to convince a girl that they’ve got the genes to be worth it.
To test this theory, the researchers performed one more experiment. They broke the men into two groups – one received magazine layouts of sexually idealized females and the other received the same layouts with average-looking ‘boyfriends’ added to the photos, with captions about how the female models are attracted to the average-looking men. The men who looked at just the model were more self-conscious, presumably because when the other men saw the bombshells liked ‘normal guys,’ they no longer felt she was out of reach.
Personally, I’d like to see if images of hot men have the same effect on women. Despite the evolutionary argument, I think that women would have the same reaction to male models as men do to female ones. After all, you don’t hear a girl say “oh crap! I gotta go fix my hair!” when this guy walks in the room:
I want you. I need you. Oh baby – oh baby. Read more of my stuff over at Observations of a Nerd
We can see more and more stars and people have a new kind of love with man(woman)!!! have you ever heard about it !!this may be a fashion one !! I have joined a group —http://www.cougarconnecting.com/—- which is a group for younger man and older woman !! I have make many friends here!! I also find my love here!! he is 7 years older than me ! he is charming and handsome!! I want to say!! when you go to —http://www.cougarconnecting.com/—- !! age becomes just a number!!!why not to have a try!!
i am a senior in hs, and right now i am in english class searching for facts on my research paper which is: how media portrays “the look” and that all women should look a certain way.. tall, skinny… well i came apon this site and reading this touched me a lot!!! i choose this topic because i thought of it as a way to find myself- i myself have low self-esteem, and feel i have to change the way i look to be considered pretty. long story short, thank’s to this quote, slowly but surely i am starting to find myself, and realize i am beautiful because of my heart. THANK YOU!!!!!!!
Beauty is such a subjective topic, it’s about time we draw on a fair conclusion – attraction works on a evolutionary “genetic” level; and it works with how good the genes are. Good genes show in more desirable appearance, and a beautiful girl (though, rare) is actually physically fit – with which she’ll have a guy fit on her level; that’ll be a beautiful guy, if you’d call. Simple as that.
I also think people come across generally stupid, and therefore make issues out of subjects – beauty, or super fitness being one of them.
Thank you.
Its no, sexy woman cant feel any bad feelings to other, unless there someone who are confuse with that thing. actually when you see a sexy woman you feel good and very exited. you know what im talking about. thanks for sharing this valuable Information about the sexy woman it is very interesting. Keep it up.
:)) How re you ???
Marie Curie High School
umm i am a guy but i don’t neccesarily disagree or agree like can’t a person just be nice all the time like there doesn’t have to be a reason or motive behind everything someone does like i am 16 and i try my best to be a good respectable person around everyone. maybe a guy acts nice around a girl so that she may respect him not because he is way out of her league there’s such thing as being a human being rather than a player or (Pick-up artist) so just let that sink in. Not all men are animals as women supposably think. This just makes me mad how women think they know so much about how we men feel and our motives like we need you guys because without you we feel inadequate or useless you make us feel happy and good about ourselfves you make us whole. How are we supposed to talk to you girls if you think everything that comes out of our mouths is ment to bang you like grow up like if i see an attractive girl i would gladly go up to her sit beside her just cause i am interested and want to know more about her and what to expect so i would then talk to her and try to get to know her maybe make her laugh quite a bit because that makes things easier and she opens up more all a guy want is for a girl to listen to him and actually care about what he’s got to say (well thats what i want) but at the same time keep the conversation going.
why you should think a guy would only be nice cause you think he’s outta his league is F*cking dumb and cold
and if he says he doesn’t like you he won’t talk to you simple as that.
Look, we all get that men and women are attracted to different things. We all get that men are attracted to in-your-face sexuality and hip-to-waist ratios and long hair..etc etc etc. We all know this, this is nothing new. And it’s not wrong. HOWEVER. What is wrong is the extreme’s that magazines like Maxim take to bring very in-your-face sex/shock appeal that make “men” fall prey to the fantasy and buy their magazines. What is wrong is the expectations that develop in people over years of fake photoshopped media exposure that now become the standard that average Joes sitting on their couches, scratching themselves on Sunday afternoon watching football think they deserve because some very highly paid executives tell them they do just to sell their product. People are stupid if they don’t believe that the media doesn’t influnce their opinions to certain extents. Some of the advice given in this blog give a clear picture of the completely unrealistic standards that we as a culture have developed. And why people are less happy in their relationships then they might have been years ago with less media exposure and a media industry telling us to never “settle” or stay with one thing (or person) for too long because we all deserve better. We all deserve the fantasy right? We all deserve to have the world on a silver platter because you are “you” and I am “me”, right? Wrong! But we don’t value certain things like we should. We don’t value the woman at home raising three kids and might have put on some pounds but lovingly irons her husbands shirts for works, makes lunches and goes to PTA meetings. We don’t hear men praise their wives for their hard work. Instead, we hear guys that ask why their very hard working wives can’t look like the girls in the magazines that look lke that for one second in time after a million pictures have been taken to get just the right pose, 10 styliest have worked on her and photoshop experts have redined her in pictures. We don’t hear about women praising their man for going to work everyday and coming hom to her and bringing enough money to buy the kids andher nice things. We hear about how hot Brad Pitt is. We don’t value each other. We value something that has no value at all. Pictures in magazines or on screen that create a fantasy. A fantasy that I think too many people rather live in because it’s easier, and rather numb themselves with, then deal with the imperfections of real people, just like them, just like us.
It’s not human sexuality that is at fault here. It’s not that men like certain size breast or weight. That’s normal. It’s the extreme ideals we have today about weight and breast size that is wrong. It’s the idea that women actually need breast implants to be considered more of a woman or need to crash diet because god forbid we have some tummy on us even though women are made to be more naturally fatty.
It’s the fact that we live in a world that’s all about the fantasy. And that average men today think they deserve twin 18 year olds because they’ve filled up their lives with so much porn and fake imagery instead of respecting the people and honoring the women and being *THANKFUL* and *GRATEFUL* to have the people we do in our life.
Magazines and other media like Maxim aren’t just about human sexuality. They are about human physcology, the good the bad and the ugly. Technology: the good , bad and the ugly. And sexuality. Media plays are on our highest emotions. And that is why we buy into what it’s selling. Even if it’s at the cost of the real things that would make us really happy. Not the things that only make us happy for 5 minutes before needing something else to come along and entertain ourselves with.
Heck, I would love to be goregous. Men love goregeous women. Men treat women they think are worthy of them, much nicer. But I am not goregous. I’m just me. And no matter how hard I work out, the nice clothes I wear, or how sweet I am. Women like the girls in Maxim will always turn a man’s head before I will. You can call me bitter or you can just admit that I am human. And a woman who desperetly wants a man to find her beautiful enough to love, cherish and think is sexy. Beyond what some fake girl in a magazine is. That doesn’t make me bitter to have those kind of feelings. But we live in a world where everywhere I turn, there is another much hotter girl and another man, mine or amother woman’s, who is eager to drool after her and lust after her and remind you that you can never be what men really want. Which is some fake fantasy image of interchangable women that never stop. Media doesn’t make money because it satisfies. It makes money because it keeps peopel coming back for more. I personally rather be with a many that can be happy with himself and me. And think I am the most beautiful sexy woman. Even if I am not. I think I deserve that from one man in theis world full of billions. That’s all I am asking for. Just one. Not millions of men like the girl on Maxim is. Just one.
I have to agree that beauty comes from within.
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If a beautiful woman just shows common courtesy to a man, he often takes it as a sign that she wants him. Do us a favor and actually think about how attractive you are and if a beautiful woman would find you attractive before you embarrass yourself making unwelcome overtures.
This completely negates the value of personality, desirability, attractiveness… women aren’t quite as look driven as men are (well, some aren’t :)
Has anyone ever heard the saying, “beauty is a tool to weed out the weak?” when approaching a girl?
And, my goodness, I completely disagree with this comment : Although these are true, a crucial social implication is backfiring. Male magazines diminish the role of women in the society.
That’s absurd.
Consequently, women are virtually seen as whores or pleasure-givers to the readers.
Again, absurd. Many of the women I know enjoy being seen as a pleasure-giver, but to equate that with being a whore in the same sentence is just lunacy, in my opinion. A bit of an overreaction.
If this kind of negative publicity to women continues, it would not be surprising that we will go back to the age where female are seen as inferior compared to its male counterpart.
I completely disagree with this also, where are you coming from?
Just my two cents.
Many people rationalize male magazines as a form of entertainment and a source of information. Although these are true, a crucial social implication is backfiring. Male magazines diminish the role of women in the society. Although women are gaining power in all aspects of life, other aspects especially in print media are still under fire. Women commercialization is very eminent to magazines targeting male consumers. Its purpose is to lure a prospective buyer by putting sexy women in their front cover, thus, these women or sexy models act as a boost to a magazine’s over-all packaging.
Consequently, women are virtually seen as whores or pleasure-givers to the readers. This kind of art propagates erotic attitude towards women in general. Since media has a vast influence over the society, the effect is very damaging. If this kind of negative publicity to women continues, it would not be surprising that we will go back to the age where female are seen as inferior compared to its male counterpart.
“Everyone knows that the way women are portrayed in our culture – sexy, skinny, tall – makes the average woman feel” , that’s what you said, dear the chicks in the photo are hardly tall or skinny. Wake up. Here’s a tip. Most guys like women that are “willing and happy” to give them the pleasure of looking at their naked body, in and out of sexy coverings. Yes, the mind and heart are important, but when the heat gets going guys lead with their eyes. Here’s the simple plan: stay fit and in shape and be comfortable with the body you’ve got. Share your body with him; parade it, cover it, undercover it and if it’s uncomfortable for you to do this just get over it. Life will be much more simple and happier.
I agree with the comment above in part. Lets face it, we are all turned on initially buy looks fancy car, clothes, attitude, etc… Same in the animal world. Men and woman are both first attracted at the most primal level. As the relationshp developes or erodes, we need more to develop and build a lasting relationship.
http://www.butterfliesandbikinis.com
i just wish we would all recognize that the most attractive feature of a woman (and a man too) is her (his) heart!
A person with a warm, loving and sincere heart is always more attractive and that beauty can’t be duplicated by any amount of makeup or silicon.
the average guy can indeed get the beautiful woman if he is confident and secure with himself.
why should she settle for less? in her mind, she’s not. only you would think that because your a superficial snob.
nuff said.
I don’t agree with the article because I have much less attractive men asking me out all the time. I don’t mind that they are less attractive. What I do mind is that they are usually hyper critical of women’s looks. For some reason less than average looking men are really mean about women’s looks and I find that ugly. They think women are supposed to be beauftiful like it is something you obtain if you work hard enough at it. Also the beautiful woman should be smart, able to cook, do their laundry, laugh and be pleasant all the time. Give me a good looking man anyday because they don’t have as many hangups.
Beautiful Barbara, Read some hard science! Your arguments would be more credible.
I want to start by saying the girl on the left of the ‘Maxim’ Magazine cover is beautiful, and I can’t imagine her even in the mildest to fall for any other guy, but myself or the kind of male in my league (any of which I apparently haven’t come across yet, to the best of my knowledge). Yup, you know it – get an idea; with a great appearance comes the full package of Calibre. And I’m only posting here because of her.
In all honesty, we should really discuss a topic like this given we’re (at least) around 21 years old, and for folks that are (at least) 21. That is because every thing that happens in the ages less were pretty much folly, solely because we were gaining awareness of ourselves for where we stand with the others. Myself, included.
… No disrespect to anybody, but I don’t find a lot of women that are called ‘beautiful’ beautiful. Pretty works, but not beautiful. *That* girl on the left *is* pretty much beautiful, but the one on the right looks like a dumb bimbo with a less body – even though many of us call her beautiful, too. It’s in the eyes, and the eyes really hold someone’s calibre – that is linked with the rest of the body, because the better the body, over time the ‘knowledge’ is in the eyes. Whether you like to accept it, or not, in ‘real’ cases, people put themselves first, and the rule will always go in that the good looking girl will fall for the good looking guy, and anyone ‘less’ will fall for someone in their league. I am yet to come across a girl, or guy who is with a partner out of their attractiveness. You also ought to note that a lot of girls wear make-up, and a lot of guys go to the gym – those can greatly affect one’s attractiveness to a degree, but hardly sufficient self-confidence. I’ve seen it.
People also like to get a rise out of others for unknown reasons. So what appears to be flirtatious behavior may be something else. Some people are actually really ‘living’ life, and wouldn’t mind messing with people – making it come out as attraction, or anything. Beautiful people DO hold an advantage with their way through life in that their beauty grants them ‘perks’ with people that they consider ‘less’, and they themselves really want to make something out of their lives just like everybody else. I (myself) worked hard, and well through pre-school, school, high school and university. Nowadays, I’m passing time, afford to be lazy (now) and holding up my pedestal because (apparently) I am that ideal man with ‘the’ life. I get to choose any girl I please when I am to get married in around year or 2, and the best way to avoid attention from ‘any’ girl is to stay in hiding, although I am sure the one I’ll be with is ‘that’ beautiful desirable girl because little worked with the dozen in my past, and effectively, where I couldn’t pay much interest with them, the frustration of even falling for ‘less’ girls is what I would never repeat. I made it up by changing MY ways, permanently, altogether.
So basically, given my own ways around the ‘charade’, I would consider the same mindset for any girl, too, particularly the beautiful one. What beautiful girl would even risk being stagnant for some average guy, any way?
You also got to note that beauty on a beautiful girl (or, person) is NO coincidence – it’s normally a sign of a lot of potential, and a good future.
I once met a really hot girl that was called a bitch by everyone. Though she never was mean to me. An I really did think she was sexy. To shy to talk to her. But I think she did pick me and treated me differently. As i think on this.. some other women did to O.o