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
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Women have been exploited sence time has begun. The main problem is that their are women out there whom line up to be exploited. The money is good, and alot of women just show off their body. Then there are those who get paid to perform in Adult XXX movies. Women hold a certain power over men, and being a man, I have curiosity’s as well. But im not out looking for a cheap thrill. As long as there is a man or woman looking at these photo’s, or movies; then there will always be someone performing, or showing it off.
We as a society are shallow minded, and just generally looking to be happy, and satisfied.
Gary
Good post. If you feel bad about how you look, DO something about it instead of tearing others down, just like if you feel bad about your intelligence or income. Life is hard for everybody. It’s very obvious when people resent others’ success and it just makes you look pathetic.
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.
In my experience the jealous, average or ugly women are the real bitches. They act like they have no pride in their character with their pathetic attempts to bring us down. Jealousy is not beautiful. Pettiness is not beautiful. Your outside mirrors your inside. If you were a proactive person you would probably feel good about how you look, but instead you give up and try to bring down women you envy in ways that just make you look uglier. There’s a word for that. LOSER.
And yeah, most of the men you attract are jerks, because most men and most people ARE jerks. If you want to see how disgusting humanity is, be beautiful.
Yeah, we don’t need a boyfriend to prove anything. Anyone can see we could have a boyfriend if that was all we wanted, but we hold out for quality.
This is true. We know how you men think. And I make a point of looking at the man’s appearance and figuring out if I think he’s attractive or not because it’s only fair. There’s no guy who decides to be with a woman who he doesn’t find sexually attractive but has a wonderful personality. Men only pick women they’d like to have sex with. If a man expects me to have sex with him it’s only fair that I be attracted to him. So if you want a beautiful woman you have to spend as much time making yourself attractive as she does. Why should I make such an effort for a guy who doesn’t bother?
Plus, we know the only reason you act so nice is because you know you have no other way of making us interested in you. And the reason you act so mean is because you’re trying to hide that you want us and/or you think you can make us underestimate our own worth. None of your bullshit will work on a woman with experience with men, and beautiful women see it all.
i sapport this statement all the way… when a man feels that a women is beautiful they tend to back off degrade themselfes and say” o i will never get her” when they should be thinking positive… if a male believe the female is not “out of his league” he wont be scared to approach her. she will put less stress on the male.. it happend to me and still does rading this makes me just want to tell that voice thats says “you’ll never get her to shut up” all males should listen up and BE CONVIDENT GO GET THEM if she says no then it happens to the best get up and try again
delaware
Michael A. Fox
While it lasts, aye ole boy? (Which by your own admission it doesn’t)
Perhaps you need to think using your big brain and work on your personality instead of thinking with your “little brain”
okay so taking about weight doesn’t have much to do with the evidence, skinniness isn’t usually considered ‘the’ most attractive part of a woman.
Besides I agree with one of the other posters, it would be a better test if they compared the ‘model’ with the pretty ‘girl next door’ who is attainable. doubt the show Beauty and the Geek helped the self esteem of that many men.
Sexy girls drive me crazy but i don’t know why i don’t talk to them and when i do, i look kinda stupid. am i nerdy or something?
I am a man who could generously be described as a ‘Clydesdale’, I’m a big man. I also date some incredible women. I’ve dated models who look incredible. They don’t make me feel bad, they make me feel wonderful.
After reading this article, I tested my self-image quotient with this: Who in today’s popular culture would be among my three choices to be stuck with alone on an uncharted island? In no particular order, and totally interchangeable, these three popped up immediately: Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, and Lisa Randall. The key attribute? A long shelf life in smart, self-assured and interesting. The fact that they are all three physically attractive women is certainly part of it, but the bottom line is that no matter how attractive a woman might be–or find me!–for an hour or so a day, if she and I do not find it fun to be with one another the other 23 hours, then I might as well be alone. This is not to say that there are not culturally-defined hotties out there who aren’t smart, self-assured and interesting; there are. But none of them popped immediately into my head at the thought of spending the rest of my life alone on a desert island with one other person.
oh girl come to papa aaw..but im thinking, why man,when he see a sexy girl, beautiful and slim they became crazy….hmmmm.girls are things can admired with many man……ohhhhhhh..but for me it is normal because as we see in our environment, sexy girls go out to the city and dreesed a crazy dress all man that can see her is will become paranoid….why girls dreesed like britney spears…is that a big question in my mind are they want to be told or just be paranoid……..aw…
You sound like a doll. Keep being yourself. That’s no way to live thinking your man might go off with someone else. If he looks at any girl, which I find disrespectful esp if your there, smack him upside the head and tell him to take a hike.
5’11, blonde hair, blue eyes a little overweight. 170 according to some that is “average”. Being 49 I have plenty to say on this subject, so much so that I am writing a book. Historically women’s bodies have been idealized, Botticelli to Andy Warhol, Cleopatra to “sexy” Sarah Palin. We all have our view of what turns us on. Most americans go for the supermodel Heidi Klum or Giselle. Until a year ago I was 150 very athletic and fit, then I went through menopause and gained 20 pounds. I don’t feel as sexy, I’m not as motivated and I don’t primp as much. So Yeah!!! Weight does matter. I have taught “overweight” aerobics to women who wouldn’t go to the gym because they felt uncomfortable. To conclude I would say that beauty comes from several places…
1. Self image, self confidence. What you believe about yourself is generated to others. And motivates you to stay healthy
2. Some people prefer anorexia thin, others prefer buxom and vuloptuous. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Although grace, poise and posture are paramount to any beautiful women.
3. Only the wealthy can afford plastic surgery, the rest of us have to rely on self discipline. You don’t get an endorphin blast from surgery.
4. My sister “was” the Prom queen, I was the ugly duckling. Now her looks have gone, when I enter a room people stop and take notice.
5. Lastly, I work in a man’s field. It’s true that men are intimidated and women diss me. I’ve dated much younger guys, which are more gentle men than gys my age…but in the end I married an average man, that could provide financially for me.
6. As humans we seek out companionship and use our resources to obtain what we desire. Magazines will always be around to tempt us. When we know ourselves then media will be irrelevant and we can see people for who they are. A sum of “all” there parts.
7. Sex sells! Tall buxom blonde. :)
They don’t need such a study to know what the average dude feels when a beautiful woman walks by. It is a real fact of life no need to spend time and money on picky definitions. As for what woman need my opinion is that no woman knows what she needs. As every human the more you give her the more she will ask for. But none can buy love.
Average weight is irrelevent. A woman can be 165lbs and appear skinny…if she is 5’11’. The criteria needs to be Body Mass Index or at least body fat %. Define “models”. A fashion or runway model is usually very different than one who appears in Maxim or Playboy. Was the face concidered? It is the most important feature to both men and women in physical appraisal. The out-of-my league phenomonon is a combination of many factors, percieved and real…appearance, social status, education, age, etc.
Wow – that’s a negative viewpoint. Women are not just after money! At least I’m not – or I wouldn’t date a teacher :). I don’t think how the sexy women feel is the point – the point is that magazine imagery makes both genders feel worse about themselves. How the women in those magazines feel is irrelevant – though, probably true that many are not happy.
I was always skeptical of the idea that women buy fashion magazines in droves even though the pictures supposedly make them feel bad. I am frankly disbelieving that men would buy porn if it made them miserable.
Maybe the only people who feel threatened by beautiful people are whiny, self entitled egoists who resent anyone who has something they don’t have, be it superior looks, intelligence or income. Maybe the rest of us are adults who know that in the real world there are going to be people who surpass is in some area. More to the point, maybe most of us don’t expect everyone else to cater to our insecurities.
Women will do anything to get money and attention = they will shed their weight, their clothes … The article does not cover the fact that most sexy girls often undergo depression and addiction .. because they have no self esteem and they worry about their security as their beauty and sex appeal starts fading