Gender Differences in Regards to Weight Issues

I do not think that the degree of pressure and criticism relating to weight is equal between females and males. At the same time I do not understand the reasons as to why this might be. There is certainly a greater amount of media attention focused on the ideal feminine form than there is focus on the analogous masculine form. Of course, as a male, I may be completley biased in this declaration. The only possible explanation that I could come up with revolves around the fact that in our society, it is typically the male that pursues the female. Consequently, due to this emphasis on initial male choice, females feel greater pressure to fit societal models of ideal beauty and attractiveness. To an extent, I think that females willingly search for ways to make themselves more attractive and in doing so they put themselves at greater susceptibility to the media and societal representations of "beauty."

As far as I know, there is no Cosmopolitan for guys. This is not to say that there is not societal pressure placed on males, just that the amount of attention focused on the ideal male image is slighted in comparison. It is also important to note that for males, while there is not as much pressure to diet and stay "thin," there is a lot of pressure on the other side of the spectrum. The Adonis Complex seems to be a widespread condition wherein males feel that they do not match the seemingly normal image of the muscularly fit man. Simply, there is a lot of pressure to gain muscle mass to acheive a better body image.

Still, these differences aside, I feel that overall, weight-related societal pressure falls harder on females. This imbalance seemed evident to me while reading the introduction to "Bodies out of Bounds." The focus only shifted directly to males when discussing the idea of overweight performers. From the example given (Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle) to multiple recent examples that I have come up with (John Candy, Chris Farley, Kevin James, etc.) it seems that, especially in comedy, there is plenty of room for overweight individuals. I feel like the male overweight comic arose before the female (Jo Brand). Another important issue to address stems off of this acceptance in the comedy circuit. Is it enough for overweight comedians to be accepted because they mock themselves and their body image? Or does this only further the marginalization of fatness? While I appreciate the ability to laugh at oneself, I feel that the acceptance of an overweight performer who does not objectify his or her body would be ideal.