Today, in SOC 101 we were covering Symbolic Interactionism, and we watched a video on weight-training. It featured four high-school boys, and interviews of what they thought of weight-training, what they think the girls look for in a guy, girls’ perspective of what they look for in a guy, as well as people in the fitness business (trainers, supplement store rep, etc.). It was definitely an interesting video, because when people talk about being image conscious most would automatically think of girls — e.g. how the media portrays beautiful women. I haven’t heard a lot of talk about the pressure guys (especially young men) experience in terms of their weight, and appearance in general.
The funniest thing (well, maybe I shouldn’t use the word funny) in the video was when they asked all the guys about what they think girls look for, which of course they all unanimously agreed that girls want guys who are fit, with big muslces. However, when they asked the girls what they want in a guy, none of them answered anything about muscles or being fit. One girl said she looks for a guy with a nice smile, another said someone who has a little flub, and of course one answered that she looks at the personality. So the guys who want to attract girls by weight-training are really doing what least appeals to girls. And to put the icing on the cake, a lot of the girls said that big muscles are disgusting!
Apart from the video, I can hear some of the girls in my class saying “gross” or “disgusting” when images of really cut men appeared in the video. So why is it that young men feel the need to be big? What drives them?
January 19th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Oh! How sociological! Well you know me; I always have something to say. I think that there are many messages in society - media, family members, peers, celebrities - that tell boys how to become “real men” and what women are looking for. Even though these guys supposedly worked out to be attractive to women, they are also working out to be better than other guys. I don’t think it is just about the sexual attraction. It’s also about competition, dominance and power.
January 19th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
hahha, toned bodays are an extra pkg . HAha.. it means they exercise regularly and it can somewhat be concluded that they are healthy. tha’ts a pretty funny discussion tho> haaa