Tell me, what is strange about these images?
They are all images that appear in advertisements for the clothing line Abercrombie and Fitch. Notice something illogical with this scenario? For advertisements for a clothing brand these men are wearing surprisingly little clothing.
So how does this advertise clothing? Well, they are not exactly selling clothing so much as selling a brand and an image that goes with it.The main people are are buying into this image are adolescents, both boys and girls.
There is significant discourse about girls and body image. Concerned adults tread carefully, trying to emphasize the unreality of super-thin female models but little attention is given to how portrayals of men in popular media may relate to boy's body image.
Boys are expected not to be effected by images such as these in a harmful way while girls are expected to be deeply damaged by skeleton thin models. I would suggest that boys are actually more susceptible to harmful body images due to advertisements like Abercrombie's, mainly because girls are educated about the dangers anorexia and bulimia as well as taught the realities of photo airbrushing. With fewer boys advocacy groups than girls' they do not receive the same kind of education, leaving them more vulnerable to body image issues.
Perhaps this is because images of defined six packs create the illusion
of health. The assumption is that these individuals exercise and eat
right to achieve their chiseled musculature but having no fat to cover
these muscles is not exactly healthy. By under emphasizing these problems boys are taught that for them boy image is a non-issue.Moreover, the nature of this medium in particular, advertising, communicates something different than the photo on its own. The fact that they use these pictures in an advertisements for a clothing company shows that to them a trim body and a six pack is more more important than anything, even than their clothes. This seems to take on added meaning from someone who is, in fact, trying to sell clothing which covers up the body. For example, a Renaissance sculpture with similar subject matter would not communicate the same message because there is no agenda to sell the very thing in opposition to what the is image is glorifying. So, since Michaelangelo was not trying to sell t-shirt, his portrayal of a naked man says something different than Abercrombie and Fitch's.
Really, it is less about the image and more about the value messages behind the image. Boys need education about body image just as much as girls do. In the quest to identify gender biases and to protect historically marginalized girls we should not forget that boys face the very same problems.
Very interesting articles! I basically write about this same subject in my blog (in spanish, though). I see you haven't written anything in 2013 so far, so I hope to read something new from you soon!
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