This comment was posted by Carleton on the post “Three Reasons Why Men Don’t Know They are Beautiful” :
Interesting range of replies here. While I think the article itself is kind of entry level in terms of beginning the conversation, it would seem there are still some people who would rather not have the conversation at all. Why IS there such a resistance to the idea of male beauty? And why are we hung up on the idea that focusing on beauty in any way is somehow shallow or wrong? I don’t think the cultural wars about the focus on female beauty were about completely eliminating the idea of beauty–they were about realizing that there was more beyond the exterior, not about ignoring the exterior.
Men have been trained in many ways to not think about the exterior, not only to the detriment of their concept of beauty as it relates to them, but to the detriment of their health. No, beauty is NOT everything, and we should not become obsessed with the idea that beauty is the most important factor in anyone’s life or worth, BUT the concept of beauty is very much real. Psychologically, it often ties into our self-image and self-esteem, and I don’t think that’s necessarily an evil or morally wrong idea.
Those on here who are objecting to beauty because they feel they don’t fit into what the standard is–that’s not a matter of rejecting beauty in itself. that’s a matter of expanding the narrow definition of what beauty means. That HAS been one of the battles in the feminist movement when it comes to the subject of beauty–who is t who is deciding that “beauty” is only what we are seeing in magazines, and who is controlling access to those images or the ability of other body types to be seen and respected as beautiful. The individual definition of beauty is wide ranging, but we often are confronted only with a single type of it in the media, which defines for many that only this” is beautiful. This doesn’t warrant the rejection of beauty entirely, but the repurposing of how it is presented to allow for the fact that there are more tastes out there than the singular vision presented to us en masse by the media.
As someone attracted to men, i will tell you that men ARE beautiful, and there is nothing wrong with that at all. i will also tell you that my tastes in what constitutes beauty for me are far more wide ranging than just the cover of Men’s Health. I love men who are rail thin and flexible, men who carry a bit of extra weight and are confident in it, men with toned upper bodies but big fat asses (those are actually my favorite of all). But the physical beauty isn’t the only thing that is important. to me. If a guy is stunningly beautiful bu a complete dick, then i have no interest. if a guy is not beautiful, but is sweet and kind, that’s just as attractive.
We need to stop treating beauty like it’s something evil. It’s not the only thing there is, but it’s also not simply the mark of a shallow, narcissistic person either. Beauty serves many purposes beyond just the aesthetic pleasure, and we need to stop discounting it or raising it up to some god-like level of end-all-be-all. We should be able to accept it as a natural part of the human condition that we can embrace just like any other of our attributes. We don’t discount intelligence just because some people are more intelligent than others, or strength because some people are stronger than others. We see those as portions of a person’s identity, and we take them into consideration along with their other attributes. Beauty should just as easily fit into that model as any other attribute–a piece of the entire package.
Food for Thought:
Can we start to see beauty as just another attribute of a person, rather than THE thing that matters?
_____
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Interesting range of replies here. While I think the article itself is kind of entry level in terms of beginning the conversation, it would seem there are still some people who would rather not have the conversation at all. Why IS there such a resistance to the idea of male beauty? And why are we hung up on the idea that focusing on beauty in any way is somehow shallow or wrong? I don’t think the cultural wars about the focus on female beauty were about completely eliminating the idea of beauty–they were about realizing that there was more beyond the exterior, not about ignoring the exterior.
Men have been trained in many ways to not think about the exterior, not only to the detriment of their concept of beauty as it relates to them, but to the detriment of their health. No, beauty is NOT everything, and we should not become obsessed with the idea that beauty is the most important factor in anyone’s life or worth, BUT the concept of beauty is very much real. Psychologically, it often ties into our self-image and self-esteem, and I don’t think that’s necessarily an evil or morally wrong idea.
Those on here who are objecting to beauty because they feel they don’t fit into what the standard is–that’s not a matter of rejecting beauty in itself. that’s a matter of expanding the narrow definition of what beauty means. That HAS been one of the battles in the feminist movement when it comes to the subject of beauty–who is t who is deciding that “beauty” is only what we are seeing in magazines, and who is controlling access to those images or the ability of other body types to be seen and respected as beautiful. The individual definition of beauty is wide ranging, but we often are confronted only with a single type of it in the media, which defines for many that only this” is beautiful. This doesn’t warrant the rejection of beauty entirely, but the repurposing of how it is presented to allow for the fact that there are more tastes out there than the singular vision presented to us en masse by the media.
As someone attracted to men, i will tell you that men ARE beautiful, and there is nothing wrong with that at all. i will also tell you that my tastes in what constitutes beauty for me are far more wide ranging than just the cover of Men’s Health. I love men who are rail thin and flexible, men who carry a bit of extra weight and are confident in it, men with toned upper bodies but big fat asses (those are actually my favorite of all). But the physical beauty isn’t the only thing that is important. to me. If a guy is stunningly beautiful bu a complete dick, then i have no interest. if a guy is not beautiful, but is sweet and kind, that’s just as attractive.
We need to stop treating beauty like it’s something evil. It’s not the only thing there is, but it’s also not simply the mark of a shallow, narcissistic person either. Beauty serves many purposes beyond just the aesthetic pleasure, and we need to stop discounting it or raising it up to some god-like level of end-all-be-all. We should be able to accept it as a natural part of the human condition that we can embrace just like any other of our attributes. We don’t discount intelligence just because some people are more intelligent than others, or strength because some people are stronger than others. We see those as portions of a person’s identity, and we take them into consideration along with their other attributes. Beauty should just as easily fit into that model as any other attribute–a piece of the entire package.
– See more at: https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/3-reasons-men-dont-know-beautiful-grgs/#sthash.BEZlcyKh.dpuf
Interesting range of replies here. While I think the article itself is kind of entry level in terms of beginning the conversation, it would seem there are still some people who would rather not have the conversation at all. Why IS there such a resistance to the idea of male beauty? And why are we hung up on the idea that focusing on beauty in any way is somehow shallow or wrong? I don’t think the cultural wars about the focus on female beauty were about completely eliminating the idea of beauty–they were about realizing that there was more beyond the exterior, not about ignoring the exterior.
Men have been trained in many ways to not think about the exterior, not only to the detriment of their concept of beauty as it relates to them, but to the detriment of their health. No, beauty is NOT everything, and we should not become obsessed with the idea that beauty is the most important factor in anyone’s life or worth, BUT the concept of beauty is very much real. Psychologically, it often ties into our self-image and self-esteem, and I don’t think that’s necessarily an evil or morally wrong idea.
Those on here who are objecting to beauty because they feel they don’t fit into what the standard is–that’s not a matter of rejecting beauty in itself. that’s a matter of expanding the narrow definition of what beauty means. That HAS been one of the battles in the feminist movement when it comes to the subject of beauty–who is t who is deciding that “beauty” is only what we are seeing in magazines, and who is controlling access to those images or the ability of other body types to be seen and respected as beautiful. The individual definition of beauty is wide ranging, but we often are confronted only with a single type of it in the media, which defines for many that only this” is beautiful. This doesn’t warrant the rejection of beauty entirely, but the repurposing of how it is presented to allow for the fact that there are more tastes out there than the singular vision presented to us en masse by the media.
As someone attracted to men, i will tell you that men ARE beautiful, and there is nothing wrong with that at all. i will also tell you that my tastes in what constitutes beauty for me are far more wide ranging than just the cover of Men’s Health. I love men who are rail thin and flexible, men who carry a bit of extra weight and are confident in it, men with toned upper bodies but big fat asses (those are actually my favorite of all). But the physical beauty isn’t the only thing that is important. to me. If a guy is stunningly beautiful bu a complete dick, then i have no interest. if a guy is not beautiful, but is sweet and kind, that’s just as attractive.
We need to stop treating beauty like it’s something evil. It’s not the only thing there is, but it’s also not simply the mark of a shallow, narcissistic person either. Beauty serves many purposes beyond just the aesthetic pleasure, and we need to stop discounting it or raising it up to some god-like level of end-all-be-all. We should be able to accept it as a natural part of the human condition that we can embrace just like any other of our attributes. We don’t discount intelligence just because some people are more intelligent than others, or strength because some people are stronger than others. We see those as portions of a person’s identity, and we take them into consideration along with their other attributes. Beauty should just as easily fit into that model as any other attribute–a piece of the entire package.
– See more at: https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/3-reasons-men-dont-know-beautiful-grgs/#sthash.BEZlcyKh.dpuf
Interesting range of replies here. While I think the article itself is kind of entry level in terms of beginning the conversation, it would seem there are still some people who would rather not have the conversation at all. Why IS there such a resistance to the idea of male beauty? And why are we hung up on the idea that focusing on beauty in any way is somehow shallow or wrong? I don’t think the cultural wars about the focus on female beauty were about completely eliminating the idea of beauty–they were about realizing that there was more beyond the exterior, not about ignoring the exterior.
Men have been trained in many ways to not think about the exterior, not only to the detriment of their concept of beauty as it relates to them, but to the detriment of their health. No, beauty is NOT everything, and we should not become obsessed with the idea that beauty is the most important factor in anyone’s life or worth, BUT the concept of beauty is very much real. Psychologically, it often ties into our self-image and self-esteem, and I don’t think that’s necessarily an evil or morally wrong idea.
Those on here who are objecting to beauty because they feel they don’t fit into what the standard is–that’s not a matter of rejecting beauty in itself. that’s a matter of expanding the narrow definition of what beauty means. That HAS been one of the battles in the feminist movement when it comes to the subject of beauty–who is t who is deciding that “beauty” is only what we are seeing in magazines, and who is controlling access to those images or the ability of other body types to be seen and respected as beautiful. The individual definition of beauty is wide ranging, but we often are confronted only with a single type of it in the media, which defines for many that only this” is beautiful. This doesn’t warrant the rejection of beauty entirely, but the repurposing of how it is presented to allow for the fact that there are more tastes out there than the singular vision presented to us en masse by the media.
As someone attracted to men, i will tell you that men ARE beautiful, and there is nothing wrong with that at all. i will also tell you that my tastes in what constitutes beauty for me are far more wide ranging than just the cover of Men’s Health. I love men who are rail thin and flexible, men who carry a bit of extra weight and are confident in it, men with toned upper bodies but big fat asses (those are actually my favorite of all). But the physical beauty isn’t the only thing that is important. to me. If a guy is stunningly beautiful bu a complete dick, then i have no interest. if a guy is not beautiful, but is sweet and kind, that’s just as attractive.
We need to stop treating beauty like it’s something evil. It’s not the only thing there is, but it’s also not simply the mark of a shallow, narcissistic person either. Beauty serves many purposes beyond just the aesthetic pleasure, and we need to stop discounting it or raising it up to some god-like level of end-all-be-all. We should be able to accept it as a natural part of the human condition that we can embrace just like any other of our attributes. We don’t discount intelligence just because some people are more intelligent than others, or strength because some people are stronger than others. We see those as portions of a person’s identity, and we take them into consideration along with their other attributes. Beauty should just as easily fit into that model as any other attribute–a piece of the entire package.
– See more at: https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/3-reasons-men-dont-know-beautiful-grgs/#sthash.BEZlcyKh.dpuf
That is straight culture, though. Straight guys WANT it to be like that, and you have to understand it for once and for all. Straight guys won’t put effort into their appearance because they don’t want to, because that is supposed to be “manly” in their heads and because that is something only women (and the gays) are supposed to do – and everything women do is something men should never do,and if they do they are downgrading themselves to the inferior level of the inferior gender. Get it? Why is it so difficult to comprehend or to accept, just… Read more »