Something interesting happened the other day that made me take a CLOSE look at myself. One of my POSSE had a recent “Playboy” (I hadn’t seen one in years, but I do remember me and my best friend “sneaking peaks” from his Dad’s stash!). Well, I took the obligatory look at the Centerfold and remember thinking; "yea…she’s cute…but those straight legs with no calves…skinny arms and shoulders…baby ain’t got no back…I’ve seen cuter in “MuscleMag”…WOW! I realized that in a few short years, my concept of PHYSICAL “beauty” had changed! The “Centerfold”, and her ideal, had thrust many a young boy into puberty, and here I was a few years later and my “ideal” had changed!(For you younger bucks, I don’t think the anorexic, “Maxim Babe” look is so great either). Now…this is a thread that I won’t mind being ripped on because I’m not so sure that I’m “proud” of this “media induced?” shift in my PHYSICAL ideal. But as always…I would love to hear you guys thoughts…
You won’t find any flaming from me. It’s not just you. Look at the American society’s “female ideal” over the last several decades. Changed quite a bit. Definitely media induced. And not just body proportions (also skin tone, cosmetics colors, etc.). But I think in your case (and mine, and many others I suspect), it’s more a case of what’s important to you being projected into the object of your desire. Physical strength and muscular proportion have become important to you. You now look for those things and find them desireable in women. I found that as my athletic activities changed over the years, that which I found as attractive physical qualities in women around me changed accordingly. Not too terribly surprising.
I’m right there with you Mufasa. I still don’t mind checking out the centerfolds in Gallery and Penthouse, but I much prefer the more athletic look that you find in the muscle rags. I’d rather go for an athletic girl anyday over some anorexic, no shaped, skinny girl who has been airbrushed in a few spots. More power to the athletic girls.
Boys, I was thinking just the same thing the other day. The biggest problem is trying to convince a woman with an athletic frame that she has the type of body that a lot of T-Men are looking for, not the “bag of bones” look that you see today.
Besides, does anyone else besides me have a hard time getting excited about another air brushed centerfold with fake tits (or joke bags as my mates call 'em)? Enough with the implants already–let’s see the real thing, ladies!
For my money, there’s still nothing hotter than a women with visible muscle tone.
My $0.02.
I don’t go for the skinny Maxim look either. I like it when a girl’s in shape. The girl’s got to have a little meat on her bones. I’d even choose overweight over skinny… Skinny girls just completely turn me off. Has anyone noticed the latest trend in Hollywood, with actresses getting really skinny? I just don’t get it.
Hear, hear Mufasa! I too, prefer the athletic look, as long as the ladie’s abs don’t look like I could wash my clothes on them. And if her arms are bigger than mine, I’m gone. Here is a personal epiphany that I’m sure most of you guys have had (or will someday). Remember the first time you looked at a centerfold’s age stats and realized that she was YOUNGER than you? For years, these women were always older and that held a certain mystique for me. Now I look at them and think “Huh, an 18 year old naked kid, whatever”. Just wait until you look at a centerfold and realize that she’s the same age as your DAUGHTER!! Creepy, man, real creepy.
Yep…I read you LOUD AND CLEAR, Bro!..it puts you in a “Zone” that you most definitely ain’t comfortable in!..and let me tell you…let that Centerfold have that same “Hi; I love you, Daddy!” smile on her face…and you feel like something that a Slug just excreted at the bottom of a dirty lake!(LOL!)
Mufasa, my man, you speak the gospel as usual! I feel like I’m gonna break those “little” girls when I even look at them let alone touch them. EAT SOMETHING is the phrase of choice for those little waifs. Then maybe they’ll have enough energy to drag their skinny little non-existent ass into a gym.
Great post. You’re the shit brother. Plain and simple
I’m there! I like to see some degree of muscular development. This tells you that the Lady has strength of will, determination, and discipline. These command respect. When you combine physical attraction and respect, boy do the sparks fly!
Interesting note about beauty: Back in the day (way back), the ideal woman was chubby and white as a sheet. That’s because being overweight meant you had money and status. (Back then, poor people couldn’t afford to eat enough to get fat, so if you were fat you must be rich and powerful.) Look at the old classic paintings and you’ll see a lot of lily skinned fat women.
These days, most men like lean and tan girls, women thought of before as peasants! Why? They’re thin and the only people who had tans back then were the ones that labored outside in the fields.
These days, women pay to get fake tans and spend a whole lot of money to be lean (more expensive health foods, supplements, trainers, gym memberships etc.) and in a study I read in Time magazine, most of America’s poor are overweight. Weird, huh?
It’s interesting how things have changed, isn’t it? I can answer the thing about how poor people are now overweight…have you seen what the government tries to feed the poor? Nothing but white-flour products, sugar, butter, cereals and other processed crap! No wonder we are getting fatter as a society. People eat more junk now than ever! And our government assistance doesn’t provide for the fresh foods and lean meats. Besides, most poor people don’t know what is good for them (they just want something to eat). And many still can’t afford to buy the good food! Sucks, doesn’t it?
Chris - the topic you’ve brought up is one I’ve studied extensively and am quite passionate about. It’s not “weird” that ideals of female beauty shift so radically if one accepts the notion (I know I’ll get blasted for being too PC for writing this) that society has a major stake in keeping women subjugated. Whatever is most unachievable for the masses of women is what has been considered fashionable at any given time. It’s no coincidence that the whole skinny look only became popular once the women’s lib movement began gaining momentum - after all, making them always feel fat and worthless is a great way to undermine women’s potential. Our society (that is, modern western society) is the only society in the history of the world where skinny women have been considered attractive. It makes you wonder what’s wrong with us. In my opinion (again, sure to catch me some flak), it’s a last-ditch effort to stem the tide of women’s advancement, and probably the most effective means of doing so to date.
Mufasa - maybe your ideal hasn’t shifted all that much. Maybe you found centerfolds more attractive back in the day because they weren’t so dang skinny and fake looking, but you find them unattractive now because they are. Maybe (I’d say certainly) centerfolds’ bodies are what’s changed over the years, not your perception of them.
I don’t agree with your assertation. Sure there are beer, truck and lawnmower commercials that use scantily clad women (god bless them) to sell the products to men… but I personally get a little choked when women blame men for it all.
Look at all the products that are tageted at women... they still use attactive, sexy women to sell to women.... The seller's prey on the consumer's belief that if they use it they will look like the girl in the ad.
Women are infact responsible for much of the sexuality in advertising.
Wow…you really made me think about something, Zev. A few weeks ago, I saw “Some Like It Hot” on “Bravo” as a tribute to Jack Lemmon. Do you guys recall Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon sitting in a loft and watching Marilyn Monroe’s butt as she sort of “walked;swished” down the train ailse? Baby had back, man! Today…Marilyn would probably be considered…FAT! Wow…I guess we don’t have to go as far back as the Renassaince to see the changes in the perceptions of beauty…
Everyone has good points to this post. In my opinion, the athletic and slightly voluptuous woman is coming back in vogue. For example, look at Jennifer Lopez who actually popularized the dreaded “big booty” that so many women fought for years to avoid. Even look at Mariah Carey now a days…it looks like she added a little meat to her bones!
thanks guys…it’s nice to know there are men out there who appreciate women who don’t look like walking skeletons!
Hannibal, I wish I could agree, but I think J Lo is the exception and not the norm. Yes, most every man on Earth finds her attractive, but women’s negative self perceptions have not changed one iota since she came on the scene, eating disorders continue to increase at a geometric rate the world over, and every model out there is still rail thin. Plus, another important fact to note about J Lo is that every though she’s curvy, she’s sure as hell not flabby. There seems to be some tacit social acceptance of differently-shaped female bodies so long as they adhere to the “show no flab” rule. No matter how big her booty, you’ll NEVER see a female in the media portrayed with cellulite on her thighs or belly. Extra pounds of that sort, though possessed by 99% of the women in the world, are still totally unacceptable by our society’s standards.
As far as Mariah goes, I'm not sure I agree with your assertion that she's bulked up. It seems to me that she's gotten skinnier, hoochier (for lack of a better term), and whiter-looking as the years have gone by (but as for why she would have felt the motivation todo that, that's another topic entirely). In fact, I think of her as pretty much embodying every negative female body stereotype out there.
Yes, my friend, Marilyn Monroe, once considered the epitome of female beauty, would never be able to land an acting or modeling gig in today’s world. A frightening, oft-cited statistic: In the 1950’s, the average model weighed 8% less than the average woman; today, the average model weighs 23% less than the average woman.
Yup, Marylin would be about a size 12 now. Size standards have gotten much smaller over the years! Oh, and I just re-read my last post, I dind’t mean to sound so self-depricating!! laugh what I meant was that it’s good to know that there are men who like a different ‘standard’ of woman. I’ve been asked by women I work with why I go to the gym every day, aren’t I afraid of getting ‘big’? It’s just a different culture I guess!