Hillary Clinton’s breasts making the Washington Post is one example that proves that no matter how successful a woman is, she will still be judged by her physical appearance. But what about the men? Are men judged as harshly as women? Are they judged at all?
I believe that men may be judged a little bit, but not in the demeaning way that women are. However, I want an open discussion that’s not one-sided so I decided to ask some male bloggers how they felt about the issue.
It’s no secret that John Chow makes a lot of money. In fact, he posts an income report every month. So with all this money, does his waistline matter? He said:
“I never gave that much thought. Partly because I’m in good shape. I work out a lot and maintain my health. However, a big part of it is I don’t see any “customers.” Most days, I am still working in my jammies. If my business requires me to go out and see people, then ya, I would be more concern than I am now.”
Another money-making blogger is Jeremy “Shoeymoney” Schoemaker. In fact I thought he’d be a good person to join in on the discussion because he lost 240 lbs. I asked if he did it because society made him feel bad about himself, or did he do it because he wanted to. He responded:
“It was 100% a health decision.”
So the question still remains, do you feel that successful men and successful women are held to the same standard in terms of body image ?
Mobile Technology Consultant Wayne Sutton said: “Sorry to say but no I don’t, I actually think women are held higher because in my mind they have to work harder to become successful.”
As an interesting tidbit, I asked 5 other male bloggers this question, none of them wanted to answer it. I guess that speaks for itself. Don’t say I never include men in the discussion but I’d like to welcome anyone who feels so inclined to answer the question. Do men have a body image standard to maintain or is it just women?


5 responses so far ↓
1 Carolanne // Dec 28, 2007 at 11:46 am
They didn’t want to answer because the answer is that they are the ones helping to maintain this standard.
2 Jessica // Dec 29, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Women are expected to not let themselves go. Men are expected to look neat and tidy but that doesnt always pertain to weight.
3 Wayne Sutton // Dec 30, 2007 at 12:27 am
Great post, I’m surprise other men didn’t want to comment, regardless body image shouldn’t matter but it does in the work place, so keep it up, but always be yourself.
4 Tracee Sioux // Dec 31, 2007 at 7:23 pm
A marketing guy recently told me he moved the eyes of a bride in a bridal magazine because the readers were going to be a bunch of women judging her saying, “why does she get to be in a magazine? She’s not that pretty.”
Uh, how come the groom gets to keep his eyes where he grew them?
Because the groom (the man) is not expected to be “perfect” - perfection is only expected from the bride.
But, in this scenerio it’s not the men who expect perfection from women - it’s the women. I find that to be true in a lot of areas.
Perhaps we - women - need to change our expectations of women and as women and then men will follow us.
5 Alissa // Dec 31, 2007 at 7:31 pm
Great post, very informative
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