This is not a zero sum game. there’s no competition. We can deal with both problems, we don’t have to pick a side.
Well yes, and the starting point is by dismissing the myth that the double standards are not applied to everyone. They are applied differently, but it is not something that only affects one group of people.
Is that really a myth? Because it feels like the only time this point is brought up is to “dispel the myth”, not the myth itself which I frankly can’t recall having ever heard.
My theory is that it’s actually a mix of angry dudes feeling excluded because they weren’t explicitly included by women talking about their own struggles, and of the fact that men just generally don’t talk about their struggles. So the coverage feels disproportional and the only time the subject gets brought up it’s because some angry misogynist managed to weave it into an “us vs them” discourse.
Men’s mental health is a huge conversation to have but it’s extremely disheartening that in the mainstream conversation it always pops up through misogyny.
So in the spirit of actually doing something about men’s mental health, here’s some actual discourse on the subject
I’m convinced the current influencer body standard for women (huge asses, giant lips, etc) was some joke by plastic surgeons and they just rolled with it
Apparently anyone can become a plastic surgeon because I’d never get any sleep if I made people look like that.
Dude I like seeing sexy people on tv. If I want to look at something mediocre I can just look in a mirror.
Maybe for relationships but I’d be mad if Superman came out with bellyfat because that ruins the whole “Super” man idea. He’d just be Man…
i feel we have different definitons of dad bod, it doesn’t mean beer belly lol
it just means not having a sixpack and being able to see every single muscle fibre, it’s what henry cavill looks like when he isn’t filming a movie where he needs chiseled abs.
They are all on T.
and Amphetamines
yea bro we could actually get everything we would all look like that and all die at 50
Nah, they’ll all live to 70s-80s. Cause in addition to having access to these body-destroying drugs, they also have access to cutting edge medicine, and let me tell you, medicine ain’t what it was like in the 80s. We have solved lots of the problems these people will face due to these drugs. Sure, they’ll have a worse quality of life than if they never took them but we can make sure they survive. The rich have it good coming and going.
Im gonna ask you. What exactly is the problem with that?
I can walk into a plastic surgeon and talk about how I dont like my eyes/ears/nose/lips/etc and they will take a fucking scalpel and cut me up. I can get hair implants, butt implants, pec implants. I could eat until I have to waddle into a doctors office to be offered a veritable menu of weight loss drugs and invasive surgeries. If I were a woman and pound weight loss drugs, engage in extreme dieting and get some “work done” the general attitude will be “Yass Queen, live your best life!” and not to be transphobic (Its not coming from that place, think what you want) but I could even wholeheartedly believe that my entire gender is wrong and recieve surgeries, hormones and therapies to change that.
But because I’m a grown man in good shape who works out 6 days a week, despite their being an extensive list of drugs and compounds that can relatively safely* give me the body I’d love to have I’m not allowed to have them because they are “performance enhancing” like that isnt the whole reason I want them. I am told, that even with strict medical supervision, bloodwork and other support I’m straight up not allowed. People act like the recipe isnt “Steroids… and a FUCKLOAD OF WORK”
Im gonna ask you. What exactly is the problem with that?
One example of a problem is the fact that the majority of them do not openly talk about it. In fact it’s the opposite, they deny taking PEDs and claim it’s all hard work and that anybody can achieve it.
A more specific example is Chris Hemsworth who sells training programs that claim to give you his physique. Don’t you see the problem with this?
I do agree with you that it if people want to use it they should, under medical supervision and with full understanding of the risks and commitment they bring. My limited understanding of using exogenous hormones is that your body will lose the ability to properly make them and one is bound to taking them for life.
I see a problem with people lying about it, especially if they are profiting off the lie or using it to gain an unfair advantage in sports. The fact that they are illegal and you have to get them underground exacerbates the problem. Its not on your medical history, theres no official records of you being on them so you can lie.
The issue I have is theres a social distain towards steroids that seems unfair when compared to all the other things I listed. I’m not ashamed to tell you that I’m not on steroids, but only because I dont have reliable access to them. Because they are extremely illegal in Australia and because we are an island nation hard to smuggle in and therefore HORRIBLY expensive. If I could have my doctor manage a sensibly dosed regime, Id start tomorrow and I wouldnt lie for a second about it.
You’re half right about the hormones, you experience supression when coming off a cycle thats pretty much directly proportional to your dosage and duration when on steroids. Which is why Post Cycle Therapy (PCT) is a must, suplements that help rebalance your hormones and bring testosterone production back up.
The problem with them being illicit and distained is that theres nothing stopping people from just setting their own insane dosages, running terrible stacks (multiple different drugs/compounds), not doing adequate PCT and generally making up their own rules, leading to bad outcomes.
Agreed, they have to lie because its illegal, the ones who lie and sell workout plans are con-artists. Simple.
I don’t think it’s great that boys are comparing themselves to these guys, buy I agree that you should be allowed to do whatever you want to your body.
Agree 100%
Its like eating disorders or extreme dieting and modelling. The difference with PEDs is the lies, they are actors not athletes. Would it be more or less helpful to young men wanting to look like that to know the truth. “This took tens of thousands of dollars in trainers, dieticians and pharmaceuticals and working out was basically my job for 6 whole months” at least putting it in a realistic frame of reference.
Me, spending 6 months fighting with (and losing to) body dysmorphia but not knowing what it was, since I’m a man and no one told me:
As a woman it took 15 years before I found out what was wrong, at the time of finally seeing someone about it they said this was an average amount of time it takes to get help.
I hope you’re doing better now.