Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: Editorial/Opinion

Women have to put up with so much in this society of ours - child-rearing, high heels and men are just a few of the annoyances females in our country must endure throughout their lives. But perhaps the worst thing U.S. women suffer through is our society's ideal female body image, which is strangely to have as little body as possible.

High fashion has declared in recent decades that women must look as if they are about to crumble into dust to be attractive, if the slow disappearance of flesh from runway models over the years is any indication. Women are given the impression that they must starve themselves to be beautiful and to fit into the clothes dubbed to be "in."

It's all a travesty on society's part, this pushing of such an unhealthy body image for women. As a guy, I feel a tad guilty for some of my fellow man's insistence on such a destructive standard of beauty for women. And being a man of honor, I think it's high time we even the score between us and the fairer sex. I'm saying the time has come for men to have an ideal body image as unhealthy as women do.

The lecherous high fashion industry has, of course, already gotten a head start on my idea. According to a Feb. 7 New York Times article, the advent of the rail-thin male model has already begun. Many men in the fashion industry are roughly 6-foot-1 and weigh 155 pounds or some corresponding ratio of height to weight, according to the article, with waists measuring no more than 28 to 30 inches. Male models are being told to lose muscle in order to fit into clothes, trying to reach high fashion's new barely-there image for men.

With this new skinny-as-a-post male standard, we can finally sympathize with women in their quest to disappear into nothing. Now we can punish ourselves with unhealthy diets in attempts to look good and develop eating disorders at an alarming rate too, lucky us! We'll truly understand what it takes to be beautiful, that being a steady diet of self-loathing about our weight and not really much else.

Do I hear crickets out there? I expected this idea of mine might be met with some resistance. But I've got my reasoning behind supporting this new male beauty standard. First, I'm all about equality, so I believe if women have to suffer through this I must do so as well. Fair's fair, I say. Of course, it'd be best to just bring the standard for female beauty down to a healthy, attainable level, but the realist in me figures if society hasn't done that yet throughout modern civilization, it's not primed to do so all of a sudden. Raising the ideal male body image will be difficult, but not as difficult as it seems lowering society's strange expectations for female beauty would be.

This newly formed image of male attractiveness will also serve to bring guys away from their current acceptable body image. Men run around sporting guts with little-to-no shame, enjoying fast food and - gasp! - overeating from time to time. If men are made to think a little excess body fat is disgusting, then we'll be sure to see them start counting carbs, taking diet pills and engaging in other destructive means of losing weight.

Hopefully this change in body perception will lead us men to realize, just as many women have, that personality is not the source of attraction - skinniness is. If all works out to plan, we'll start saving time becoming educated and building our self-confidence and simply avoid food. We'll be well on our way to getting the body every woman desires, being an emaciated and sickly one. Think of the money we'll save on food, too; we can use those savings to take our newly acquired female companions out to the movies and dinner - well, on second thought, probably just movies. No popcorn, either.

Ultimately, though, I know this paradigm shift will fail miserably. Why? Because if I know most men correctly, they will reject this body image the fashion industry is starting to set. I know I personally am not going to give up eating three square meals a day and working out so I can become skin and bones, even if that's what all the magazines say I should do. I'd rather be able to carry my own groceries than be able to fit into size 28 pants. To expect your average man to strive for such an unhealthy body image is undeniably foolish.

What my question is, though, why don't women do the same? Why are some constantly starving themselves to get the bodies models and celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Mischa Barton have? I'm not saying women are weak-willed compared to men; rather I'm confused as to why more aren't bucking the body image the fashion industry has unfairly set for them and instead simply succumbing to it. Why do some women think this is what they must do to be attractive in our society?

We all need to realize beauty comes in many different forms. Sure, there are some gorgeous skinny women (Natalie Portman), but you'll also find beautiful women who are full-figured (Marilyn Monroe) or muscle bound (Gina Carano, a.k.a. Crush on "American Gladiators"). These women are also made much more desirable by how talented they are and how they carry themselves, something having little to do with how much they eat. There is obviously no single acceptable type of body that is considered attractive, so why act as if that's the case?

My point is the pressure to be thin is not inevitable. I have shown you how easy it is to reject an unhealthy ideal body image. You can still watch what you eat and be conscious of your health, but you can't let counting pounds become the entirety of who you are. Women and men alike should know society doesn't dictate how you should look - only you yourself do. The sooner we all realize this, the healthier this country is going to get.

Langton is a senior print journalism major and editorial editor of The Spectator. "What a Scoop!" appears every Thursday.

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