I try not to be vain. I mean, no one is perfect, right?
This time of year, people start to shed the many layers they used to keep them warm over the winter, and some even go as far as to strip down to their bare skin. No, not totally naked, but men have a tendency to strip their top halves right down to nothing. I don’t blame them. The weather this time of year is so finicky, that if society allowed women equal rights, I would probably strip my top half too. But, I’m a woman, so my shirt will remain on.
But men get all comfortable, and also, unlike women, are more comfortable with their bodies. That being said, you see male bodies of all shapes and sizes. Now I’d like to enter a disclaimer: I’m not body shaming. I am not a body-shamer. I, myself, struggle dearly with image issues and would never intentionally try to make anyone feel bad about his or her body. But when men are strolling around, flaunting what god gave them, there is one body that always catches my eye… THE DAD BOD.
There is something about that "dad bod" that really just gets me every time I see it. When I do see a dad bod on a young, good-looking college student, I can’t stop looking. To be honest, I’m not attracted to a guy who has a dad bod. I never really have been. I prefer men who are physically fit.
That’s all I have to say about the dad bod. You see, as a feminist, I strive to create equality between men and women. One of my personal goals is to create image equality between the two genders. People stress all the time how shaming women for their bodies is wrong, and how it should be stopped. There are feminists who fight for this right. But if shaming women for their bodies is wrong, what makes shaming men for their bodies right?
We are all human, we all thoroughly enjoy food to some extent, we all have different genes that make up our DNA. We all have to work, to run errands, to be happy, and live. If a man has a dad bod, is a body builder, is skinny, or tall, or short, that is who he is. If women are uncomfortable for men shaming them for their body types, it’s very hypocritical for them to turn around and shame men for theirs.
Don’t get me wrong, we are all allowed to be attracted to different types of people. I may not be attracted to the dad bod, but I’m not going to sit here and degrade a man for having one. Good for him. If you aren’t attracted to a bodybuilder, that’s fine, too, but there is no reason for you to make him feel bad for having a body that he worked hard for.
The moral of my story is this:We need to stop hating people, for their religions, for their bodies, for things that make them the beautiful human beings they are. Feminists need to focus on equality between men and women, things like image AND pay gaps.
We need to learn how to love again, dad bod or no dad bod.
