Objectifying the Opposite Sex: Double Standard Edition

Hi. I’m here to talk about double standards but not in the way you probably think I am. I was on the phone with my mom earlier this week and she brought up Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie (of the Today Show) and how they made some comments about Matthew McConaughey. She said to me, “can you imagine if that was a male anchor saying that about a woman? He would get fired!” My response was something cheeky about the double standard that exists and we moved on in the conversation. But I’m right. There IS a double standard in situations like that. The double standard exists that allows for women to talk about McConaghey and the Hemsworths and objectify the shit out of them but nothing really happens and no one really says anything because the original comment(s) are made by women.

 

Also, think about this. This week, Adele revealed a photo of herself that showed her trimmed and toned body. The internet went berserk! We saw all sides of the spectrum from people championing her journey to people saying we shouldn’t celebrate it because she was beautiful before. Now, I’m not saying anyone is right or wrong here but where were the people saying we shouldn’t celebrate this MASSIVE achievement that shows commitment, discipline, and hard work when Chris Pratt or Kumail Nanjiani lost weight and got super in shape for their roles in the MCU? Is it because they were specifically training for a role and not just for a healthy lifestyle? They still put in the work to get to their hot bodies, the same as Adele, but because she is a woman we can’t even acknowledge that she looks fricken awesome now?

 

Look, I understand it is important to love one’s self, regardless of body shape or size, and body shaming is not ok, but it is also important to acknowledge that being overweight is not healthy. It takes a huge fucking commitment to eating healthy and working out to take off the pounds. We shouldn’t diminish anyone’s journey by feeling obligated to say “you were beautiful before” because the person who got in shape is a woman, when the internet makes dad bod jokes about Chris Pratt from his Parks and Rec days and then celebrated his abs, once he revealed them. And let's not forget how the masses were swooning when Kumail Nanjiani was on the cover of Men’s Health.

 

So yea, lets’ talk about Men’s Health covers for a sec. Women seem to be ok with objectifying the shit out of the celebrity men that grace its covers… Liam Hemsworth, Nick Jonas, Mark Wahlberg, and Michael B. Jordan, just to name a few that immediately came to mind. And to take it a step further, ESPN's The Body Issue. Women ogle over the men with strategically planned props and carefully thought out angles. And that is perfectly acceptable. But, it's not acceptable for a guy to ogle over the SI Swimsuit issue? And to take it even further that that, women and celebrity news outlets ogled over photos of Chase Crawford, in costume, for The Boys. But! How dare men say anything about Scarlett Johansson or Gal Gadot in their respective costumes as Black Widow and Wonder Woman.

 

I’m not saying that all humans should never be allowed to acknowledge the attractiveness of the opposite sex. Like one, that would be impossible… and two, just acknowledge, admit, or whatever the hell word you think is more appropriate, that women objectify men just as much as men seemingly objectify women. So my point is, women, stop getting mad when a guy wants to watch the Lingerie Football League, oh wait sorry the Legends Football League, when you just finished watching Magic Mike and are looking into buying tickets to Thunder From Down Under.✌