Ahh, but I didn't say 'attractive'. Just that expected him to be more cut. Which I did. Because apparently my brain sees that as normal.
It was actually a totally clinical, emotionless reaction. Kind of surprised me. Like, 'really, brain? That's your idea of a normal healthy male?'
Apparently though that's sort of my baseline?
It's weird when I'm around normally built guys. I'm like 'why are you so skinny?' somewhere in the back of my head. -_-; But I do think that guys who have that little belly showing should do something about it. I have no issues with quietly judging them, though, because I know that as a female they are all silently judging me as well. So screw 'em.
I have a very weird attitude toward testosterone , though, because eventually you just kind of start to wish those guys would get the hell over it and go do something besides repeatedly trying to bench press the weight of their entire family. Read some poetry. Something. Two hours at the gym every day is great for your physique but doesn't necessarily lead to a better or more well-rounded personality, and I've met a lot of dicks who just happen to have very well-defined pectorals. Sometime I'll tell you about the guy who is apparently a millionaire graduate of Stanford who teaches IT or something and does very well in competition...guy's a total asshole. Seriously.
But you did say he needs to work on it, which implies that there is something wrong with how he looks. I can understand expecting someone to look one way and then finding out he doesn't; it was the use of "needs" that bothered me here.
I don't think people should have to do anything about their appearance. They're not hurting you personally, and they're not hurting themselves. (Obviously, it would be different if their health was suffering.) I don't think people should have a certain image/how to look a certain way pushed on them. Different body types should be celebrated. I know tons of people who work out very frequently, both cardio and weight-lifting, and it doesn't show - so it doesn't mean that they aren't trying, you know? It's up to each individual person with how they want to look and I don't think they should be judged for that. People should feel like they can do what makes them happy - again, as long as it's not harmful.
I do understand where you're coming from about having a different base rate and being surprised when someone doesn't look how you expect them to. Again, I hope you don't feel like I'm being rude; I'm certainly not intending to be! And I would very much like to hear about that Stanford guy sometime, haha.
Heh, well, I probably need to tweak my initial reactions to a point, but this one was pretty much based on natural expectations. And everyone has expectations, I think. Mine happen to be founded in personal, immediate experience. I expect certain things because my experiences have framed them as 'normal'. They aren't really normal for the general population, but it's a basic, ingrained sort of thing.
I do apply a slightly different standard to people who are in the business of capitalizing on human beauty for profit, too. Which is something the entertainment industry is sort of famous for. I'm not too worried about hurting Jensen Ackles' feeling because honestly I doubt he cares much that some girl in Ohio was vaguely disappointed by his lack of pectoral definition. I can't help but think that the whole 'shirtless Dean' thing was intended to be kinda fanservicey, and as a fan I'm gonna have an opinion. Not everyone likes Padalecki's huge ginormous muscled form, and not everyone is gonna look at Ackles and have the same reaction either. They put this stuff out there to attract and/or please viewers, and ultimately to get paid. I tend to see it as a very cynical activity, and am not too troubled that I respond to it cynically. I'm probably not going to have that same response in real life to some dude I just met, unless he's also getting paid to take his shirt off.
Eh, anyway I could write a really long-winded post here about the role of the entertainment industry in selling us unattainable standards of beauty, and how complicit individuals are in that, but blah. Mainly what happened is I was expecting one thing and got something else, and that's just how it happened. I understand why it bugs you, but this may be a situation where our opinions will continue to diverge.
I was also disappointed by the lack of a handprint, but that's a post for another time. :D
Heh, I read somewhere today that the handprint was supposedly healed at the end of 5.22, to which I cry 'Bah!' and maybe also 'Fie!' Because maaaaaaaan.
It was actually a totally clinical, emotionless reaction. Kind of surprised me. Like, 'really, brain? That's your idea of a normal healthy male?'
Apparently though that's sort of my baseline?
It's weird when I'm around normally built guys. I'm like 'why are you so skinny?' somewhere in the back of my head. -_-; But I do think that guys who have that little belly showing should do something about it. I have no issues with quietly judging them, though, because I know that as a female they are all silently judging me as well. So screw 'em.
I have a very weird attitude toward testosterone , though, because eventually you just kind of start to wish those guys would get the hell over it and go do something besides repeatedly trying to bench press the weight of their entire family. Read some poetry. Something. Two hours at the gym every day is great for your physique but doesn't necessarily lead to a better or more well-rounded personality, and I've met a lot of dicks who just happen to have very well-defined pectorals. Sometime I'll tell you about the guy who is apparently a millionaire graduate of Stanford who teaches IT or something and does very well in competition...guy's a total asshole. Seriously.
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I don't think people should have to do anything about their appearance. They're not hurting you personally, and they're not hurting themselves. (Obviously, it would be different if their health was suffering.) I don't think people should have a certain image/how to look a certain way pushed on them. Different body types should be celebrated. I know tons of people who work out very frequently, both cardio and weight-lifting, and it doesn't show - so it doesn't mean that they aren't trying, you know? It's up to each individual person with how they want to look and I don't think they should be judged for that. People should feel like they can do what makes them happy - again, as long as it's not harmful.
I do understand where you're coming from about having a different base rate and being surprised when someone doesn't look how you expect them to. Again, I hope you don't feel like I'm being rude; I'm certainly not intending to be! And I would very much like to hear about that Stanford guy sometime, haha.
Reply
I do apply a slightly different standard to people who are in the business of capitalizing on human beauty for profit, too. Which is something the entertainment industry is sort of famous for. I'm not too worried about hurting Jensen Ackles' feeling because honestly I doubt he cares much that some girl in Ohio was vaguely disappointed by his lack of pectoral definition. I can't help but think that the whole 'shirtless Dean' thing was intended to be kinda fanservicey, and as a fan I'm gonna have an opinion. Not everyone likes Padalecki's huge ginormous muscled form, and not everyone is gonna look at Ackles and have the same reaction either. They put this stuff out there to attract and/or please viewers, and ultimately to get paid. I tend to see it as a very cynical activity, and am not too troubled that I respond to it cynically. I'm probably not going to have that same response in real life to some dude I just met, unless he's also getting paid to take his shirt off.
Eh, anyway I could write a really long-winded post here about the role of the entertainment industry in selling us unattainable standards of beauty, and how complicit individuals are in that, but blah. Mainly what happened is I was expecting one thing and got something else, and that's just how it happened. I understand why it bugs you, but this may be a situation where our opinions will continue to diverge.
I was also disappointed by the lack of a handprint, but that's a post for another time. :D
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