Have men's standards of beauty 'actually' changed all that much?

[Anonymous]

I just watched a documentary about obesity, and one of the things it talked about was the difficulty of being perceived as less attractive.

It then went on to discuss how the "thin obsession" is a new and socially-constructed concept caused by the malleability and superficial nature of men.

Here's the thing, modern humans have been around for 200,000 years. Obesity has been the norm for about 30 years. That means for 200,000 years humans have evolved to be attracted to each other based on a frame we would consider thin. Why are we shocked when we're less attracted to obesity, which was almost nonexistant for most of human history?

Furthermore, we idealize those that are farthest from the current epidemic. When starvation runs rampant, we idealize a curvaceous figure, while still pairing up with the thin women around us. Now that obesity is the greatest epidemic of the modern western world we idealize thin-to-normal figures. And contrary to the social narrative portrayed in your local health or sociology class, men's standards have actually raised in weight to reflect women's rise in weight.

I'm all for fat acceptance and not being a jerk to someone just because of their weight. But I don't like being told that I'm shallow and malleable for not thinking it's the sexiest thing in the world.

Can anyone identify with this?

[pickledxtofu]

2/3 of Americans are overweight with 1/3 being overweight and the other third being obese. So these individuals EXPECT that society change with them cause it's easier than them having to change.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with having preferences.

I don't think we should accept obesity. Why are there all of a sudden a bunch of "hormonal" issues that exist today that didn't exist 10-15-20 years ago? Let's face it, people in America generally have terrible eating habits.

[Asker]

Exactly! Though to be fair, there are a lot of things we have changed about food processing over the past few decades. Sweeteners, for instance, emphasize sweet-tasting fructose over the more dull glucose. Glucose can be used anywhere in the body, but fructose only gets processed in the liver and turns to liver fat and creates metabolism problems. That and other things. So it isn't etirely eating habits. It's hard to get healthy food.

[Anonymous]

I'm fat and while not every man is attracted to me there are a lot who are. If a woman still has other attractive features outside of her body there are men who will respond to that.also the degree of overweight matters too.I think there is a difference between a Jordon Sparks and a gabourey sidibe. If anything being fat is probably more attractive now because back in the 90s hardly anybody was fat, now most women are

[Anonymous]

Yes and no. Yes because I see a lot of guys that aren't fat with fat chicks on their arms , and no because guys still find thin women attractive. The only time I see fat guys with a woman period is either

A. The girlfriend or wife is fat too.

B. The guy is rich or well off financially

[FourStar]

I like fat asses and thick women but that's not to say I like banging around with thinner girls.

[whitneyalexandra]

I don't think obesity should be accepted! It's unhealthy but so is having an eating disorder like bulimia or anorexia. We can't win for losing. There's no happy medium anymore. Women like Marilyn Monroe were considered fat and she was a size 6. But everyone has their own personal preference. There are "chubby chasers". So there's someone out there for everyone. You're not shallow, you're having your own preferences.

[Cromartie]

I can identify with this.