Where My Fat Guys At?

The Search for Dad-Bod Ken

Last I checked (in the mirror), there were fat guys in the world. We’re not hard to spot, but somehow we’re still managing to be ignored.

In fact, in a culture that’s specifically focusing on improving body image and combating body-shaming, fat guys seem to be shuffling under the radar.

I understand that body-shaming is a problem, and I understand that women are most negatively affected by it. I understand and agree that we need to take measures to correct body image issues. I just don’t understand why we need to limit that correction to only women.

No one is arguing that there is more societal pressure for women to conform to certain body types; I’ve written about it myself, in fact. There is, however, an active and ongoing effort to rectify that. For instance, some stores like Target are currently deploying female mannequins of varying body types.

Score one for women, right? I mean, that’s an enlightened and accepting approach. Some women are curvy. Some women are tall or petite. At times, some women are even pregnant (not that pregnant is a “body-type”, per se). Appropriately, there are mannequins to represent all of these.

We’ve struck a significant blow against ideal weight pressure by landing full-figured women on magazine covers and fashion runways; the holy grails of image acceptance. Comedians like Amy Schumer are making entire movies about the way society treats women who aren’t waifishly thin.

Does the importance of body-type acceptance and self image not transcend gender, though? Just because women are more subject to body image pressure doesn’t mean they’re exclusively subject to it. Our young men who struggle with weight during their formative years could use a more realistic representation of men, too.

Being an overweight guy, I’ve been aware of the discrepancy for some time now. I noticed that beside the…