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“Don’t compare your inside to someone else’s outside.” – Karen Walrond
Lynn Fang at Upcycled Love wrote a wonderful piece encouraging women to stop worrying about what society says is beautiful and realize that you are beautiful already, right now, just the way you are.
When viewed through the lens of society men suffer our own pressures and expectations.
There is man, and there is Man.
Man is a buff, sports loving, beer drinking, car fixing, stereotypical Man. Man does not cry. He always looks effortlessly buff and has the perfect combination of Brad Pitt scruff and George Clooney suave.
Man is supposed to have 6 pack abs and know the stats of the top ranking NFL quarterback, the top 3 point NBA shooter and the most current collegiate football rankings in that fucked up system they use.
Man is supposed to swear.
Man’s cars are fast, tough and cool, unless they’re trucks, and Man can fix anything.
Man is confident, cool, good with the ladies and bad with emotions.
Fuck that. This is for all the men out there.
We are men
We cry, we don’t have six pack abs and I don’t give a crap about sports
We are men, and we’re not all confident
We are men, and my scruff looks nothing like Brad Pitt’s and my arms don’t look like Vin Diesel’s
We are men and we don’t always like to get our hands dirty, we don’t all like to fix things, and some of us have no idea what the fuck a box wrench is
We are men, and we are perfect just the way we are
We are men, and when we talk to women, we’re usually scared out of our minds
We are men, and all we really have in common is X and Y chromosomes
We are men and that’s nothing to be ashamed of
We are men and that means liking sports is fine, but so is liking art, a good romance movie, a smutty book, or a hot fast car
We are men and there is no reason to not love ourselves
We are men and all that means is that we’re human
We are men, and we don’t have to be the idea of Man
We are men, and we need to be ourselves
We are men, and I don’t mean to be cliche, but men, we were born this way
We are men, this is who we are
We are men, and we should love ourselves because
We are men
If you’re a man, love and accept yourself and let the world know about it by sharing via the tweet and like buttons below. If you are a woman, support the men and women out there in loving themselves by doing the same. Share and spread the love.
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nice write man. lots of truth in your verse and we should be comfortable with and love ourselves…and at times i think we have as much a struggle with it as women.
Thank you Brian.
I agree, and it’s an under-examined struggle. I’m not complaining about the awareness that’s given to the pressure’s put on women, but I think it is important to highlight that similar pressures exist for men.
Loving this, Spyros. Great timing too, since I just had a conversation with two Spanish ladies yesterday who have spent time in Ireland. They both believe that Spanish women and Irish men make great couples because Irish men don’t try to be as macho as their Spanish counterparts.
There seems to be a lot more pressure in Spain to be a manly man, drinking beer, watching sports, rooting for the bullfighter. I’ve found it tough to be a non-drinking vegan here. I suspect the guys have difficulty respecting me because of those things.
But screw ‘em. I was in a manly pub last night, happily sipping away on my pineapple juice and talking to two pretty ladies, while all the manly men grunted about manly things to each other
Thanks Niall!
“Screw’em” is right, and you highlight an important point. Some of the reason we have so much trouble understanding and being able to talk to women is our own fault!