I agree here. And yes, all of you, I agree as well that there is not one way to be. The expectations put on men to look like superheroes is unfair, to say the least. I was simply talking ideals and personal ideas of what " perfection " looks like. Because for me, having an ideal to strive for is motivating. To see an actor or piece of art that conveys the type of masculinity I find beautiful is inspiring. Though I do not think it is good to look down on others for not sharing my view or standard - absolutely not. What is important is that the individual is healthy and happy with the way he is. And that can come in all shapes and sizes.
Perfect male form is such that brings out your potential the most. So, more or less one that makes the best out of your body shape while keeping the proportions right. That usually means keeping a healthy lifestyle with enough exercise. In other words both a skinny and hulking guy could look perfect to me if they look good for their type, healthy and simply strong enough. Not strong in some objective standard, just the subjective "enough" that probably means "able to go through life without too much trouble, being the best fighter in town not required". Could be Chris Hemsworth. Could be the Editors singer. Could be Colin Firth. Could be Jimmy Sommerville in spite of his shortness. Tl,dr, a healthy body that looks like its owner leads an active lifestyle is usually perfect enough. Athletic is always good, mass - if your bones are built to make the mass look good.
Once again, I agree. I feel that it's something that's not talked about a lot, but there are ridiculously high standards for how men should look and act. If we don't look like underwear models, then we're not handsome by society's standards (at least here in North America). If we're not hitting the gym five times a week, throwing back beers, or talking about sports; then we aren't masculine enough. It's super damaging, especially in the transmasculine community, which has the nasty habit of bashing some people by saying they aren't really trans if they don't like working out or doing stereotypical masculine behaviors. If we talk about our feelings of feeling not good enough, then we're sissies who need to "man up". It's utter shit, and not cool that so many people are embracing this kind of stuff.
Definitely agree with this. Not saying that every little boy aspires to be He-Man, but there is a certain homogeneity to the "ideal" male image that is persistent...everywhere. Unfortunately for me, I really am not all that "masculine", and my own ideal is something like this: