Men feeling pressure of media portrayal

Modern males are struggling to conform to the unattainable ideal of the amiable, overweight dullard.

"Everywhere we look, we are bombarded by media images of men as podgy, lovable buffoons," claims psychology guru and international charlatan Toby Pretentioú.

"Advertisements on billboards, buses and television consistently portray men as chubby idiots; often standing next to a confident, beautiful woman who is raising an amused-but-tolerant eyebrow at their feeble antics. Can you image how that makes men feel?"

Web designer Jeff Bloke, 28, agreed: "I guess I do feel a lot of pressure to live down to the ideal of a lovable pillock. My girlfriend tells me not to worry about it, that she's not interested in that sort of thing and that the guys in the adverts have most of their stupidity airbrushed in."

"But then I found a whole pile of magazines in her bedside cabinet with titles like That's Life! and Take a Break, which has a regular column called 'Aren't Men Daft!'. So what the hell am I supposed to think?"

This concern is echoed by 40-year-old father-of-three Alan Fellah: "Often I catch myself helping around the house, doing something thoughtful for my wife or making an interesting comment. Then I feel really guilty and overadequate.

Sometimes I even try and fake it. Like putting on a kind of 'duhhh?' expression of foiled surprise when she joined a women-only insurance company.

I think this makes her feel satisfied in the relationship. But then, am I just living a lie?"

~ A.M.

 

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