Reflect & Write: Body Image & Media

Reflect & Write: Cultural Differences & Male Body Image

TEXT: “Cultural Differences Seen in Male Perceptions of Body Image.” All Things Considered. National Public Radio. March 15, 2005. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4536230

Envision Connection: Use in connection with Chapter 12, especially with Kim Franke-Folstad and Harrison Pope, et al.

Background: This audio essay originally aired on the March 15, 2005, installment of NPR’s “All Things Considered.” In it, The Adonis Complex author Dr. Harrison Pope extends his study of male body image to an international context.

Reflect & Write:

 Analyze the use of humor in this essay, from the construction of the term “Bigorexia” to the confusion about “xixo” as meaning “chicken meat.” Why might the essay rely on international stereotypes in this way?

 How does the disclosure that Dr. Pope “is jacked” alter his credibility? Does it change the way you evaluate his claims about body image and masculinity?

 The essay makes a claim that boy bands in Taiwan are taking on American standards for physical appearance. How might this be true in other countries? Is there a reciprocal effect?

 Write: Conduct your own series of interviews about body image. Compose a script with your questions and then record your answers. You might show your subjects ads from magazines, clips of musical performers, or scenes from movies. How does the popular media influence constructions of body image across cultures?

Christine Alfano & Alyssa O’Brien, Envision In Depth. 2nd edition. NY: Pearson, 2010.