Do Boys Objectify Themselves?
With the prevalence of coronavirus in the news—as well as the current closure of public schools in Ontario—I’ve been thinking about physical health. I recently remembered a high school friend: an athletic tech student who got decent enough grades but was mostly interested in working at his dad’s garage. I knew him since before we were teenagers, but it wasn’t until we were young adults that I ever knew him to go to the doctor. It was an immediate surgery for a ruptured appendix.
It makes me think of the different ways that guys view their bodies. There’s a wide field when it comes to exploring what self-objectification looks like among guys. For now, I’m ruminating on this quote from Michael Reichert’s How to Raise a Boy. (Also, I know I talk about this book constantly. Sorry not sorry.)
“An implicit casualty of teaching boys that their bodies are ‘things’ to be built up and even sacrificed for the sake of winning, is the virtue of integrity. Learning to objectify their bodies as though they are machines, boys become less committed to keeping themselves whole. They become willing to rationalize, overlook, and numb themselves to injuries and losses. Once they learn to treat themselves in this instrumental and objectifying way, boys are less able to feel empathy for others’ pain and suffering. It becomes easier to inflict pain.”
An example of this might be (the admittedly complex story of) Steven Fernandez, also known as Baby Scumbag, who as a young skateboarder figured out how to monetize a combination of athletic self-sacrifice with the sexualization of girls and women. Take a look at the first minute and a half of this video to get what I mean.
I’ll probably come back to this question but I’ll leave it here for now. Stay healthy.
ICYMI This Week
The Gendered Impacts of Coronavirus (Canadian Women’s Foundation)
How Can I Support Loved Ones During COVID-19? (Alexander Cameron)
How to Raise Feminist Boys (The Week)
Written by Next Gen Men Program Manager Jonathon Reed as part of Learnings & Unlearnings, a weekly newsletter reflecting on our experiences working with boys and young men. Subscribe to get Learnings & Unlearnings delivered to your email inbox.