Okay, when I first read the headline for this FoxNews story, summarizing a Daily Mail story, I thought: "Big deal. Why is it news that women have become more self-conscious and have poorer confidence in their bodies in today's media culture?" Newspapers are too lazy and poor to do their own investigative surveys, that any company issuing a press release about their latest study gets published. However, reading into the story, I noticed something more sinister, the unabashed body images of British men: "These body image issues do not translate to men at all, the Daily Mail reports. Gentlemen are strutting around naked almost twice as much as their female counterparts in any given day." Strutting around naked, you say? What the? The FoxNews story ended there, so I had to read the actual Daily Mail story.
An even more disturbing depiction of British male attitude towards their own naked bodies showed up: "They are so fond of being naked that more than two-thirds said they regularly walk around the house with nothing on." How did this happen? When did it become de rigeur for British men to be starkers dans la maison? I mean, it's become a common humorous device to have some pasty, soft, patchily hairy duffer padding around a flat, only to be discovered by their mate's girl/mum/tabloids. But was this a nod to a masculine trend of doffing the full monty? Maybe I'm just a gormless Yankee, but I believe a mass of swaying todgers is a sign that the empire is going all pear-shaped.
To understand some of the colorful idioms used in that last paragraph, laugh your arse off here.
oh lord. maybe it's just those weirdos on the other side of the water altogether.
ReplyDeletewhen i lived in bratislava, i came home one afternoon to the find the ex-husband of the girl i was billeted with watering plants in my bedroom in nothing but his speedo.
on another day, i went to give a private english lesson, only to find the man answer the door in nothing but his speedo and his socks and shoes.
well, clearly. in several years, those crazy foreigners have progressed from speedos to nekkid.
Um...what can I say? My English men dress for dinner.
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