We Shouldn't Celebrate This

What toys did you play with as a kid? For many who watch this channel, I'm sure the answer could be action figures, maybe a superhero you loved from that cartoon you watched as kids. We don't think much about the media we consume and the toys we play with; we just play with them. We make up stories and run around the house in the pretend worlds we've created out of our imagination.

But the truth is, even if we aren't aware of it, the things we constantly interact with at that age shape who we become and how we see ourselves as adults. In the summer of 2023, the movie Barbie premiered on the big screen, and people, mainly women, were given the opportunity to think more critically about how harmless dolls they played with as kids may have impacted their long-held beliefs about who they are and what they can be.

This conversation around body image has been typically focused on girls and women. In the past, there have been lawsuits against companies like Victoria's Secret and Lululemon for their unrealistic portrayal of women's bodies. The Barbie movie showed young girls that they can be whoever they want. Unfortunately, while we've worked hard to fix the Barbies, we haven't done much with action figures. It's time we start to consider how a young boy or girl might look at the muscles and image of strength in these toys and inherit a slightly different lifelong expectation.

Our world tells all kids, boys and girls, what the ideal body should look like. For young boys, it often looks like Captain America and Superman—muscular, broad, tall, and strong. Even Halloween costumes for kids have padding to make a six-pack, and body image pressure has become far worse than in the age of social media. With every influencer posting their flexed and edited photos, young people are constantly bombarded with unrealistic body standards. Then, when they get in the gym for a few months and don't see the same results as their influencer, they take steroids, swapping short-term validation from strangers on the internet for potential long-term health issues.

So how did we get here? Before we talk about that, I want to take a moment to thank the sponsor of today's video: BetterHelp. If you struggle with body dysmorphia, body image issues, and other mental health challenges, I honestly can't recommend therapy enough. I've been in therapy for a few years now, and it's genuinely helped me understand myself and my relationship with my body much better.

However, I do know that therapy can often be inaccessible and way too expensive for most people. If this is the case for you, then you should check out BetterHelp. BetterHelp's goal is to make therapy affordable and accessible to everyone. All you need to do is answer a few questions, and in as little as a few days, you'll be assigned to a professional therapist.

If you don't like the therapist you're assigned to or you don't feel they understand you well enough, you can easily switch to a new therapist completely for free without having to worry about things like who your insurance will take and what therapists are available in your network. BetterHelp has made it super easy to get started with therapy, so go to betterhelp.com/aperture or choose Aperture during sign-up to get a special discount off your first month and connect with the right therapist for you.

Back to our story: in the past few decades, society has seen a shift in masculine culture. Terms like "metrosexual," once used to describe men who had a skincare routine and owned designer jeans, have faded away now that most men have taken an interest in those things. The provider narrative, which was the dominant role of masculinity throughout the 20th century, isn't realistic anymore.

Part of this is practical since it’s almost impossible to survive in a one-income household in many parts of North America and Europe, and part of it is cultural. Women want to work and pursue career goals outside the home, and as a result, traditional family roles have shifted. For some men, the role of the protector is the only remaining definition of masculinity they can count on. Physical superiority is a crucial factor in that equation.