When people think of teenagers and body image, on most accounts we think of young girls and the issues with anorexia and bulimia. Yet in America's culture today the message of perfection is greater than ever. Our various forms of media such as television, magazines, and movies now have a larger affect on adolescent boys. The graphic novel Blankets by Craig Thompson, is about the author’s experiences with his own self-image. Young boys go through the same issues of insecurities and physical self-perception as girls do during young adulthood.
How did boys become so involved with self-image deficiencies? According to Eric Shapiro, “Society dictates to kids from a very young age through constant subconscious marketing what it really means to be attractive, successful, or even happy,” (1).
Even in Thompson’s graphic novel we see Craig influenced through what he is exposed with as an adolesc
ent child. “But it doesn’t have to be scary if you are a Christian and have asked Jesus into your heart; because when you die, you will go to heaven”(49). Craig as a young boy was told what to be expected of him by his Sunday school teacher. Dr. Pauline Bergstein explains, "There are so many messages of what and how a person should be [in our society] that is can't but make the more vulnerable of us desperate to fight for and embrace external definitions of success and beauty" (Shapiro 2). Young adolescents are able to embrace their flaws and imitate what our society defines perfection. Adolescent boys are highly influenced by magazines and other idolized figures. We are seeing more of the “Barbie Syndrome” in boys according to David L. Wheeler. This syndrome consists of unrealistic expectations of our bodies. Researchers are starting find that the typical self-imaging that we see in young girls are now becoming more evident in adolescent boys as well. But instead of wanting to look like Ken and Barbie, adolescent boys are persuaded by G.I. Joe figures. “G.I. Joe Extreme, would have a biceps of 26 inches, which the researchers say is larger than that of any known body-builder,” explains Harrison Pope, doctor and researcher in the Biological Psychiatry Laboratory at Harvard University (Wheeler, A22). There is a message in these "role models" that adolescent boys begin to believe looks only matter when is comes to achievements such as making friends and earning respect from others.
Although pop culture and media are influences that are hard to ignore, we find school to be the most influential on self-image for adolescent boys. Boys today are talking about still being teased on school grounds. “Oh! Oh, man, was I teased? Are you kidding? When I was fat, people must have gone home and through of nothing else except coming up new material the next day, says Alexander, a six-teen year old teenager” (Hall 32). It seems that adolescent teens are the major reason for insecurities in the young boys. We also see Thompson endure a similar situation during the hall of high school. “Haha Faggot! Nice hair! You look like a fucking girl”(Thompson 53). Craig gets attacked by some peers who he illustrated them to have the “physical-image standards.” Our “culture of cruelty” will unlikely defuse which will, in turn, enable more adolescent boys to have more self-consciousness and concerns about their body/self image.
Young boys want to be seen as what our society thinks masculinity is. In the Journal of Adolescent Research, researcher, Stephen Frost found that adolescent girls are able to talk more openly about looks and boys. While speaking to the young boys in individual interviews, they were more likely to speak of girls more seriously and how they fear being called homosexual names, then they would in larger group interviews. "They talked more openly about their anxieties at home and praised girls more generally from being different from boys, being bullied at school, and not being able to discuss homework or hairstyles with other boys" (Bamberg 606). We see this as an example in the character Craig, in the graphic novel Blankets, when he meets Raina's mother for the first time. "Craig! How WONDERFUL to finally meet you! I've heard so many great things, Raina practically RAVES about you!"(Thompson 210). Raina's mother was ecstatic to meet Craig, but the Thompson family knew very little about Craig's new relationship. Craig was nervous to ask his mother for permission to see her. "Are you sure she's just a friend?" (Thompson 482). Mrs. Thompson does not know very much about their relationship, were Raina's mother knew almost everything.
As boys get older, their view on sexuality broadens, and they start to pay more attention on the more superficial side of our cultural as they grow into their own sexuality. Most importantly they pay attention to what girls have to say. Alexander explains, "When you hear girls qawking at Abercrombie and Fitch about how hot the guy is on the bag - that makes an impression. If I look this way, I've got my foot in the door" (Hall 62). Bare, hairless, ripped chests in advertisements, have become a boy's cultural icon.
Here are the facts: In a survey of 272,400 student USA WEEKEND researchers found the only 4 out of 10 students found themselves attractive. 9 out of 10 boys wanted to tone up, while only 15 percent liked themselves "the way I am." More then half say they occasionally are "really depressed"; 1 in 5 often feel despondent. Yet 50% of boys participate in athletics. Yet 78% of these athletes use supplements, even when they all agreed to be well aware of the health risks while linked when using them.
Boys are not far behind girls when it comes to doubting their self-image and esteem. Various forms of media and society beliefs help form the path of adolescent insecurities. Throughout Craig Thompson's novel, there are several connections of insecurities that he has to overcome. As Shapiro writes, "If we are OK with who we are and what we want our of life, then no magazine advertisement can alter the true perceptions of ourselves."
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Case, Jeffrey. “Making American Boys: Boyology and the Feral Tale.” The Journal of American Culture 27 Dec. (2004): 451-452.
Hall, Stephen S. “The Trouble Life of Boys; The Bully in the Mirror.” The New York Times 22 Aug. 1999: 4-10
Ramberg, Michael. “Journal of Adolescent Research." Sage. Sept (2006): 604-608.
Rhule, Patty. “Teens Tackle Their Identity Crisis.” USA Weekend 1 May 1998: 1-4
Shapiro, Eric. “Adolescent Males and the Media’s Influence on their Self-Image.” Men’s Health Network.
Thompson, Craig. Blankets. Canada: Top Shelf Productions, 2004.
