I still like He-Man.

m0mmyneedsabeer · 2019-06-28T19:47:32+00:00

There was a documentary I saw on TV once about steroids and in one part they talked about how huge the action figures were in the 80s and how it affected kids. I wish I could remember the name of it. People forget or just don't want to believe that boys and men have body image issues too and self esteem problems. Instead they call it "toxic masculinity" and the fault of "the patriarchy". My husband is one of those men who is never happy with his body

joaquom_the_wizard · 2019-06-28T20:30:13+00:00

The only way he got away with a leather halter top is the fact he rides a tiger, you could ride through a biker rally with a cape made out of dicks and you wouldn’t get made fun of BECAUSE YOURE RIDING A FUCKIN TIGER

K-Dave · 2019-06-28T20:26:08+00:00

From todays perspective I'd say He-Man has not really been a great toy for kids. But it has been my childhood, I feel nostalgic about it and those things helped me to cope growing up fatherless. Action figures, Rambo, Karate Kid, Wrestling, Heavy Metal .. all that stuff has been compensation for the supressed part of my father in me.

There could have been healthier options ... sure ... but now I'm a guy who loves muscles, explosions and fighting, I can't change it ;)

But what I did is to learn what manly behaviour really is. The responsibility, the respect, the leadership. It's not being perfect like a comic book hero, it's doing the right thing when you know it's the right thing to do.

MadTrini · 2019-06-28T20:53:08+00:00

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AdrenalineJunkySloth · 2019-06-28T22:13:53+00:00

They do this in movies, they do this in toys, they do this in games, this do with with EVERYTHING. But it's okay that all the guy toys and superheroes are super handsome, lean, buff/muscular, tall, overpowered, smart, etc.

Roosty_Breadman · 2019-06-28T20:09:40+00:00

By the power of Greyskull, I say Barbie is irrelevant to our society.

Achilles69420 · 2019-06-28T20:16:34+00:00

I think you mean THEY-MAN, thank you very much /s.

ifelsedowhile · 2019-06-28T21:09:00+00:00

feminists probably think that if you want to look as buffed as He-Man you just need to hold aloft your magic sword and yell 'by the power of Greyskull' and that's it, you're a musclebound motherfucker.

such-a-mensch · 2019-06-28T18:13:04+00:00

Happy to be a masculine dude without issues of envying and being jealous of other (even fake) dudes because I'd rather be aspirational than resentful and can separate fantasy from reality

DongleYourFongles · 2019-06-28T21:08:56+00:00

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bkrugby78 · 2019-06-28T20:16:06+00:00

Even more irony? The same company owns both barbie and he-man. When the division making he-man started making loads more money, the division making barbie decided to make a female version of He-man with a TV show and everything pretty much killing the He-man franchise.

kevinnelson89991 · 2019-06-29T01:12:34+00:00

Ι don't mean to say we should all try to be like He-Man, but he's what got my ass to the gym. Instead of seeing him and similar characters as impossible ideals, it is possible to just view them as what they are, fictional and entertaining. I would rather take inspiration over pressure (not just the physical aspect).

NYCCOOP · 2019-06-28T21:04:13+00:00

A friend of mine is fully plugged-in, perfect plantation specimen. He and his have 3 daughters age 11, 8, and 5. The wife is into all the SuperHeroes movies, and whenever one comes out she brings the daughters and points out the muscular bodies of the guys, especially the "abs"; and then she tells all about it to people in casual conversation how she's training her daughters to look for abs and bicepts.

Yes, she's fat

No, her husband doesn't have abs, but he's a good provider.

She also often jokes about when he asked her on a second date and she blew him off because she went to a concert with someone else that she was dating (hooking up) at the time. That's the level of casual conversations that she engages in.

MakeTotalDestr0i · 2019-06-28T19:29:25+00:00

Decabolin era He-Man

melonangie · 2019-06-28T22:57:28+00:00

I don’t like barbie dolls their expensive, cheaply made, and get decapitated easily. He man doesn’t have that problem you can throw it in a fight and he’ll be ok.

Oh and barbie can’t stand on her own!

modern_rabbit · 2019-06-28T21:06:33+00:00

I have that hairstyle tho...

foreignuserirl · 2019-06-28T20:39:46+00:00

i like Barbie too, at least until the more modern ones appeared

ShadowMario01 · 2019-06-28T21:13:00+00:00

And so I cry sometimes while I'm lying in bed

TheGhoulishSword · 2019-06-29T00:35:04+00:00

Look, I'm a slightly overweight high schooler (roughly 6' 190 ish pounds). I've got a bit of a gut and I'm not exactly very healthy. I'm not really too bothered by my lack of muscles being visible. I just want more strength. I feel like instead of looking at comic heroes bodies as attainable, and striving to be that muscly, I just look to be as strong as I can be. I'm not too concerned as to how much fat I have, as long as it's mostly in control. If I could have defined muscles, sure, I'd take it, but I'm just not motivated to work out. It's not often that I get inside my head about being overweight, but it does happen.

If you want to be like He-Man, aim to be similar to Loius Cyr, the strongest man to ever live. He was extremely strong, but he didnt look like He-Man. He also had a bit of a gut. The amount of visible muscles isn't a measure of strength.

XenoX101 · 2019-06-29T05:46:00+00:00

I never understood the "they should be more normal" argument. Why would anything less than the most ideal version of a person be on national television, magazine covers, and advertisements? He-Man is a superhero, Barbie is seen as "the perfect girl". If He-Man was chosen as the warrior to protect their nation as an overweight balding guy, something would seriously be wrong. Likewise if Barbie as the perfect girl looked pudgy and dressed frumpy, on billboards and TV, that would be setting the bar pretty low.

This attack on the idealised versions of ourselves is in fact an attack on human ideals, on role models, on aspiration. And what's left when you have nothing to aspire to? The victimhood narrative pushed by feminists, that nobody is to blame for their shortcomings, and therefore that people shouldn't aspire to do better and still try to be the next He-Man or Barbie (and I know Barbie has technically impossible proportions, but it's the sentiment being delivered). It doesn't mean they need to be He-Man or Barbie, but I would much rather be surrounded by men who are working to build their strength and women who look after their appearance than the reverse.

E_Jax_Son · 2019-07-16T09:11:10+00:00

I still like Barbie

elebrin · 2019-06-28T19:14:43+00:00

Women don't want to put in the effort to be like Barbie. Men aspire to be like He-Man because we know that is the epitome of a man. Women complain, men do.

UpperClassStout · 2019-06-28T22:26:49+00:00

Shit. The difference here is that if a man sets his heart to it, he can actually make his body look like fucking He-man with proper dedication and training and conditioning.

All it takes for a woman to look like barbie is.. you know.. not shoveling the entire fucking buffet line into their goddamn gaping hole of a mouth. Taking care of their hair and not dying it stupid fucking colors. Actually taking a goddamn shower. Shaving your fucking rotten armpits. And most importantly, not having the personality of a fucking man, foregoing any feminine qualities.

Sadly, He-Man is still more realistic because western women are more or less completely against the bare-bones fucking basics of 'how to look attractive'.

Manadog · 2019-06-28T23:25:10+00:00

But they aren't portrayed the same way at all. He-man rides a tiger and fights a skeleton. He doesn't even look like he-man all the time. He has to transform if I recall. It's basically magic in the show. Barbie does things like go to the mall and school and hang out at her house. That's real life stuff.

Also to anyone saying all women need to do to look like Barbie is be healthy, that's also ridiculous. I think it's better now but Barbie's proportions aren't actually possible for a real girl and would cause a bunch of significant health problems.

Neither standard is attainable and Barbie's is closer but Barbie's is also portrayed like it's normal. He-man's is basically magic.

ruifaf · 2019-06-28T19:57:26+00:00

Boi... I'm Thor!!!

mooncow-pie · 2019-06-28T21:09:30+00:00

hah what a classic.

peepeeandpoopooman · 2019-06-28T21:29:10+00:00

Yes Barbie has unrealistic proportions (eg if she were real she would be 7 ft tall according to some sources) but He-Man is just as unrealistic (he's even buffer than a young Arnold Shwz.) but I thought that was the whole point. It's a bit of fantasy to help imaginative play- playing with a supermodel doll or a super-muscular doll is more fun for kids than playing with a "realistic normal Mr and Mrs. Jones" dolls who just do normal boring stuff like chores and shopping.

Then after playtime the kids should put the dolls away and then focus on other stuff. Any kid who gets body-issues because of a doll is just stupid.

Ransal · 2019-06-28T21:30:50+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PgTjhx1VLw

Bla34112 · 2019-06-28T21:35:00+00:00

yeah... these people don't understand that Barbie, and He-Man aren't supposed to be realistic representations.

They're idealized versions showcasing feminine and masculine virtues.

They're not supposed to be realistic, and I think that it's important to point out that as feminists attack and tear down the feminine ideals, women's happiness has only declined and their mental health has gotten worse.

bkrugby78 · 2019-06-28T21:48:32+00:00

Yeah. There are unreal standards of both sides of the spectrum. That said, as much as we want to say it doesn't matter, it does. It shouldn't matter at all. But it does, will continue to do so. People treat fit, attractive people differently than others. Barbie and He-Man both represent unrealistic standards, because they are fictional characters and are not real.

G0d_Slayer · 2019-06-28T22:08:03+00:00

I mean, all girls want to be a princess. Not all men want to be heroes. Yet villains can also be muscular? 🤔

sjwking · 2019-06-28T22:10:32+00:00

Like >50 % of the women can have a body type like barbie if they eat healthy.

The only way to look like He-Man is roids.

bumbuff · 2019-06-28T23:43:38+00:00

I want his lats.

haruame · 2019-06-29T00:28:39+00:00

He man is make believe though at least meanwhile every action movie star is one steroids and a cocktail of performance enhancing drugs to get twice as big as a normal adult human.

ParkdaleArt · 2019-06-29T05:08:22+00:00

The actual male equivalent was army toys. No ulterior motive there.

workingnights · 2019-06-29T06:09:20+00:00

Those fur shorts look reaaaaaaaaally comfy.

Me_ADC_Me_SMASH · 2019-06-29T06:27:56+00:00

Don't care. He-Man is an "ideal" you can look to imitate, not a standard that makes you bitch and whine.

Kronos6948 · 2019-06-29T06:42:40+00:00

Funny thing is, Barbie wasn't about her body...it was about the clothing and accessories. Her body is basically that of a mannequin. I don't see feminists shouting about how it turned them into consumers.

And us guys also had Transformers. I don't see any men wishing that they turned into a truck.

AlicornGamer · 2019-06-29T06:46:47+00:00

i use to be into barbies, before i grew a proper consious and was heavily interested in muscles and got into super heroes because of it. Also rocky, Muhamad Ali and Jakiechan (bit of bruce lee also) i coudl tell that some fogures were not 'natural' even though i werent allowed them (mum's your typical 'girls should be pink and play with barbies' kind of person so i missed out on action figures...) but still i can tell that these kind of figures gives people a twisted mindset on how they should vs shouldnt look

DongleYourFongles · 2019-06-29T09:09:10+00:00

No the real unrealistic standard is living up to Clint Eastwood's Masculinity.

Black_caped_man · 2019-06-29T09:53:15+00:00

Something something power fantasy something something.

What always bothered me about the power fantasy argument is that it's just as applicable to Barbie or a lot of other female superheroes. The major difference is that men aren't considered nearly as desirable visually as women regardless of how they look. People look at He-Man and say power fantasy and they look at She-Ra and say sex symbol. How is it not a power fantasy for anyone to imagine themselves as powerful and being ridiculously physically attractive? I mean in today's world attractiveness is right up there with financial wealth in how the world treats you.

When it's brought up that there are severely unrealistic male body standards the response is pretty much always that "women don't really like the big buff muscular dudes" which may well be true for a lot of them (I think the female ideal is more towards lean and shredded as opposed to bulky). They disregard the fact that men are rarely desired for their looks but instead desired for their utility or their standing.

Just because there are different dynamics surrounding them doesn't mean that men don't have those unrealistic body standards as well.

Lastly for fucks sake it's a cartoon, they are meant to be essentially caricatures of human bodies to varying degrees and levels. Just like how superpowers wouldn't work the same way in the real world as in the fictional world, these so called "standards of beauty" don't work the same way in the real world either.

Lastly how come people look at cartoon depictions of what are essentially demigods, representations of beings far beyond what real humans could ever be capable of and somehow they think that is a standard? Fuck off! It's an ideal not a standard, I'd even say it's far beyond an ideal.

What does lead girls and others into self esteem crisies is everyone telling them that it's a fucking beauty standard, that this is how all men want women to look as a fucking baseline. The beauty standard is to be in relatively good shape, not have any obvious deformities, and that's about it really.

Lethn · 2019-06-29T10:15:54+00:00

The only way that children could be affected by any of this shit is through bad parenting where they basically allow companies to have an disproportionate amount of influence on their minds. I say this because this kind of crap reminds me of parents who clearly sit their kids in front of televisions or let them game non-stop without reminding them once in awhile that it isn't real.

If you just make these sorts of toys and games the replacement for an actual parent of course the kids are going to start believing fucked up shit. I get really pissed off about this sort of thing being an indie games developer I'm going to be making games now that potentially have quite a bit of violence in it and I just know these stupid activists and shitty excuses for parents are going to try coming after me with this bullshit.

Oh and yes, if they actually try to call me out on it I will respond the same way I do here, they're just trying to use all of this as a scapegoat.

riot_ball · 2019-06-29T11:28:08+00:00

I'd tap He-man no homo

CisneNefasto · 2019-06-29T13:39:06+00:00

"we are women,we are feminist,we are strong and we fight for the women's rights and we will destroy the patriarchy"

mommy barbie girl is opressing me buaa buaa >:( stop being fascist barbie >:(

mintboy13 · 2019-06-29T14:09:33+00:00

THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL

Diete_ · 2019-06-29T14:27:08+00:00

Yeah but that's what's called toxic masculinity, right? The unreal images of what a man is supposed to be, with a lot of muscles and macho. I can tell you guys feminists strive to let emotional and vulnerable men also be seen as real men, but yeah, I guess it's not very believable with all these men-haters that claim to be feminists.

Massaha · 2019-06-29T16:11:04+00:00

Yet women think 80% of men are under average looking. It is way easier for a woman to look good to the opposite sex.

grannyowl · 2019-06-29T19:11:14+00:00

What's your favorite part about he-man?

YES

eleventhfromheaven · 2019-06-29T22:07:07+00:00

To be fair, He Man is badass

odiegh · 2019-06-28T20:00:52+00:00

yeah seriously... I used to run a 6 minute mile, do calfs lifts, even BALLET and all types of stuff my calfs NEVER EVER EVER looked like that FUCK that I HATE THAT SO DAMN MUCH!! 3years of working out and my calfs looked basically the same minutes after working!!!! Barbie can eat .... THIS DICK!

AmbitiousPainter · 2019-06-28T21:00:19+00:00

This is she-man

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbm03NcEcvg

AkaEllipses · 2019-06-28T21:29:32+00:00

Obviously it's HE-MA'AM!

chambertlo · 2019-06-28T23:35:12+00:00

Man, He-Man is so fucking sexy.

radsadmadlad · 2019-06-29T02:53:59+00:00

He-man bae

backdoorinvestor · 2019-06-29T03:31:54+00:00

The Overton Window has shifted against us so badly that I’ve lost hope in our current zeitgeist completely. I’ve been spending a lot more time on r/MGTOW than r/mensrights but still always support it.

BlackBeardDown · 2019-06-28T19:34:17+00:00

You know what? There is enough bitching about women and men. Stop this. If your girl treats you right, keep her. If she's a bitch, leave her. If no women is good enough, fine. Live alone. Go to camping. Take a long road trip on bike. Meet new people and do dumb shit with them. Earn money and buy whatever you like. Go wherever you wanna go. Do whatever you wanna do. Don't let women be in control of your happiness.

tenchineuro · 2019-06-28T17:46:46+00:00

But despite the claims, no one has demonstrated any self-esteem crisis in girls.

GuyWithTheStalker · 2019-06-28T23:11:00+00:00

Alright, to be fair I get what this meme is saying and totally understand how bad steroids are and how DB Super's leaner drawings of Goku, Vegeta, and company are in some ways improvements on the hulked-out, ridiculous shit from yesteryear.

Still though, if you scale He-Man down to be 5'6", he'd kind of look something like this. He-Man's alright in my book. Every prince depicted in the Disney cartoon movies though - they are pussies and terrible influences on children.

Now, consider the real life proportions of a Barbie doppelganger of any height... That is what an eating disorder coupled with breast implants looks like. Not cool in my book.

elebrin · 2019-06-28T20:52:51+00:00

They are archetypal ideals - same thing mankind has been doing for thousands of years. They are meant to represent perfection taken past the point of realism and into the realm of godliness.

It works like this: if your ideal is beyond perfection and you aim for that, you will always get closer to perfection and always have a way to improve. If your ideal is a schlubby average, then you'll never quite reach that and always be, well, below average.

basedandproud · 2019-06-28T21:02:55+00:00

Every man should lift like they're trying to be He-Man

Title	I still like He-Man.
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	3462
Comments	261
Date	June 28, 2019 5:44 PM UTC (7 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/c6n7ih/i_still_like_heman/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/i-still-like-he-man.1205935 https://theredarchive.com/post/1205935

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THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL