Body Image Trends & Exclusionary Empowerment! 

Good news fellas, if you got that beer belly situation going on, you're hot commodity right now! No seriously. The Dad Bod is totally and unequivocally in. According to bestower of said label student Mackenzie Pearson, the Dad Bod says "I go to the gym occasionally, but I also drink heavily on the weekends and enjoy eating eight slices of pizza at a time." A pretty apt description of a typical day in the life of your average frat boy. Only, this one is a far cry from the chiseled Adonis type who previously held the coveted honour.

Except, while you wallow in your happiness and clear cut permission to neglect yourself, women look at themselves and know that no matter what, the very same society that seems to have made an allowance for men will never do the same for her.

Double standards or just male privilege? And while we're at it, where's the Mom Bod? Or are we too presumptuous to even expect the acceptance of such a "body type?" A heavily pregnant Kim Kardashian was called everything from a "fat cow" to "whale". Former Miss World Aishwarya Rai caught a lot of flak for not losing weight immediately after giving birth. Antithetically, there's Maria Kang, mother of three and fitness enthusiast who was accused of fat and fit shaming. Her picture with the caption "What's your excuse?" was met with a torrent of hate.

Unfortunately, body image trends have engulfed society, as generation after generation of women - struggle to fit into the cookie cutter expectations of their times. The 'ideal' body type is fundamentally awry and pretty awful irrespective of gender. Here's why. Physical criterion is arbitrated by the unified forces of the dictatorial trinity that are popular culture, fashion and men.

That is not to say that men have it easy. Compared to women, they totally do. And by a huge margin. Nevertheless, a picture of a young man holding a sign that said "It's just as hard to be Ken as it is to be Barbie" made its rounds on the Internet and resonated with the menfolk. Especially with young boys bullied for their weight. But that's part of the problem - men are expected to "man up" and not be a wimp. So male body image issues are certainly downplayed, which in no way makes it acceptable.

This may also explain the Internet-wide freak out when ESPN mag's featured sportsman in the annual Body Issue, pro baseball player Prince Fielder, possessed neither a chiseled nor muscular physique. In other words, he was harangued for not conforming to society's standards for men. On the rare occasion that a man's "unconventional" body was celebrated by a magazine, it was met with considerable backlash.

In the case of women, there has been no shortage of body type expectations. While trends such as the thigh gap are gaining in popularity this year, the booty was, without a doubt, in the eye of the beholders last year. From subtle to in your face, butts were everywhere - Kim K's butt that broke the Internet, Nicki Minaj's buns in "Anaconda", J-Lo's legendary derriere in "Booty", Meghan Trainor's hit "All About That Bass" and Jason Derulo and Snoop Dogg wanting the females to "wiggle wiggle wiggle". (Did we mention that 2014 was The Year of The Butt?).

So was Nicki Minaj insinuating that women devoid of a sizeable posterior were undesirable, while "empowering" those gifted to be proud of their - God given or acquired - assets? Sadly, yes. We are collectively stuck in this vicious cycle that simultaneously objectifies and empowers some at the cost of nit-picking and denouncing others. Bodies need not be categorized by labels in what’s inevitably just another opportunity to mercilessly scrutinize men and women.

There is no such thing as the "perfect" body. "Ideal" body types are an absurd notion that doesn't hold true. They say that variety is the spice of life. So why is it so hard to embrace and celebrate our differences? Why be a clone in a dog-eat-dog world that tears each other apart in order to be that fleeting "ideal" that society imposes on you? By trying to characterize what is quintessentially ideal, we are, for all intents and purposes, putting labels on the self-worth of men and women. Live and let live - we are all perfect.

Shiwanthi Kahandaliyanage

"These days you have to either look like a Kardashian or a Victoria's Secret model, anything in between, aka myself and 99% of the population of women in the world just isn't good enough. Making women feel bad about their bodies has become an industry that is thriving because everyone buys into the ideals portrayed through magazines and TV. Women starve themselves or get surgery to look like Photoshopped versions of similarly flawed people. It's unhealthy and unnecessary and needs to end."

Ashane Mylvaganam

"Celebrating one’s body has been the trend in society nowadays, and my opinion on this is; society has evolved into something where everyone would criticize each other making life a sort of popularity contest; a good example being the new “in” thing, Dad Bod. People shouldn’t be biased or sexist in any way for now it’s considered “hot” for a man to be flabby, but totally outrageous for a woman to be even slightly overweight! Getting extra thin nor getting fat is a fashion, it’s the person’s personality which precedes."

Katie Davis

"I think this is very prevalent in society. When Meghan Trainor's song "All About That Bass" was released it was an opportunity to celebrate all body types, especially larger bodies that are usually looked down upon. But with that song came the argument that instead of just praising girls with all the right junk in all the right places, it shamed skinny girls. Of course people are always going to find fault in something popular, but it does seem that the praise of one body type is akin to another's criticism."

Anaz Ashraff

"I don't believe that one body type should be a benchmark for our bodies. Whether you are male or female we should learn to embrace our bodies for what they are and not let anyone criticize us. You want to keep fit? That's fine as long as you are not conforming to everyone else's opinion."

Azra Ali

"A lot of people speak about how amazing Meghan Trainor is for singing about body positivity in her songs. I don’t think it’s positive at all. Glorifying one body shape shouldn't be done at the expense of making another feel uncomfortable by referring to people as 'skinny bitches'"

By Rihaab Mowlana