With the unrealistic expectations of beauty for females, I notice some of our TG sisters struggle with acceptance of themselves if they don't consider themselves as attractive as the women they see in the media. Or if they don't consider themselves "femininely" attractive at all. (If it helps any, ladies, many GGs can struggle with the same problem to a certain extent.)
But do any of us guys deal with this on the masculine side? There's been an upsurge for years now of pretty boys and macho men, though admittedly it's nowhere near as bad as what women have had to deal with. But is it having an effect on any of us?
I'll admit I secretly wish I was one of the attractive guys, but that's for reasons of sexuality as opposed to gender identity. In my simple mind, increased attractiveness = increased attention from ladies. And it'd also just help my self-esteem.
But to not be attractive doesn't equal lacking masculinity to me. I'm still a man. I just don't look like Orlando Bloom.
Just like there's a "feminine" standard of beauty (i.e. "You're not really female unless you look like this"), is there a threat of a "masculine" standard emerging? Of course, men have a history of behaviors that were considered necessary of being masculine (which would result in broad shoulders and chests, etc), but what about appearances for the sake of appearances?