Lena Dirscherl, who is known online as BoPoLena, is an artist and body acceptance activist, and they can perfectly blend the two together.
Recently, BoPoLena has been working on an illustration series dedicated to the male body. More specifically, the struggles that come with it—both internal and external.
"It seems I've struck a nerve with this message: body positivity is not only for women," BoPoLena said. "No, it's for all genders! Men also suffer [from] diet culture and the pressure to look as 'attractive' as possible. But you all are already beautiful! You are great the way you are! You don't need diets or gyms to be worthy! You are already worthy and loved!"
More info: bopolena.com | Instagram | Patreon
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BoPoLena started drawing and posting body positive messages every week on Instagram in August 2016. "I realized very quickly that most people assume that body issues, eating disorders and the struggle for acceptance are 'women's issues,'" BoPoLena told Bored Panda.
"[But that] is not true at all! However, that might be the reason why the body positive community online is dominated by white able-bodied heterosexual cis women. Which I think is ironic since the whole movement has its origins in the Fat Acceptance Movement which was led by black women and people of color."
YES. Men crying is deemed too feminine, and that seriously needs to stop. Crying is just a natural thing that people do, and it isn't okay to just bottle up your emotions to seem more like a man. If anything, people should be more feminine if this is what comes of being masculine.
BoPoLena isn't the only soldier on the front. In recent years, male celebrities, including Chris Pratt, Ed Sheeran, and Robert Pattinson have been increasingly vocal when it comes to insecurities about their looks.
And it's been long overdue. Research by psychiatrists at UCLA shows that overall, people nowadays feel worse about the way they look than they did in the 1970s.
The problem concerns not just college guys hitting the gym to try to get a date: around 90 percent of boys in middle and high school exercise at least occasionally with the specific goal of bulking up. It's about time we start speaking about it more.
And neither are the pictures you see on Instagram. Lighting and angles matter, and also, people (like me) tend to suck in their stomachs.
As you can see, BoPoLena features a very diverse set of characters in their work. "In each of my series, I focus on a different group that hasn't been represented very well in the BoPo community yet. I did an illustration series on men, on non-binary folx, on intersex people and my next series will be on trans people of all genders."
The artist also plans to tackle disabilities and chronic illnesses in the future but they still need to do more research on these topics. "I'm always in close contact with people of the groups that I try to represent in my art in order to amplify their voices."
BoPoLena says it's their goal to spread body positivity for all people, in all bodies, so that everyone can feel represented in the movement, and if you ask me, they're doing one heck of a job.
Really? I'm 5'6 / 171cm tall, so why does everybody hate / reject / despise me because of that?
because society and it's standards of beauty etc is absolutely toxic and people lack the ability to mind their own business. My fiance is a women well over 6'ft and she is often belittled (ironic pun not intended) for it, especially when I (5ft'4) are together, people often make remarks when they think you don't realize or hear it. Society sucks, but there are good eggs out there. I think height doesn't matter whatsoever. :)
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This is horseturd. If you're below certain height, you're basically invisible to 99% of women
My husband is 5'6" and not conventionally "pretty". He's my height and treats me like a queen. I love him for how he treats me, his appearance and height mean nothing to me. I've dated taller men and shorter men. I find being able to look him in the eyes without craning my neck in either direction very intimate.
The most real "man" I've ever know was 5'8" 160# marine veteran, rock solid man, good father, brother, etc. Married this very cute girl who's almost 6'. Very good friend of mine, I asked him why he went for the tall girl. "Want my boys to be tall", is all he said.
I am not tall, there is no height, weight , skin color or any other metric to be a man. Just be a person and worry less about that person that judges you based on height.
A moderate amount of femininity is attractive, to be honest. But tastes vary by individuals anyway, so just try to be comfortable with who you are. If you keep your aesthetics and mannerisms for others, there's always going to be someone who doesn't like you, so not worthy bothering for that.
I don't understand why crying is considered feminine, boys can cry too
That's just genetics, not whatever standard of "manliness" applies to having a beard.
I know this is specifically referring to intersex people, as explicitly stated within the picture. However, I'd really like to point out how someone's voice - whether it's talking or singing - can really be an amazing charming point that can do wonders to a woman/man's psyche. When talking about attraction, the topics tend to put so much focus on the visual parts of the body, and the voice is often overlooked, but it can be such a strong point sometimes.
I'm really wrestling with this one lately - trying to eat better. Gotta remember it's about being fully nourished rather than controlling facets of my appearance.
Yes. Stretch marks are natural, and I like to think of them as battle scars that show your journey through life. And so is acne and acne scars. Everyone in their life is going to have acne, and some of us have it for longer than others. These are just things that the human body does, and they should always be normalized.
Yes love this one! Been skateboarding for a loong time and my legs are full of scars on scars and so on, to the point that i look a bit funny in shorts. Getting tanned and my shins are purple/pink still. elbows looking fine to. For me its a nice feeling and a lot of memories, good ones. Some of them i can look at and remember that day
Now in my 50s I have come to terms with never being able to grow a full beard. Flip side of that is I tend to look a bit younger than my more hirsute peers.
But sometimes it's important to take advice from friends & family if they notice you're not quite yourself. Maybe you're overworking & your loved ones can see how stressed you are. Maybe they were trying to say, "I think it would be better for you if you'd relax this weekend instead of working on that project that's been stressing you out." Don't completely disregard what others have to say, especially those close to you.
I think we, women have a great role in making this a reality too. Don't laugh (let alone ridicule) when you see a man cry. For example in movies they often make it into a joke, like as if that were to be the funny thing, man crying, hahaha. No need to support that by laughing along...
Yes! So many people think a guy having a eating disorder is ‘gay’.
I'm so damn glad to see something so affirming and toxicity-battling as this for males: there is a fair amount for women, but very little for men! I'm bookmarking this for my son
So, please, just treat the men around you correctly, and with understanding of them not only as individuals but also as men, whether grown or otherwise but according to their age and status, and spare everyone the posturing. THAT is what is wrong with the world today. It's like eveyone is on reality TV. We saw it coming. Then we forgot that we saw it.
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I really, REALLY needed this today. So much so that after 10 years of lurking, this is actually my first ever BP post.
It is wonderful to see this kind of positive messages for men and boys! Toxic and sexist ideas about masculinity really harm a lot of men. We need to teach this things in school to all kids.
I love how in every pro women roghts post there are twenty misoginistic trolls whining about "we never have nice posts about men". But then when bp makes posts about men they are never here. It is almost as if they dont care about men and only use that as an excuse to attack women... hmm..
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I would have liked to see - its okay to not like beer on the list😆 allways found it tasting absolutely awful 🤮 ive never carred what people think about that, i find it funny when someone desides they need to say something stupid about it. And from talking to a bartender ive realised a big chunk of males actually dont like it either, just that they are ashamed of it.. if you ONLY ”like” beer when its ice cold, you probably dont really like it✌🏻...
I think the important take-away is that these "standards" are a myth created by the Beauty/Cosmetics industry to sell all of us products we don't need to fix problems that aren't real. This is now becoming just as true for men as it is for women. I guess the Beauty/Cosmetic industry tapped out the female market and then turned on the men. We don't need that nonsense!
(sorry if this is a bit long...)yes, I think everyone needs to see this since we put so much on body types that sometimes we need to stop and look back at what we have done. women harm themselves, sometimes starve themselves, throw themselves at boys just to be approved. men will hide their feelings, go to the gym often, try to get so many girls just to be approved when on the inside not everyone is like that. some women are stubborn, strong, flat while some men are sensitive, skinny, and have eating disorders that don't mean u arent valid!
I don’t think they addressed this issue but all boys and mans ducks don’t have to be perfect size doesn’t matter no matter what just love yourself
The purpose was to be reassuring and positive.
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Actually, most polls show that women select men based on personality before looks. For men selecting women, it usually goes the other way. However, as far as looks go, they did a survey recently that showed that women actually prefer heavier-set men over male fashion models, as the 'dad bod' denotes stability and experience.
Load More Replies... I'm so damn glad to see something so affirming and toxicity-battling as this for males: there is a fair amount for women, but very little for men! I'm bookmarking this for my son
So, please, just treat the men around you correctly, and with understanding of them not only as individuals but also as men, whether grown or otherwise but according to their age and status, and spare everyone the posturing. THAT is what is wrong with the world today. It's like eveyone is on reality TV. We saw it coming. Then we forgot that we saw it.
Load More Replies... I really, REALLY needed this today. So much so that after 10 years of lurking, this is actually my first ever BP post.
It is wonderful to see this kind of positive messages for men and boys! Toxic and sexist ideas about masculinity really harm a lot of men. We need to teach this things in school to all kids.
I love how in every pro women roghts post there are twenty misoginistic trolls whining about "we never have nice posts about men". But then when bp makes posts about men they are never here. It is almost as if they dont care about men and only use that as an excuse to attack women... hmm..
Load More Replies... I would have liked to see - its okay to not like beer on the list😆 allways found it tasting absolutely awful 🤮 ive never carred what people think about that, i find it funny when someone desides they need to say something stupid about it. And from talking to a bartender ive realised a big chunk of males actually dont like it either, just that they are ashamed of it.. if you ONLY ”like” beer when its ice cold, you probably dont really like it✌🏻...
I think the important take-away is that these "standards" are a myth created by the Beauty/Cosmetics industry to sell all of us products we don't need to fix problems that aren't real. This is now becoming just as true for men as it is for women. I guess the Beauty/Cosmetic industry tapped out the female market and then turned on the men. We don't need that nonsense!
(sorry if this is a bit long...)yes, I think everyone needs to see this since we put so much on body types that sometimes we need to stop and look back at what we have done. women harm themselves, sometimes starve themselves, throw themselves at boys just to be approved. men will hide their feelings, go to the gym often, try to get so many girls just to be approved when on the inside not everyone is like that. some women are stubborn, strong, flat while some men are sensitive, skinny, and have eating disorders that don't mean u arent valid!
I don’t think they addressed this issue but all boys and mans ducks don’t have to be perfect size doesn’t matter no matter what just love yourself
The purpose was to be reassuring and positive.
Load More Replies... Actually, most polls show that women select men based on personality before looks. For men selecting women, it usually goes the other way. However, as far as looks go, they did a survey recently that showed that women actually prefer heavier-set men over male fashion models, as the 'dad bod' denotes stability and experience.
Load More Replies...