Blog # 4 Don't toy with me

1.) Main Argument

Article 1. Evolving the ideals of the male body as seen through action toysAre toys evil? Do they impose unrealistic images of what our bodies should look like to the youth of our country? The main argument for this article states that the toys that we let our children play with are too jacked, and muscular. This causes an unrealistic idea of what men think their bodies should look like, thus creating a body image problem.

Article 2. G.I. Joe’s Big Biceps are not a Big DealToys are toys aren’t they? This article defends G.I. Joe against accusations that this action figure promotes unrealistic views of the male body.


2. Analyze the tone of both articles, discussing how the presentation style and language effectively or ineffectively presents the authors' arguments. Use direct examples from both articles to support your point. Based on this analysis, what audience would you choose for each article?

Tone 1.) The tone of the first article Evolving Ideals of male body image as seen through action toys. sounds more like the author is giving facts backed up by scientific data to support his writing for example he shows how in a college held scientific study that: "college men with eating disorders reported a degree of body dissatisfaction closely approaching that of women with eating disorders."(Olivardia, Pope, Mangweth, & Hudson, 1995) throughout the article the author continually gives examples like the one above in great quantity helping the reader to better understand the authors points, and main ideas. The language used is very calm it really doesn't take a aggravated approach or offensive approach to getting his point across it simply shows you the facts behind the article. The author presents very relative facts effectively stating his argument.

Tone 2.) The author of the second article G.I. Joe's Big Biceps are not a Big Deal. starts off on , the defensive note right off the bat stating that " say it isn't so, Joe. For years I've been defending Barbie against accusations that she promotes an unrealistic body image for little girls. And now it seems that good old G.I. Joe has been subjected to the same silly poking, and prodding." (Kim Franke-Folsted) this article seems to simply say in different forms that G.I. Joe is a toy, like Barbie kids just play with them, they don't take the fact that Barbie's Bust line is large, or that Joe's biceps are huge. The author doesn't seem to put allot of scientific evidence to back up his argument or at least not as much as the first article. It seems that the first Article has the better argument. Just based on the simple fact that he has more evidence to back it up his argument. It also seems that this author is just trying to win you to his side by pure emotion.

3.) What do you think of these articles opinions?

These articles both have very idealistic approaches to the perception of body image. For one article it shows how men today are just as obsessed with there body appearance as women are, and it can be seen in the action figures we play with as children. The other article seems to defend that G.I. Joe or any other action figures are just toys that we as children play with. Both these articles make good arguments but to me the individual makes the final decision. For instance a child loves to play it's not till they start to really become self conscious that they began to want to look like, the hero's they love to play with. What guy wouldn't want to look sexier with ripped abs, or huge arms like G.I. Joe. And what girl wouldn't want to have that perfect figure to get any guy she wanted, like Barbie.
For example when I was growing up I loved to play with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles they were ripped turtles with abs and huge muscles. But I really didn't even consider needing to look like the toys I played with. My perception of my body was more influenced by my friends than my toys. As soon as muscles became the thing to have around middle school that's when I really became self conscious about my body. In conclusion the toys we play with to me are just toys it's not till we become more self conscious about are bodies through our friends, or t.v. that we really begin to notice how much more built, or perfect are toys are compared to us. So ya toys might effect the way we think of our bodies but it's the tri-fecta of marketing mixed with peer pressure that really makes us aware of our bodies and thus wanting a better body image.