In case you were unaware, the "Dad Bod" is the new hot ticket after 17 year-old Mackenzie Pearson penned a 500-word manifesto called "Why Girls Love The Dad Bod" for Odyssey. In "Dad Bod," Pearson confessed her admiration for the physique that is "a nice balance between a beer gut and working out," the product of going to the gym occasionally but also drinking "heavily on the weekends" and "eating eight slices of pizza at a time." (Wait, I thought this was about real dads, not frat boys...)
The teen then went on to extrapolate all the reasons she and many others in her demographic are hot on the dad bod, among them is the fact that the sloppy guy body makes the girl body look skinny and pretty by comparison. Sigh. Have we learned nothing?
Also key is the idea of false advertising. With the dad bod, you supposedly know what you're going to get post marriage and kids, right? Wrong. I hate to burst Miss Young Thang's bubble. If a guy is already rocking a dad bod at 22, his love handles and beer gut will likely grow exponentially by the time he's 45. And maybe to not-so-sexy proportions.
While on the surface Pearson's mini-essay about body acceptance is
a great tonic to ads like this one - and no doubt has Homer Simpson types all over the world rejoicing - her logic is sadly skewed.
And if Dad Bod is a truly thing,
it should follow that Mom Bod trends, too? Twitter smelled a double standard and called it a mile off:
"If men use this dadbod trend as an excuse to drink six packs and eat pizza while demanding their wives be yogapants hot SO HELP ME." ~ Rachel Syme @rachsyme
"Waiting for #mombod to start trending. Can't wait until the media tells me I can start loving my body now, the way it is." ~ Valaree Darling @msvaldarling
"But if we start to celebrate mombod, how are average looking men supposed to hold onto their impossible standards for women?" ~ A$AP Rafat @raesanni
And while men and women probably shouldn't be killing themselves at CrossFit or living off of alfalfa alone, it's ill-advised to celebrate binge drinking and binge eating in lieu of looking after yourself.
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