Social Experiment

Social Experiment 

With this social experiment, I am wanting to find out the different comparisons between male and female bodies

- So I feel as though for my project to work I am ditching the idea of just the female body and thought to add in male bodies too. To see the comparisons between the male and female form and the social warpedness we have to our thinking of our bodies as humans not just as individual genders.

I am conducting interviews with my models first before starting the nude modeling sessions. A "meet and Greet" so I myself am safe and comfortable and also the model feels safe and comfortable too. So I put up a casting call on Facebook to see would be interested. - The feedback was varied, as women were far more interested than the males. I had about 10 females messaging me to be apart of this within the first half an hour of posting my casting call whereas I had only 3 males within a longer time frame of 1 week that wanted to be apart of this. Therefore I am going to be interviewing the females all at the same time than scheduling an individual session with the females. whereas for the males I am conducting the interviews separately and individually as they felt more comfortable than talking to other males about it.

The first interview I conducted was the first male model - At first, he was very nervous but settled into it. I feel as though the "Meet and Greet" went very interestingly as his build was a very fit build, tan skin, taller than a female but not too tall and in his late 20's.

Questions I ran through with him below - 

What are your own flaws that you think of yourself?

• He felt as though he was a bit chubby and not happy with his facial features

What does your body mean to you?

• "If everything works then I am happy with it." was his reply

What do you think your body means to others?

• His reply was very interesting as his body to other people - Say walking down the street in public by himself - he felt as though he was very much stereotyped for being cultured. Especially with the clothes he wears, sluggish comfortable clothing say track pants and a hoodie. He feels as though everyone looks at him and there's a racial context to the way they look at him.

Why do you cover yourself up if you do?

• Just for comfortability reasons - not self-conscious reasons.

What do you think the best part of yourself is?

• Personality

What is the least favorite part of yourself?

• Genitals - proportion wise

How do you feel about looking at yourself in the mirror?

• He doesn't mind looking at himself in the mirror but feels as though he can work on it.

Do you think you're attractive or unattractive? And why do you feel that way (if say unattractive.)

• He feels as though his attractiveness is below average and doesn't feel as though he should believe other people's opinions... I find this very interesting because his perception of himself is very different from what he actually looks like. This is a great example of warped perception and warped thinking of ourselves physically self. I find that males are becoming very self-conscious about there bodies especially the fit built males - who feel as though they have to constantly work on themselves. 

What made you want to be apart of this project?

• He feels as though it will help him get out of his comfort zone and feels as though this will help his growth to like and feel more confident with his own body.

I will be conducting two other interviews with a plus-size male (late 20s) and an older male (60+)  to compare their thoughts of themselves from age to weight to their own self-thoughts. Along with the other interviews with the females and then compare them with each other.