I think we simply don’t agree. You lose me at your first paragraph. The second this is framed as anti-man, you lose your audience of men immediately. It doesn’t matter whether it rings true or not. Men don’t feel that seeing buff dudes is the effect of toxic patriarchy bearing down on them. They just wish they could be be strong and powerful like these images they see. Telling them they are the victim and that men are to blame is very counterproductive.

There are some very complex socio-evolutionary-mental issues at play here that go beyond guys simply needing to blame men that are more powerful than them for their insecurities. I should know, I’m a guy who thinks often about images like these and what they mean for me and my ability to look and feel how I want. And I’m happily married for over a decade. It’s not about whether women find me attractive. I want to feel like I’m in the body I want. And what I want has been quietly shaped to an unreasonable ideal over the course of many years. That isn’t something easily changed, and it’s really the crux of things.