I am a visual artist, and my forte in subject matter is portraiture and figural work. The human body has always fascinated me. In high school, my concentration one year for my AP Studio Art portfolio was the male figure. But even as a child, I was always pretty aware of people's bodies and how they all have different shapes and even exhibit different senses of character. Everyone has their own unique gestures, postures, gaits, and manner of holding themselves physically. It really is amazing that we humans are all mechanisms, structures, built to move and accomplish such a wide variety of tasks in life. When I draw people from life, I relish the way an individual is physically recognizable by his or her natural body expressions. No two pairs of legs walk quite the same way; similarly, no two pairs of hands rest or flex the same. Weight is distributed differently. Some bodies are softer and some are edgier, which affects how they move, how clothing drapes over them, and more. Everybody simply holds themselves in a different way, and it's quite striking when you are able to notice and appreciate this.
What intrigues me initially about the male body, in addition to what I've noted above, is that it is so different from mine from the very basics. I'll never know what it's like to be in a man's body, but to be aware of it is very important to me. As a Catholic woman, I do believe that God designed and created us humans, male and female, with a higher purpose, but one that intentionally includes physical attraction. So what is it that has always innately made me feel attracted to a man's body? It can't be just that the male body is different from mine -- it just can't. That's too simple. And as previously stated, I know I'm more than an animal with basic instincts. I'm an animal with a complex psyche, free will, and spirituality. So I know there's more to it than the fact that a man is just "different". But what? Well, here's the thought I had the other day that finally enabled me to articulate what I'm acknowledging when I see a man as physically attractive.
A man's body is impressive.
What does that mean? Why the word "impressive"? (I really do appreciate the way some thoughts just appear to me as if they're not my own, and I get to watch them flow from one to the next...) The more I stayed with this idea of a man's body being impressive in my thought process, the more I was able to follow it and break it down.
First of all, what do I admire in the male body, exactly? What am I seeing when I think to myself, "Wow, look at his body"? This is important to lay out first.
I see firmness. I see strength that far surpasses my own (seriously, it's amazing to me how even a man who doesn't look much bigger than me seems to have about ten or twenty times my strength). I see sturdines, rigidness, solidness, and grounded physical presence. I see more lines, edges, texture, and variation in form with the male body than with a female's. I appreciate the details: heavy brows, thicker necks, greater height, broader hands, fuller deltoids (I do think this is my favorite part). As an artist, all of these things are exciting to me because I make a mental drawing of everyone and everything, constantly. It's all a journey, an adventure, and a visual opportunity for me to study human anatomy (without having to take a class or actually know the scientific names of our body parts).
So you see, when reflecting on my reactions to a man's body, I reflect upon what appeals to me. And this brings up the question of why "impressive" is the word that seems most fitting for my assessment of my attraction to the male body. Here's what I think: God. It must be that the word "impressive" came to my mind in particular because I already believe that human bodies were intelligently and divinely created. I believe that every function of our bodies is part of a supernatural design -- by our one and only Maker! Therefore, I feel impressed when I admire a man's body because I am appreciating God's handiwork.
Wow.
Boom.
This hit me. This really, really hit me. I haven't read John Paul II's Theology of the Body but I know of it, and this revelation I had about men's bodies being impressive must have some correlation with JPII's writings... Feel free to comment if you have anything to add about that.
I worry I may not be able to express the profundity loudly enough here... It sounds too simple, but let me restate: I feel impressed when I admire a man's body because I am appreciating God's handiwork.
WHOA! Do you know what this means? This is great news for you and me, male and female, all humans alike. This has a direct significance for us on an individual and interpersonal level. This idea is HUGE because it gives us a purpose and a reason to treat each other with unearned respect.
"Unearned respect"? Maybe that's not the best phrasing. But what I mean to say is, we don't have to prove anything to anyone to be respected as human beings. God already designed our bodies beautifully, to do and be so many things. He made us different, male and female. He personally created you and me, with His own Intelligence that exceeds anything we here on Earth could ever attempt on our own. And our bodies prove it! The way I feel when admiring a man's body tells me something: it tells me that I acknowledge that man as one of God's creations. One of God's creations. God is holy. Therefore, that man is called to be holy. That man comes from holiness. WOW! And God doesn't arbitrarily create people to just fill up space on this planet. Oh no, no, no. If that were the case, we'd have no reason for living at all and it would be perfectly okay to murder someone on the spot for calling us a name or cutting into our lane on the highway or forgetting to give us our change in the convenience store. Thankfully, that's not the case; we all know, somehow, that there is a meaning to our lives, even if we don't know what that meaning is. God brings us here with tools, skills, personalities, gifts, dreams, and goals. He gives us to each other to contribute something and make an impact of some kind. So we are each pretty damn important.
I also need to restate that, by respectfully appreciating God's handiwork in another person's body, this is great news for the human race. If we are capable of doing that much - of acknowledging that the people we feel attracted to were uniquely and intentionally created by God, who is Love, then we are capable of so much love and value. We are capable of holding other people's lives in high esteem because they were specifically engineered by a loving Creator.
This blows my mind. Being attracted to men's bodies makes me respect them physically but also now spiritually... We are inherently linked in our attraction to what is different, what we do not know, because the work of Another is impressive. It is something we humans cannot match, cannot recreate, cannot duplicate or originate. A man's body is the impressive work of art that innately requires respect and value in this world (and the same goes for women's bodies, of course).
So men, although you will forever confuse, annoy, and frustrate me, you will also continue to impress me (at least physically, for now, ha ha)... Maybe stop trying and start being, from your own artistic structures that can do so much for this world. Maybe when you realize this, you will realize that your physical power is a gift and a wonderful responsibility. You are called to be holy, inspiring, intelligent and awesome, just like the God who made you.
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