Don’t Body Shame Jason Momoa, You Heathens

Jason Momoa had the audacity to breathe while on vacation, and there are people complaining about his “dad bod” because a picture of him doesn’t show an unnaturally chiseled set of abs like the ones on display in Aquaman. We live in a world where, often, our superheroes are shirtless and showing off their muscles, and like … no one is complaining about it, but that doesn’t mean that we get to body shame them when we think their bodies have changed from what we saw on our screens.

Trying to maintain a 6-pack every day of your life is unrealistic. The problem that is now surfacing with Jason Momoa not being as ripped as he was in Aquaman shows that the way we portray “attractive bodies” in our media is a problem. Sure, a 6-pack is nice, but not dying to maintain an unrealistic body image is also pretty nice, too.

I will fully admit to looking at a man and appreciating his abs. I’m a human being, after all, but there’s a difference between that and acting like anything less than perfection is to be shamed. Also, I don’t like this “dad bod” thing, mainly because women aren’t afforded the courtesy of such a term of endearment for bodies deemed imperfect. If we’re not tall and thin, we’re apparently nothing in the eyes of cultural beauty standards. Not only that, but even a relatively friendly term like “dad bod” is still looking at someone’s weight and commenting on it just because it doesn’t match Hollywood movie standards.

The image in question that has people shaming Momoa? A picture where Jason Momoa still looks like a beacon of fitness and one of the coolest dudes alive.

So yeah, don’t do this! Jason Momoa isn’t yours to look at and criticize just because he doesn’t look like Khal Drogo at every moment of every day.

What this does, though, is open up a conversation about how we address sexualizing people and praising their bodies. I know I’m guilty of looking at a picture of a dude with defined abs and thirst tweeting about him, but I also appreciate other body types and don’t shame people into having abs in order to find them attractive.

Sitting and saying that he has a “dad bod” or asking what happened to the photoshop of his abs is rude and terrible. Momoa doesn’t deserve that. Plus, praising a “dad bod,” in general, isn’t okay because, when looking at the beauty standards that women have to live up to, praising a man for being healthy and not having super defined abs when we, as women, are often guilted into not eating and falling to unhealthy weights to be “desirable” isn’t fair.

Let Jason Momoa live his life, and if his body isn’t up to your standards, then that’s on you, not on Aquaman himself.

(via Men’s Health, image: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

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Rachel Leishman

Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.

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