“Life is too short not to dance around in your underwear, right?”
Those are the wise words of actor/singer Ben Yahr, who is proving you don’t have to be ripped from the pages of Men’s Health to love the body you’ve got.
In his new music video for “Shape of Me,” Yahr recreates iconic photos of celebrity skin, from Justin Bieber‘s Calvin Klein shoot to Adam Levine’s nude charity photo for prostate and testicular cancer awareness. “Fit me in the puzzle, ‘cause I am the perfect piece,” he sings. “I’ll show off my body, ‘cause I love the shape of me.”
Yahr hopes his self-love anthem will help shake queer people out of the idea that you have to look a certain way to embrace yourself.
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“We are conditioned from such a young age by the media that only certain shapes should be celebrated, which is why I decided to use iconic photos of celebrities,” he told HuffPo. “If there was a brochure of our community, would all of us be included?”
Check out the toe-tapper below:
charlie_jackpot
How about fitting in by not taking your clothes off? All these videos (recreating iconic poses, blindfolding yourself and asking people to write on message boards, creating stunts to see how people react) do nothing new and I’d hazard are mainly to satisfy the creators ego
Xzamilloh
Validation starts with one’s self, not looking to get validation from strangers. How is this supposed to be positive, when all this guy is doing is appealing to a different kind of superficiality? Besides, there are plenty “body positive” images out there… this is reading as an excuse to just say, “Here’s my body, now give me praise.”
Roan
…and here come the bitter Queerty queens to Queensplain it to us. GO
Ksb1978
Exactly!
natekerchel
I understand the thinking behind what he is doing – we live in a world obsessed by body shape and size, which is not confined to the gay world. I disagree with the view that ‘self-validation’ is somehow the answer for those of us who feel pressured to conform to a certain arbitrary template for physical appearance and acceptance. I say arbitrary because each person has their own view as to what is acceptable for them. The problem arises when we try to impose our ideas on everyone else. When you are bombarded on a daily basis with images of what you are supposed to look like, or not look like, it is impossible not to be affected in some way – especially by the negative images. We know that ‘brain-washing’ can be a very effective tool in determining behavior and thinking. What we are subjected to all day every day, in terms of body image, is a form of brain-washing, and that is why there has been a huge increase in eating related illness like anorexia or bulimia. Self – validation will rarely stand up against that type of bombardment. So I applaud this guy – in his own way he is trying to make a difference and to fight back against the unrealistic expectations.
cutterq
He has a great smile and that can never be taken from him and it will serve him well in the future.
surreal33
Women used to build their self-worth around what other people think of their looks.
When did gay men pick up the mantle and become obsessed with surface appearance?
machias
Castro clones? Vanity beards? Unfortunately we’ve been great at it for decades. I liked the video. I liked the song. Good message.
Goforit
Well. Until I read these comments, I thought that I enjoyed this video. It was fun and upbeat. Mr. Yahr has a really nice and expressive voice. If he has half the personality in real life that he has in this video, I’d bag him. But after these comments, I am just depressed. Jeez lighten up guys.
natekerchel
A serious issue deserves a serious response. Ok the video was not done in a very heavy way, but it was done for a reason – to elicit a response. We should at least be courteous and take it seriously – it affects many many lives.
David Bolton
Yahr hopes his self-love anthem will [draw attention to himself based off the hard work of others and hopefully end up in some sort of permanent media-related position] help shake queer people out of the idea that you have to look a certain way to embrace yourself.
myloginname
Wait this guy thinks there’s something wrong with his body?
BigG
I can’t stand when somebody who has a nice body like he does, is pretty much normal and NOT fat makes a video like he’s fat and shamed. bitch please
David
While I have trouble imagining someone shaming him for his body, (I certainly wouldn’t) I am quite confident that he’s probably had a number of guys say he’s too fat to date. I remember around the time i came out feeling as if I was still gigantic and unloveable, despite the fact that I’d been going to the gym for a few years and had lost a ton of weight. And realistically I felt that way in large part because despite being above average in intelligence, and having a pretty great personality (basically everyone who isn’t a single gay man tends to love me) most guys on dating sites and apps wouldn’t give me the time of day. I looked back at my pictures from back then and am really confused because I remember feeling super fat, but I didn’t look it based on the photos. I was six foot three and comfortably fit an XL T-shirt and had pretty decent arms.
As far as the song goes, I’m not big into pop anthems like this. And a lot of the “self love” language tends to make me feel awkward when anyone sings it. But the boy has a great voice.
Roan
And the Queerty comments on such a sweet and uplifting video never fail to disappoint… SMDH
arcoarconcio_passivy
Fan it´s Fan´s photto us it´s oky .
strix1
Thought the vid was somewhat funny, that’s it.