There's a body type everyone's talking about, and for once it's not a woman's body. It's the "dadbod." You're picturing it already, right? And supposedly a lot of women are into it. In fact, your own husband might have one.
The dadbod as defined by The Odyssey "is a nice balance between beer gut and working out." He's not exactly fat, but he's not especially fit, either. He's got a soft layer of polar bear insulation and maybe a belly as well.
Women who revel in the dadbod have their reasons, from the lack of intimidation to the permission it implies to enjoy ice cream and pizza with your dadbod man. I think I get the appeal -- personally I find Adam Levine's sharply chiseled abs all-work-and-no-play. A little softness is appealing. But we were curious -- what do men think about the dadbod? And do any of them identify with it?
"The dadbod look has been around forever," says Jason, 45. "I have it to a tee. I don't like the fact that I have it. But if my wife wants me to get rid of it, she can watch my daughter while I go to gym ... when I'm not at the bar drinking beer, of course."
Jeff, who lives in Los Angeles, thinks there's very little difference between dadbod and hipster paunch. "Every dude walking around my neighborhood has the same build. And I know there are no kids involved."
"File under 'don't care,'" says Ashland, a childless man who works hard to avoid dadbod.
"You could call it Johnbod ... same thing," says John, dad to three sons.
"Poster child here," Louis boasts. "It doesn't matter. I'm still one hell of a sexy man."
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"Doesn't describe this dad of four!" says Jacob, who added, "I do think the term is funny and I don't know one man on the planet that would actually take offense."
Dan, dad to one, actually does take offense. "First, the description of a 'dadbod' sounds like a new sandwich at Arbys," he says. "Second, it's offensive because these posers could attract the girls with 'daddy issues,' thus making it harder for the real dads out there trolling college bars." I think we're picking up on a theme, here: Hipsters using their fake dadbods to attract women. Interesting! (Dan is joking, of course. I think.)
But how attracted are women to dadbod, really? Is that just a myth? "This is just someone trying to create a buzz out of nothing," says Rich, 45 and dad to three. "Women are generally not attracted to the fat, drunk and stupid look." Rich's wife reports he is currently working his way to the dadbod look.
"Are there dad jeans?" ponders Michael. "I don't want to wear Dad jeans. Otherwise, one should always aspire to look like The Rock while accepting dadbod as a more realistic result."
So there you go. Some dads identify, but there's also a bit of resentment that some non-dad posers are co-opting this unearned body type and using it to their advantage. Not cool!
Of course, I'm left wondering what kind of s---storm would erupt if we ever tried to have a conversation about "mombod." Any hipster girls out there trying to look like a mom of three? Yeah, didn't think so.
How do you feel about dadbod? Does your man have one?
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