In "The Ugly Truth About Beauty," Dave Barry suggests that men and women view themselves differently. People have known for many years that men and women have their differences. These differences often mean that there may be confusion between the sexes. In Dave Barry's essay, he uses three points of view to determine how males and females feel about themselves. Dave Barry's essay not only suggests how men and women perceive themselves, but also how men perceive women.
Barry's essay suggests how men perceive themselves. He implies how men view themselves as average looking. Barry feels that "being average does not bother them; average is fine, for men" (423 Barry). Men often acquire this feeling about themselves in middle school. They seem to develop a feeling about themselves in seventh grade "and stick to it for the rest of their lives" (422). Boys are taught at a very young age that being average looking is acceptable. Dave Barry writes about his son's action figure named Buzz-Off. Although "Buzz-Off was not a looker" (423), he was "extremely self-confident" (423). The characteristics that Buzz-Off attains prove the fact that boys grow up with the thought that looks do not matter, but personality does matter. Barry suggests that men obviously feel that looking average is okay. The way they feel about themselves will stay with them forever.
A second point of view is how women view themselves. Barry suggests that women have low self-esteem. He documents that women often feel that they are ""not good enough"" (423). Women's low self-esteem might come from the fact that they have grown up playing with a doll that has outrageous proportions. Barbie has such proportions that "if it were human, it would be seven feet tall and weigh 81 pounds, of which 53 pounds would be bosoms" (423). These proportions are "difficult appearance standards" (423) that women try to set for themselves, although they are not reachable.