Jacob

I grew up very Americana - parents still together, two brothers. My dad and my brothers all played sports; they were all athletes. I am definitely the black sheep in the family — I like STEM, the arts, air conditioning. I was a swimmer, which was the only non-contact thing I could do, and I think that just exposed me to a lot of bodies. I just saw a bunch of naked people all the time — men, women, all different body types. I never really looked at different bodies as being good or bad. It was a little harder when my body started changing, and there was a little keeping up with the Joneses — no piercings or crazy hair, but nothing to an extreme extent. We could still gain or lose weight and dress how we wanted.⠀
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There was still a WASPy mentality, just in that growing up we were always clothed. I wasn't comfortable lying around in my own body unless it was for a purpose, like swimming.⠀
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I've been shaped a lot by who I surround myself. My friends are people of all types, all different bodies. So much of gay media is very specific body types, hypersexualized, and I'm not hypersexual and I have a very average body. I know I'm not always represented, so I don't have the best things to compare myself to. ⠀
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But after identifying that, I recognized that's not a healthy mindset. A lot of those models have been modified, Photoshopped, that sort of thing. It can't be replicated, so why pursue that?