Male Body Image

I'm continually fascinated by transformation of the "health" industry over the last decade and how body health has been marketed to men.  At some point, advertisers seem to have run out of ways to manipulate women into feeling bad about themselves and turned their attention to a whole new market - men.  What is actually more surprising/disturbing is that men have embraced marketers attempts to make them feel bad about their bodies, leading to an explosion in the men's market for beauty products, health supplements, and health clubs (i.e., gyms).

Now this is all fine until the pursuit of perfection (defined muscles, ripped abs, minimal body fat) leads to unhealthy behaviour in the form of obsessive control over food and liquid intake, excessive exercise and gym attendance, and reduced social interactions and general enjoyment for fear of upsetting a punishing regime that is aimed at striving for perfection.  Once upon a time body image concerns were almost the exclusive domain of females (and some gay men) however these concerns have gone mainstream with more and more men presenting for therapy with issues around what's clinically referred to as Body Dysmorphia.  This disorder has many symptoms, but generally speaking, is basically an obsessive concern with appearance much as I have described.

Note to all men... you know those guys you see on the cover of "health" magazines like Men's Health or Men's Fitness (or a dozen others that seem to have popped up in the last little while).  Yes, their bodies may be real (emphasis on the "may"), but they aren't normal.  It is not actually normal to look this way and have a balanced, healthy life.  And more pertinently even these guys in the pictures have their own desperate insecurities about their bodies.  Case in point, I came across an article about a guy called David Gandy who apparently is a very famous male model (pic below).

Now you think this guy who has basically achieved the physical ideal that is being sold to Western men, and would be satisfied and completely at ease with how he looks.  Um, think again.  In this article, Mr Gandy says, "I'm very self-critical: I hate my hair, my lips, my nose. And I can't grow a full beard. People assume I think more of myself than I actually do". 


The take home for all men:  going to the gym is fine; eating healthy is great; taking pride in your appearance demonstrates that you care about yourself.  But the real payoff is when you accept the limits of your body and put as much work into your internal as well as your external self.