Male Body Demographic Research

Agliata, D., & Tantleff-Dunn, S., (2004). The Impact of Media Exposure on Males’ Body Image.

For many years the media has been blasted as the cause of numerous negative events that continue to happen in our society. Anti-media supporters have placed the blame for increased violence in the nation on media’s exposure to violent entertainment shows and movies. Media’s promotion of the thin ideal in female models and actors as well as media’s use of very muscular male models and actors may perpetuate the idea that the average person should either be skinny or muscular. An average person who is not skinny or muscular may feel as though they are not living up to society standards which greatly effects their emotional self-esteem. However not every person encountered indicates they are negatively affected by media’s emphasis on skinny or muscular people.

Today in modern society, we are driven by social forces. Not only do we strive for human approval and companionship, we also thrive on social media. The media plays such a pivotal role in what we buy, eat, wear, etc. that we are conditioning ourselves to fit the mold for the “perfect” or “ideal” body type. This social construct has been a pressing issue for many years regarding the female physique, but not as much has been said on behalf of men. When confronted with appearance based advertisements, men are more likely to experience muscle dissatisfaction, weight disparities, and anger and/or anxiety toward showing their body in public. This paper will address these facets of the media’s effect on male body image as well as presenting what has been done to address this quietly debilitating issue.

The results of this study indicated a low effect size for all studies. The participants who were shown pictures in the media of thin models tended to think there was something wrong with their body weight. Other participants who viewed models who were overweight tended to have a positive outlook on their body image. Another study that was conducted by Han, 2003 looked at female Korean college students and the way in which media exposure affected the way they perceive body image. This experiment was conducted by using 42 college female college students who were exposed to images of thin models in magazine ads. After viewing the images for about 5 minutes the women were then asked to fill out a questionnaire. This questionnaire was built to see their indication on body dissatisfaction and eating disturbance based upon the pictures that were shown. Then an upward comparison was used to see whether they agreed or disagreed with the images of the models shown. As these results stated the females that were exposed to the pictures of the thin models showed a higher level of upward comparison then those who were not shown the models. Participants in the experimental group also perceived the thin models to be more practical than those who were participants of the control group. A second part of this experiment used 75 female college

     The purpose of this study is to further explore and examine the influences of mass media on male’s and female’s personal body image satisfaction and the awareness and internalization of societal pressures regarding appearance. For a number years evidence surrounding the insecurities that women have towards their own bodies has been widely published. More recently, it has been suggested that men are falling victim to media and

“American men and boys have also been inundated with media images of largely unrealistic muscular male physiques.”(Ballaro, 2016)

The media can strongly effect what we perceive our body shape to be and what we believe our body shape should be. While it is primarily believed to affect women, more research is beginning to focus on male and various gender identities’ eating and body image issues. Adolescents and young adults are at the greatest risk of having eating and body image issues that can cause mental health concerns. This can lead to dangerous, unhealthy habits in all genders. In this lab, we hope to examine the relationship between various self-reports of behavior, cognitions, and feelings towards body image, eating, and societal standards of body shape.

This unrealistic ideal of masculinity that is presented to society through modern advertisements and television have several negative effect on how men perceive their own body images. For a long time, people have been talking about how women were affected by those ideals, and how they were having unhealthy habits to try to look like models and actresses, but is very rare to find people discussing how men are affected by those ideals. But surprisingly men are very worried about their body shape and appearance, and are very affected by this unrealistic ideals, sometimes more affected than women.

The research suggests that this leads to poor body image and eating disorders. Now-NYC.com reports that 7 million girls and women in the US suffer from eating disorders. About 10% of all people diagnosed with eating disorders are men. researchers conducted a cross-sectional survey to assess the influence of the media on girls weight concerns, weight control/loss behaviors, and perceptions of body weight and shape. They found that 69% of the girls reported that magazine pictures influenced their idea of the perfect body shape, and 47% wanted reported wanting to lose weight because of magazine pictures. scientists found that there was no significant influence between the short-term exposure to media images of thin female and muscular male models and body images However, according to the Nielsen Company’s survey the average American watched television 4.5 hours everyday equals to two months every year. The researchers Hargreaves and Tiggemann shows the study result that adolescent girls had decreased body satisfaction after television advertisements with the thin

This essay investigates the impacts in which the way body image is presented in the media and its effects to answer the following research question:

It has recently become a relevant topic: “male body image dissatisfaction has tripled in the last 25 years from 15% to 45%” (Larsen). Before then, body image issues in men were not seen as problematic since they were so low. In the last 25 years it has become a bigger issue that needs to be addressed. According to “The man behind the mask: male body image dissatisfaction”, “It’s only one of many areas in men’s health that really needs attention” (Gregor). It makes it harder for those suffering from body image issues to seek help due to the little attention it gets. In a recent study in Psychology of Men & Masculinity “48% of men were dissatisfied with their weight” and “16% are so uncomfortable with their bodies that they avoid wearing a swimming suit” (103). It is known women struggle with body image issues, but most do not see that men struggle with their images too. David Frederick stated that “we know so many women are dissatisfied, so it kind of gets lost that there’s also a lot of men who are dissatisfied” (qtd. “In Many Men Have Body Image Issues, Too”). The dissatisfaction in one’s body can be an issue despite whether one is a male or a female. Men should not be suffering in silence and afraid to get help because Americans have stigmatized body image issues as a feminine

Grabe, S., Ward, L. M., & Hyde, J. S. (2008). The Role of the Media in Body Image Concerns Among Women: A Meta-Analysis of Experimental and Correlational Studies. Psychological Bulletin, 134(3), 460-476.

Pawlow, Jon Pettibone, and Dan J. Seorist. “An Intervention for the Negative Influence of Media on Body Esteem” College Student Journal. Vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 405-418. Academic One File. http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu.

The article steers the focus off of woman with eating disorder to highlight the findings of males in growing numbers displaying signs of body dissatisfaction. In society woman were the stereotypical view of an eating disorder or any harmful behavior in efforts to achieve the perfect body image but the article presents a paradigm shift, were males are suffering just as much or even more than females. Pope, Olivardia, Gruber, & Borowiecki (1998), suggests that perhaps the perception of body image and their disturbances are indigenous to American culture predominantly. The suggestion is supported with evidence of a cross-cultural comparison to college men in America and Austria, American college men reported having a significantly greater dissatisfaction with themselves then Austrian college men. Agreeably, yes American culture places a strong emphasis on body images because television shows, magazine, dolls, actors and celebrities continuously portray the ideal human physique but it needs to be noted that every culture has a perspective of beauty that shapes the behaviors and minds of persons in that region, it may not be as candid as American culture but it still exists and influences

In “Body- Image Pressure Increasingly Affect Boys,” Jamie Santa Cruz shows that the media harms boys and girls in similar ways. Cruz discusses that “boys who were highly concerned with their weight, about half were worried about gaining more muscles…major difference between boys and girls when it comes to weight concern: whereas girls typically want to be thinner, boys are as likely to feel pressure to gain weight as to lose it” (1). This displays that boys feel obligated to look a certain way like having a 6-pack or looking physically fit due to the influence of media. Similarly, women want to lose weight because being skinny is considered to be attractive. Cruz shows that most action figures have a significant proportion of muscles which displays the “improbable body image they set up for young boys” (3-4) because of this, boys are “falling prey to a distorted image of themselves and their physical inadequacies” (3-4). It is presenting men in a way that is unnatural, like how girls and their bodies are advertised. We assume that this is how men should appear and we judge them based on the illusions that the media has created. Cruz displays that “steroids is associated with depression, range attacks, suicidal tendencies, and cardiomyopathies” (4). He asserts that boys are pressured to look what is considered as healthy in society. This shows how the media is harmful to boys because they can use other alternatives, such as