Body Image and Men
Uploaded by erin_short on Nov 14, 2005
I used to think being a guy would be so much easier then being a girl. Never worrying about the constant need to meet perfection or attaining a social expectation. That was until my 14 year old brother started complaining about how his feet were too ugly because he has hairs on his toes, deciding whether or not he should shave them. Having a lot of really close male friends, it has made me realize, that they too, are sweating off pounds, spending hours getting ready and watching “what’s hot” so that they too can look good and meet society’s materialistic, superficial image of perfection.
Recent studies performed by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders show that out of ten million Americans with eating disorders, the percentage of males has raised from 10% to 16% in the past decade. This stat, of course, does not include the hundreds not seeking help because they feel embarrassed, as if it’s not normal for male’s to have an eating disorder. There are also the hundreds who do not even realize they have a disorder. Most men don’t suffer of Anorexia Nervosa, like women, but of a disorder called body dysmorphia, or “reverse anorexia”. In this case, men are hoping to lose fat and gain muscle. Males with this disorder are usually found working out for hours at a time, up to four times a day. They rarely eat or they binge, and often thrive on protein shakes. The constant pressure for males to be tall, lean and muscular has finally started to affect the average male, and our world, of unhealthy destructive habits, gets even worse.
While scoping a website published by the National Health Museum, I was disgusted to have read, quote, “June 14, 2004- Forget the convertible. A boob job is the latest must-have on your daughter’s graduation list.” Also found on the website, were the “hottest” cosmetic surgeries for teenage males- ranging from liposuction, to eyelifts, to breast reductions. In 1997, men spent 130 million dollars on liposuction, anti-wrinkle injections, pectoral implants and penile enhancements. Stats published by the American Society of Plastic Surgery showed that in 2001, the percentage of male patients having plastic surgery done raised from 12 to 17 percent. Dr Miller, a plastic surgeon, noticed that his male patients had an estimated increase of 10- 15% to 35- 40% in the 1990’s. Many...