Body image concerns more men than women, research finds

Submitted by Matt on Sat, 2017-04-01 13:01

Article here. Excerpt:

'More men worry about their body shape and appearance – beer bellies, "man boobs" or going bald – than women do about how they look, according to research.

More than four in five men (80.7%) talk in ways that promote anxiety about their body image by referring to perceived flaws and imperfections, compared with 75% of women. Similarly, 38% of men would sacrifice at least a year of their life in exchange for a perfect body – again, a higher proportion than women.

"These findings tell us that men are concerned about body image, just like women. We knew that 'body talk' affected women and young people and now we know that it affects men too," said Dr Phillippa Diedrichs, from the centre of appearance research at the University of the West of England. She conducted the study, of 394 British men, which was commissioned by Central YMCA and the Succeed Foundation, an eating disorders charity.'

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"Commissioned by the Central YMCA" was too rich by half - which makes me wonder if they stood outside asking the questions or perhaps called "lapsed" membership.

Here in North America there are lots of different sports clubs (Gold's, Sporting Life, Running Room, various MMA, Zumba, Community Sports Clubs etc) to participate in ones private obsession and YMCA are among the most family friendly - but even there it varies widely. The newer ones are combined YMCA+YWCA operations.

The point is living in a city, working in a cubicle - we all lack the opportunity for physical fitness - and I think it a good thing to remain active - male or female. Age would be more of an important factor.

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Submitted by fathers4fairness on Sun, 2017-04-02 20:05

. . . don't surprise me in the least. Body image is a struggle I have always faced, as I was overweight for most of my life. I'm still not satisfied with how I look, even though I'm technically in the healthy weight range for my height, and my wife always tells me how attractive she finds me.

I think I've only ever seen one attempt to shed light on healthy body image for males in the media, but in the show I'm referring to, men being interviewed about body image said they thought girls have it worse. You know, the old can't give you the carrot without the stick too, routine. I think the scores of body image awareness campaigns aimed at women and the dearth of the same for men would naturally lead to this result.

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Submitted by xtrnl on Mon, 2017-04-03 19:21

yeah, I'm not surprised, in the least by this.

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Submitted by ErikaLancastor on Fri, 2017-04-07 19:57