Body Perception in Men

This article sheds light on the issues surrounding men’s perception of their bodies and the media’s portrayal of an ideal image. It investigates the extent of the negative effects of poor body image perception in terms of how the victims’ self-esteem and acceptance. The article seeks to answer the questions of how dependent are the men on the media’s coverage of the ideal image of the body and what the men think of the idealized body images and how the idealized images reshape their attitudes towards their own bodies. The article also looks into the measures taken so far to create awareness of the problem, provide necessary required assistance and also recommended some working changes that will work towards improving the perception of men in regards to their bodies.

Running head:
Body Perception in men
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body perception in men
abstract
There have been decades of research plunged into the topic surrounding men and the
reality of their bodies versus the feelings they build up due to idealized body images that are
showcased in the media. Howver, though the research has existed for decades, much
concentration concerning this topic has received much attention in regard to the women. This
takes of the necessity of considering the men and the issues they face in body image acceptance
and even more so, the perception they have towards it. This result to most of the research being
dormant and most being incomplete. However, men are part of the society and equivalently share
some of the issues that may seem more pressing to the women than they are to men. Lack of
attention to such issues only derails the process of finding lasting solution and helping more men
accept and understand their bodies that may lead to psychological and health problems that the
men may face. This may result after exposure of idealized images by the media and active
exploitation of the ones without seemingly ideal bodies. This article seeks to look into how this
problem came about, how long it has existed, the persons it has affected and the effect such state
of mind has to individuals, society and the development at large. Finally, it will look into the
measures taken so far to create awareness of the problem, provide necessary required assistance
and also recommended some working changes that will work towards improving the perception
of men in regards to their bodies.
RESEARCH QUESTION
There are many unanswered questions regarding the issues surrounding the men’s
perception of their bodies and the media’s portrayal of an ideal image. There are also issues

cropping up in regards to how the issues affect their daily lives, future ventures and even the
current and future relationships within the society. Therefore, this research will seek to shed
more light into the situation from its origin, the current status and how future key choices can
positively or negatively affect the men, society, career fields and also relationships between
friends and even more so companions. The article will seek to answer the questions of:
 How dependent are the men on the media’s coverage of the ideal image of the
body?
 What the men think of the idealized body images and how the idealized images
reshape their attitudes towards their own bodies.
OBJECTIVES
Main Objective
To investigate the extent of the negative effects of poor body image perception in terms
of how the victims’ self-esteem and acceptance.
Specific Objectives
1. To investigate on the media’s contribution to the current situation of the unsolved
problem.
2. To investigate the current stereotypes on the idealized body images and also the
reality of the most prevalent present body type images
3. To investigate how society contributes towards the negative body images
INTRODUCTION
Though commonly more identified with women, men also face body image issues. This
is due to societal influences and also individual thoughts from the men concerning their own

bodies based on personality, their version of ideal bodies and also opinions of friends, family,
colleagues or even perfect strangers and individual organizations. All these aspects influence
how the men may see their hair, the length of their hair and the color of their hair as well. It also
may influence their perception of the body fart, the way they look in clothes and, on the mirror,
the muscles they may or may not have and what their think their bodies are versus what they
believe they should be. There are many contributors towards perception and heavy on that is the
media. There is a tendency for society to believe that the media presents facts that are the truth of
what is accepted and also happening in the society. Therefore, the views presented by the media
tend to be taken as the truth that the society need to be made aware of and this influences the
actions that the audience takes and also the opinions they have and those that they interact with
on a daily basis.
The media tends to draw a large audience and therefore they have the platform to
influence their ideas through means such as advertisements, TV shows, movies and even through
radio shows amongst others. This is through suggestive talks or even commonly more so the use
of models who have a certain look that isn’t identifiable with the majority population of men.
Thus, there is more pressure inflicted by society and self to work through all means to achieve
the ideal body image and also there is a stigma held around those that cannot meet the ideal body
type. Degrading those men that seemingly look a certain type of way that is taken as perfect
holds the ones in those body mages to have a negative reflection of themselves and those of
others and more to that, it affects many social aspects of their lives. Therefore, there is need to
look into the role of the media in regards to their body perception and also type of effects it has
and some of the proposed solutions that can be availed to resolve the issues.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Agliata, D., & Tantleff-Dunn, S. (2004). The Impact of Media Exposure on Males' Body Image.
Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23(1), 7-22.
Media contribution to Body Perception
Men are presented of the roles they are to assume in the future and also what society
expects of them in terms of behavior as well as mannerism in terms of individuality and
also figurative soles. They are presented with expectations of their future and are availed
the present individuals that represent their roles in future from their fathers, teachers at
school, key figures in society like career fields and more so key figures in different fields
around the world that have made an impact to society globally. Failure isn’t a social
aspect that is accepted positively or even accepted when it comes to a man’s life. Its taken
as a set back from life that one needs to bounce back from soonest and therefore, period
of reflection and also time to learn from mistakes is also not a well taken opinion or
perception of life (Agliata).
This makes the issue of body image as a point of sensitivity and also embarrassment for
most men and hence those that are suffering from poor body perception tend to often than
not shy away from their issues rather than discuss about them with parties that can help
figure out a solution or even present other possibilities. More to that, from viewing the
“preferred ideal men” in the movies, on TV, in magazine ads and other avenues amongst
others, they can get discouraged as most men tend to be muscular, chiseled high cheek
bones, strong physiques and also, they tend to be tall, successful and having a

domineering aura. These are the type of men that mostly qualify for real acting roles, lead
commercial and billboard models (Agliata).
Blond, A. (2008). Impacts of exposure to images of ideal bodies on male body dissatisfaction: A
review. Body Image, 5(3), 244-250.
Young boys are modelled to their future through societal opinions and pressures from
their parents and also other influencers part of which media has a great contribution to.
They grow into a fashion and custom made future where their voice is often than not
silenced and more to that, the idea of who they need to be is constantly reinforced, and
the key parties influence and encourage them to change and resemble what they may
constantly view on the media. Additionally, the female gender is also equivalently
exposed to the media and so their perception of men ought to be, influences the choices
they make in terms of life partners they may wish to have in the future. Statistics have
suggested that the most female members of the society especially with the 21st
generation, tend to have a preference to model like boyfriends and friends over “normal”
looking guys. Their version of perfection or closeness to perception is mostly influenced
by the media. Hence, the media has a heavy influence on the perception that the male
gender has on themselves and also the rest of the other male members of the society
(Blond).
Research that has been conducted overtime seems to also support these claims quite
strongly at that as well. There are many studies have suggested to the fact that the ads that
are run of the men tend to influence the perception that they may have of themselves.
Studies done by researchers such as Leit, Gray, and Pope showed that the advertisers

preferred men who had a muscular built for one and more neutral look for the other. After
the advertisements were run, the men who seemingly didn’t have the chiseled looks in
terms of physique didn’t have a positive outlook about their body from the moment they
viewed the advertisement (Leit, Grey, Pope). This research was greatly supported by
more research studies that also showed similar research results (Blond)
Leit, R.A.., Gray, J. J., & Pope, H. G. (2002). The media's representation of the ideal male body:
A cause for muscle dysmorphia? International Journal of Eating Disorders, 31(3), 334-
338.
Effects of poor Body perception
Being that the body makes a person’s general look in terms of view and perception of
one’s personality, it’s a major contributor to building one’s brand and also contributes
greatly to a person’s personality. The negative contribution of the media has made it
impossible for the men to be able to achieve their true desired dreams be it in career,
relationships or also other aspects of life. More to that, the lack of satisfaction and the
constant feel of judgement and skepticism in terms of relationships created overtime may
contribute in a great way to societal health conditions such as depression. This comes
from the place of feeling insufficient and not seemingly comfortable and okay with one’s
current state of body image and how that may contribute to the place in life they mind
find themselves either mentally, emotionally or even financially. The lack of that “perfect
body” contributes more and more to the feeling of insufficiency, lacking and even more
so the failure to be the expected or accepted. If the socially accepted truth is presented as
the only truth that can be accepted, then it becomes hard for the male gender to assume

individuality and acceptance to one’s self as they are and this contributes negatively into
the choices that one may make in the future from the negative influence. A build of
negative emotions may contribute to clinical depression in the future (Leit).
When there are negative image opinions about a man’s boy image, it makes them shy to
conversations and also makes them more and more reserved every day. The reservation
creates a negative environment for growth and even more so makes them less productive.
They are less resilient to making their dreams into reality and there are less concerned
with the society as they feel the society is more judgmental tan it is supportive and
accepting of all people. The feeling of isolation provides more comfort into a better future
that is free of people and judgement and more acceptance. Driving themselves away from
society is usually a common norm amongst people and even more so the men that feel
judged by the society. They create a world of their won where they feel safer and less
judged for who they are and even more so how they look.
The isolated solace presents them the space and opportunity to feed their negative notions
and thoughts and therefore there is a tendency for the isolated men to engage in violence
like armed robbery and other criminal behavior like rape amongst other social crimes.
They may also take to cyber talking and cyber bullying a way of retaliation and revenge
against the hurtful society. More to these, they may adapt self-destructive habits that may
include binge eating, lack of exercise for sound mind and physical well-being. This often
than not tend to result to bad health that brings about illnesses like cardio-vascular
diseases among them hypertension and stroke. Other illnesses that a direct resultant of
poor eating behavior and also stress related include asthma, diabetes and also obesity
(Leit).

This makes one’s life quite uncomfortable and may become unlivable. Instead of offering
a solution after escape, they tend to offer more problems to address in the future and offer
threating data of death in the near future. There have been massive suicide cases reported
by indecent survey institutions as well as the health institutions that have shown lack of
self-acceptance for the male gender as being one of the lead causes of such deaths among
the men in the society. These are some of the issues that the male gender has to face daily
and they are laos social issues that threaten the future of the male gender in the societies
and also risk a balance in terms of population for both the female gender as well as the
male (Leit).
MirrorMirror. (2018). Body Image Men. Retrieved from https://www.mirror-mirror.org/body-
image-men.htm
Statistics from a survey held by Mirror Mirror in 2018 allude to the fact that there over 3
million people globally that have lost weight in order to achieve that ideal and socially
most preferred body type and due to that obsession to achieve ‘ perfection” they end up
adapting unhealthy behaviors that lead to conditions such as anorexia, bulimia and even
extreme obesity from binge eating due to lack of acceptance and frustration from not
being what they considered socially right (MirrorMirror).
There is also the issue also the issue of excessive money on expensive cosmetic
procedures to achieve sch looks like the liposuctions, gastric sleeves and other forms of
body reductive and body build surgeries. They may also send the money on health
supplements, gym memberships, medical procedures amongst other ways that may offer

or suggest to offer a solution to their problems. This behavior may become an obsession
with time and thus threatening to be a self-destructive path in life (MirrorMirror).
McCabe, M. P., & Ricciardelli, L. A. (2001). Parent, peer, and media influences on body image
and strategies to both increase and decrease body size among adolescent boys and girls.
Adolescence, 36(142), 225-240.
Solutions to the body image is issue.
Being that there isn’t a solution that can present the best solution for the body perfection
requirements, then some measures may be presented to solve one issue at a time.
Therefore, they are a number of ways that can be presented to navigate through the
negative effects that may build up on one’s mind over time concerning the ideal body
type. Howver, to combat the issues effectively, support has to be the major binder to all
the issues. Therefore, there is a contributive measure needed from people like teachers,
parents, counselors and other parties that play key roles in providing positive opinions on
body shape, seizes and the fact that every shape is an acceptable shape in the society and
one needs to be happy with the body shape they are in and only make changes to it if they
truly aren’t happy with the shape and size and not as a contribution of society towards the
same (McCabe).
They also need to be reminded that the population represented in the media is
significantly small to the population of men that make up the global male population.
Therefore, they need to be more accepting of themselves and proud of their current
personality. Similarly, they need to be continually educated on matters of general health
in terms of how to maintain a healthy weight that is ideal to them as individuals through

the right diets, work out sessions and also maintaining a positive mentality and outlook
towards life. This will stop them from taking drastic negative measures in the future such
as starvation, extreme medical and unhealthy medical procedures and even more so over
exercising (McCabe).
Being that this is a contribute measure by not only the families and friends but also the
larger population in the society, the government also needs to place in more effort
towards the same. They need to place in policies that inhibit the wrong measures of
weight loss from being conducted in the countries and more to that cancelling licenses
and denying opportunities to advertisers that also share similar perceptions of the perfect
body image. This would serve to reduce the pressure and also give chance to positive
change in terms of body weight and more so body sizes. Some of the measures taken
legislatively towards accepting women of all body shapes and sizes to model for products
from body wear to even billboard adverts has taken of the social pressure in terms of
acceptance of some of the body sizes that were accepted before. This has resulted towards
more models of different sizes getting more jobs in the modeling industry and more
people in the society accepting their body sizes and shapes. It has also contributed
towards more and more people reducing the medical procedures and other avenues that
they take towards in achieving the perfect bodies as so often refereed to (McCabe).
Leit, R. A., Gray, J., & Pope, H. G. (2002). The media’s representation of the ideal male body: a
cause for muscle dysmorphia? Pub Med, 31(3), 334-338.
The media needs to place more concentration into covering how the society got to that
point of accepting a certain type of body image, shape and size as what is acceptable.

They need to analyze what contributed to wards sch statistics and how those ranges were
created and from wat timeline they came to live, they also need to further investigate
what market the “accepted” body image serves and how that contributes to the negative
repercussions many men are facing in today’s society. They need to evaluate how they
also contributed to the sad statistics and how efforts can be made to rectify the issue and
save the presented generation and present more options of the future generation where
acceptance is what is valued more than serving a particular market for the sake of a few
members in the society that seek to create a certain type of image that serves to suit their
needs. This has been what has been seen with many designers that lack creativity in terms
of creating clothing for people of a different body shape and size. They have been
presented by some of the research studies as being only concerned with the population
they find suiting and more flattering to their creations as opposed to others. They create a
problem to offer a solution that better suts them than the greater population and thus this
creates loopholes into the cloth line industries that present more research areas for
researchers and other independent parties that seek to create a world of equality for the
male gender and even more so for all genders (Leit).
Men and Depression. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/men-
and-depression/index.shtml
Further research
There need to be more studies conducted into body image and how negatively the current
conception may affect the future for the male gender. This is due to the fact that the
available research is quite shallow in regards to the male gender perception of one’s body
image. There research is also quite limited and the options or varieties presented are also

quite limited which means that there is more that needs to be done in terms of the
academic requirements. There are more loop holes that exist in the current available
research majorly due to the limitations that exist due to the amount of research available
(men and Depression).
Due to the lack of attention that has been offered towards the area of subject, there is less
presentation of quality in terms of the papers that are submitted and thus it affects the
credibility and reliability of the research. This needs to be addressed so as to present
success in the future for the research offered in the future and thus offering more reliable
references towards some of the issues that affect the make gender especially in terms of
the body image perception (Men and Depression).
The research needs to stretch far and wide to all ethnicities, and religions and how some
of these aspects may affect the way that the men view their bodies. Making the research
stretch across various demographics make the research more credible and reliable. This
means that there would be more solutions adapted in addressing body image issue sin the
present and the future (Men and Depression).

CONCLUSION
It would be much easier if the opinion of the society was ignored especially in matters of
body acceptance. Howver, often than not, society dictates a lot of decisions that an individual,
organization and groups may make concerning different issues especially in the matter of
perception of the body image. Howver, global awareness of this social anomaly would make the
issue more acceptable and solutions easily found as the issue would be combated by masses of
people around the world and not just a few individuals or individual groups. The health
institutions have recorded many health issues that relate to negative body image perception from
drug abuse, depression and even more so suicides that could have been avoided earlier on if the
issues were more publicly addressed (Men and Depression). This means that the issue is very
much real as not constantly thought and therefore, the men are in need of support and help from
many sects of people from professional trainers, families and the society in general. This is
importance for the mental soundness and therefore the media would be of great help in
advertising for men of all body types and not just one type and therefore, there needs to be
change. Even more so, there is more room for the media to contribute towards a more accepting
society for men of all body shapes and sizes to create a more realistic future for all parties.

References
Blond, A. (2008). Impacts of exposure to images of ideal bodies on male body dissatisfaction: a
review. Pub Med, 5(3), 244-50.
Leit, R. A., Gray, J., & Pope, H. G. (2002). The media’s representation of the ideal male body: a
cause for muscle dysmorphia? Pub Med, 31(3), 334-338.
Men and Depression. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/men-
and-depression/index.shtml
MirrorMirror. (2018). Body Image Men. Retrieved from https://www.mirror-mirror.org/body-
image-men.htm
Agliata, D., & Tantleff-Dunn, S. (2004). The Impact of Media Exposure on Males' Body Image.
Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23(1), 7-22.
Blond, A. (2008). Impacts of exposure to images of ideal bodies on male body dissatisfaction: A
review. Body Image, 5(3), 244-250.
Leit, R.A.., Gray, J. J., & Pope, H. G. (2002). The media's representation of the ideal male body:
A cause for muscle dysmorphia? International Journal of Eating Disorders, 31(3), 334-
338.
McCabe, M. P., & Ricciardelli, L. A. (2001). Parent, peer, and media influences on body image
and strategies to both increase and decrease body size among adolescent boys and girls.
Adolescence, 36(142), 225-240.