M42

Men's anatomical angst

April 22 2011

In a world-first exploration, Marika Tiggemann has charted the anatomical angst of a generation of young men. It ranges from physique, height and hair loss to the big one - penis size. In the fraught geography of male body image, shoulder hair is a trouble spot while chest muscles are an outright war zone. "People thought this was only a women's issue," Professor Tiggemann, from Flinders University, said. Previous studies had underestimated men's dissatisfaction with their appearance because they assumed men would be unhappy about the same things as women: weight and body proportions. The new study instead had used open-ended interviews to determine men's concerns and then made those the basis of a more formal survey, pinpointing their relative contribution to men's overall feelings about their body. "Clearly it is not a small sub-group of pathologically narcissistic men who experience dissatisfaction with these body parts, but a substantial proportion," said Professor Tiggemann, whose study of 200 young heterosexual men found two-thirds wished they had less back or buttock hair and a bigger penis, while 82 per cent wished they were more muscular. It had become so common for men to worry about their biceps, pectorals and six-pack that such concerns could now be considered normal - just as virtually all women worried about their weight, Professor Tiggemann said. But like women who risk eating disorders from extreme dieting, men's muscle concerns could also lead to serious health problems, such as steroid abuse or injury. The amount and distribution of hair on the face and body were clearly important to men, said Professor Tiggemann, whose study is published in the Journal Of Health Psychology. But there were contradictions - such as the trend of shaving the entire head to conceal partial baldness, and the shift towards smooth male torsos in advertising, a reversal of the traditional association between male body hair and virility. Other evidence - the arrival of men's salons and skin products and a reported increase in men undergoing cosmetic surgery - suggested male body worries were increasing, Professor Tiggemann said, and this in turn might be attributable to social change. In the past, she said, it could have been that appearance "didn't matter very much because what mattered was the amount of money you made, the job you had … Some of this is a function of the male role being less clear." A beefy body might be "a way of asserting again". For girls and women - and increasingly for men - research showed that viewing pictures of idealised bodies provoked immediate feelings of dissatisfaction with their own bodies. Muscular, hairless male torsos first entered the media mainstream in a 1994 Diet Coke commercial featuring a bare-chested window cleaner, and have since become ubiquitous. The source of men's unhappiness with penis size was less clear, Professor Tiggemann said. "Are they comparing themselves to folks in the urinal or maybe to porn-type images?" According to Mission Australia's 2007 annual youth survey, body image now tops the list of worries for people aged 11 to 24, across all age subgroups and for both sexes. It was rated for the first time ahead of family conflict, and beat stress and study problems. Malcolm Grant has his hair cut at an unpretentious barber in Newtown. Still, he is not immune. "You do see more straight men having that pressure aimed at them in the media - what they're wearing, skin products," the 43-year-old said. "And hair loss, all these hair loss clinics ex-cricketers." Recently, censored billboard advertisements for sex clinics brought up concerns about penis size as well as performance, and an emphasis on youth could also make older men feel insecure. "The early twenties - that seems to be the block that you're told to emulate," Mr Grant said. WHAT MEN WANT MORE Muscles Height Head hair Penis length LESS Body hair Fat

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RHP User

15 years ago

Because all women really want, when all is said and done, is a REAL man.

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RHP User

15 years ago

I don't get the whole anatomical angst, I wish people spent as much time on their personality and health as they do on their physical appearance because the world would be a much happier place. . I won't dispute that it is important to 'look after yourself' appearance wise. But there's not a whole lot to be gained by stressing about your receding hairline, the size and shape of your breasts (unless you are a man), the positioning of your bunnytail or the size of your penis.

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RHP User

15 years ago

Quoting 'flirty_bi_fem'Because all women really want, when all is said and done, is a REAL man. By the way Waggy, just cut and paste my above response into your other 3 new posts. In this instance, one size fits all

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RHP User

15 years ago

I think they've had it too easy for too long. Yes, most of us just want a real man but it wont kill em to put in a bit of effort either.

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RHP User

15 years ago

Jeez Wags. Are you bored or something? It is only the beginning of the longest weekend ever.

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RHP User

15 years ago

everybody is unhappy with what they have, not only should all of us be happy with ourselves but be happy with what other people have and can offer. I do not have alot of attributes that guys strive to have but i do have other things that other people dont and in the end we are different but all end up on an even playing feild.

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RHP User

15 years ago

Don't wish to sound rude or anything but do you ever actually get laid?!! Or do you just talk and research everyone to death?!! However, it is good that for once men can get worried about weight etc etc. Now they know what us poor women have been going thro for years!!

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Men's anatomical angst

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