Society’s perceptions of the male body: A heavy weight to carry

Susannah Plocher Guest Writer

The other evening, hoping to beat the rush, I bundled my lazy self up and headed over to the gym. It was after 8 p.m. at this point, so I figured that not many people would be there. Though I was right in guessing that few people would be there, I was amazed at the gender divide of those who were: Of the 20 or so people there, only three were women, myself included. I have always thought that women—especially young women—are most susceptible to issues of body consciousness, and that men are the ones confident with their love handles. While the majority of the men there were lifting weights, talking about lifting weights, and helping others lift weights, I thought about this seeming gender switch: men as self-conscious of their figures.

I decided to learn more about this oddity—men and issues of insecurity about their bodies—and was amazed to find that not only is it prevalent, but problematic as well. Most of us are familiar with the issues of anorexia and bulimia in young women: Many of us have friends or family members who have battled the disease. Male body image disorders are not as widely recognized, however, and the effects of the disorders are not as easily spotted in our everyday lives.

Body dysmorphia is the technical term for diseases such as anorexia and bulimia, which most commonly affect women. A form of body dysmorphia, muscle dysmorphia, is a male counterpart of sorts to the commonly female disorder. Eston Dunn writes on ediets.com about how dissatisfaction and obsession with bodily perfection in men can reach dangerous levels, as seen with many women and their battles against eating disorders. Men with muscle dysmorphia obsessively work out to reach muscular perfection. Called “bigorexia” by some experts, muscle dysmorphia, common primarily in adolescent and young males, creates in men the desire to be bigger, stronger and have a well-defined musculature.

While this disorder is relatively new, experts believe that there are a variety of factors to blame. While fear of obesity (as well as fear of the illnesses which accompany it) is a good reason to want to beef up, I found “the glorification of male power” to be the most interesting answer. In his article, Dunn explores how men often associate fat with loss of power, and as we all know, if you’re not powerful, you’re not perceived as manly.

It is through this desire for personal power and control that some men want to exert control over the body by changing it into its most powerful form. Furthermore, society has glorified the body to a point of insanity: movie stars, or in this case, governors, with bodies beyond what most would call “normal.” We are surrounded by images of unreal proportions, and tragically, we are not safe from them even in childhood—in fact, this is when we are at our most vulnerable and when the idea of “perfection” is first introduced to us. Just as the little girl is raised with her Barbie, the little boy is raised with his G.I. Joe, a figure who in reality could not exist. The world in which we live creates unrealistic and unattainable ideals, and it seems that women are not the only ones hurt by it—no man is safe either.

I would like to take this moment to clarify: I do not believe that every guy in the fitness center late in the evening has muscle dysmorphia. In fact, I think there are plenty of people on campus who could afford to go there more often. I am interested only in what gets us to the gym, and what, though in relatively more limited cases, drives us to unhealthy obsessions. In more progressive communities, a woman is taught to follow the likes of Eve Ensler—love your body, cherish your body, and screw the others! But the truth is, at the end of the day, in the privacy of our own space, we are our harshest critics.

What amazes me is that even in a society where it is generally accepted that men can get away with a few more extra pounds than their female counterparts, in reality, no man, woman, or child is safe. No one is shielded from the blunt and heavy judgment and pressure of an unattainable ideal because it is embedded within each of us.

We are the hardest judges to beat.