What Men Want When It Comes To Their Bodies ?

Pulse

oi-Staff

By Super Admin

Monday, May 16, 2011, 17:14

It is a well-known fact that women are cautious about their appearances and (imagined) bad body shapes. But joining the feminine-trend are the men, who according to research are equally worried about their physical appearance.

'Clearly it is not a small sub-group of pathologically narcissistic men who experience dissatisfaction with these body parts but a substantial proportion," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted professor Marika Tiggemann, from Flinders University, as saying.

"People thought this was only a women's issue," Professor Tiggemann said.

The study that included 200 heterosexual men found that that it was so common for men to worry about their muscle definition (82 per cent did) that such concerns could be considered normal. The earlier study however underrated the men's dissatisfaction with their appearance as it was assumed that like the women, the men are also unhappy about weight and body proportions.

According to the expert, like women who risk eating disorders from extreme dieting, men's muscle concerns could lead to serious health problems, such as steroid abuse or injury. Not just that, but amount and distribution of hair on face and body also bothered the men.

However, 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.

Another indication to the growing concern amongst men are the growing numbers of salons and skin products, including the cosmetic surgery demands also. Professor Tiggemann said, and this in turn might be attributable to social change.

It is a common observation amongst the women to be dissatisfied with their bodies after viewing pictures of idealized bodies, but now the men are also undergoing similar changes. However, according to Professor Tiggemann, men's concern related to their penis size was still unknown.