
Today in modern society, we are driven by social forces. Not only do we strive for human approval and companionship, we also thrive on social media. The media plays such a pivotal role in what we buy, eat, wear, etc. that we are conditioning ourselves to fit the mold for the "perfect" or "ideal" body type. This social construct has been a pressing issue for many years regarding the female physique, but not as much has been said on behalf of men. When confronted with appearance based advertisements, men are more likely to experience muscle dissatisfaction, weight disparities, and anger and/or anxiety toward showing their body in public. This paper will address these facets of the media's effect on male body image as well as presenting what has been done to address this quietly debilitating issue.

Everyone has dealt with body image at some point in their life. Personally, I was always the tall, skinny kid. I could not gain weight no matter how hard I tried. I never had a negative mindset about my body image, but I did want to alter it in order to look like the models on the Abercrombie & Fitch bags or the guys in the gym commercials. Other than personal reasons, this topic interests me because of the attention that females have received about changing body image stereotypes. This effects men as well, but it is not as prominent an issue.

A Meta-Analyses of the Effects of Media Images on Men's Body-Image Concerns, published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, was conducted by Christopher P. Barlett of Iowa State University and Christopher L. Vowels and Donald A. Saucier of Kansas State University. Their results came to the conclusion that "pressure from the mass media was significantly related to men feeling worse about their own bodies." The study focused on three aspects: self-esteem, body esteem, and body satisfaction. Self-esteem focuses on personal body outlook as whole, with body esteem being how one feels about his/her own body, and body satisfaction evaluating how one thinks about his/her own body. Over the years, pop culture has been creating an inherently negative body image to men from portraying increased muscle definition in male-oriented toys to Playgirl magazine models. Every study explained through this article all aligned to one result  --  extremely muscular and "ideal" male body images had negative effect on how men thought, felt, and saw themselves. 

The Impact of Media Exposure on Males' Body Image was also published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. This study was conducted by Daniel Agliata and Stacey Tantleff-Dunn from the University of Central Florida. Appearance satisfaction, importance of outward appearance, feelings of being physically fit, and overall investment in appearance and fitness were examined in men ages 17-27. The participants viewed a 30-minute video segment, one segment being appearance-based advertisements and the other nonappearance. The results indicated that exposure to the appearance-based lean and muscular body, otherwise known as "ideal," can increase muscle dissatisfaction in oneself and increase depression. It concluded that constant exposure over time could have extremely negative consequences on personal body image.

The Journal of Psychosomatic Research published Body image and body change methods in adolescent boys and Role of parents, friends, and the media. This was written by Lina A. Ricciardelli, Marita P. McCabe, and Sophie Banfield, all from the School of Psychology at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. Twenty boys ages 12-13 and twenty boys ages 14-15 were individually interviewed about the effects of parents, siblings, friends and the media on body image and body change methods. Of these participants, 27.5% said that the media had a positive effect (i.e. "I want to go to the gym, and it encourages the body I want"). Twenty percent contributed a negative effect to the media with statements such as "I think I have a lot of work to do," while 12.5% said it [media] promoted less eating. 37.5% viewed the media as promoting more exercise. While this group studied was younger than the previous studies, it still shows the media influence the male body image. These individuals did not view the media as negative, however, they also did not say that the media made them feel comfortable in their own body.

All of these articles point to some degree of a negative effect on male body image from the media. The effects highlighted include self-esteem, muscle dissatisfaction, weight disproportionality, etc. This contrasts with the more commonly known female body image, whose negative counterparts include bulimia, anorexia, etc. Steps have been taken in recent years to address, and correct, negative female body image. Dove started the Campaign for Real Beauty in 2004 and The Dove Movement for Self Esteem in 2010 to celebrate the beauty of all women. Plus-sized models are being used in advertisements and plus-sized fashion shows are becoming increasingly popular. The same has not been done so for men, but Axe recently released a new advertisement that shows alternatives to chiseled abs, such as "the nose" or "the suit." This paper addressed the issues surrounding the media and male body image, and as such, concur that there is a negative relationship between the two.

