When you see this picture, you will find that guy in the Abercrombie & Fitch clothing ad doesn’t have a head, but does it really matter? His upper body is as sculpted as Michelangelo’s David, all chiseled muscle, washboard abs and not a follicle of chest hair.
You don’t just see him in the provocative ads for Abercrombie sale, the youth-oriented clothing chain: On billboards and in magazines everywhere, it seems, there’s a male Adonis - buff, sleek, hairless. Like that famous 500-year-old statue, it’s nice to look at. But how does it make the average guy feel?
Maybe it is not so great. With all the attention these days on the effect paper-thin models and actresses can have on girls and women, it’s worth noting that men can suffer from body image problems, too.
“Body image is not just a concern for women,” says researcher Deborah Schooler, who’s looked into the adverse effects such media images can have on male self-esteem. “It affects men, too, and it demands attention.”
In the past, research has understandably focused mostly on women, and the dangerous eating disorders that can stem from body-related emotional issues. And when looking at men, researchers asked the wrong questions, Schooler argues.
“Asking men about just weight or size misses the boat,” Schooler, a research associate at Brown University, said in a telephone interview. What men are more concerned about, she says, are other “real-body” factors, like sweat, body hair and body odor.
As a girl, “you can be the best debater at school,” Tolman says. “But if you’re fat, you don’t get people’s admiration, despite your skill. That’s not true with boys.”
And what of LaLanne, now 92, who so depressed the young Simmons decades ago that he turned off the TV?
Of the incessant media images, the still-avid exerciser says, “Maybe at least that’ll get ‘em out doing something!” Aspiring to today’s ideal body is fine, he says, as long as it’s what you want. He deplores, though, the overly muscular type that “looks like they use steroids. Once you start fooling with Mother Nature, you’re in trouble.”
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