Teenage male body image: the wrong image
Look at yourself. Are you happy with how you look? If not, you aren’t alone. Out of Australians aged 11–24, approximately 28% of males are dissatisfied with their appearance. Within this article, I will strive to explain body image, its significance and how I propose to reverse its negativity.
What is body image? What’s the big deal?
This term of ‘body image’ refers to how individuals perceive their body, and the feelings that coincide with those perceptions. For males, the most common body image issues include weight, height, masculinity, femininity and penis size. The desire to fit society’s norms and stereotypes directly influences the self-esteem of adolescence. 1 in 5 young men say that body image is their number one concern. One third want to be bulkier and one third want to be thinner. This can be factored by media, advertising and the unrealistic and unnecessary expectations that athletes portray. A result of these expectations and norms within society is bullying. Obviously bullying itself is not caused solely by body image, but when recalling most incidents of teasing and bullying, body image is the reason.
Examples of unrealistic and unnecessary expectation of appearance
Here we have Cristiano Ronaldo, one of football’s (soccer) biggest icons, who is an elite athlete and who’s body conveys quite that. The idea that young males are unable to understand, little to their fault, is that elite athletes exercise and train substantially more than the average male, let alone teenage male. Elite athletes such as Ronaldo are idols to hundreds of millions across the globe and hundreds of thousands in Australia. In doing so, a portion of male teenagers feel that they must strive to look like athletes like Ronaldo or similar in order to be attractive. This unhealthy mindset is common within the country and world among male adolescence and can result in severe mental and physical harm.
The effects of body image
Now you know what body image is and how it can be easily influenced, but what are its effects? In some cases, negative body image can lead to:
- Anxiety and depression related to appearance
- Obsessing over a single perceived flaw in appearance
- Spending excessive time looking in mirrors
- Excessive grooming and exercise
- Anorexia
- Bulimia
A negative body image also encourages various self-destructive behaviours, including:
- Fad dieting — around 17 per cent of men are dieting at any given time. These diets are not always nutritionally beneficial.
- Eating disorders — around 1 in 4 people with anorexia are now male and binge eating disorder affects men and women in roughly equal proportions.
- Exercise dependence — around 20 percent of regular exercisers are addicted to exercise, either psychologically or physically.
- Steroid abuse — around three per cent of Australian teenage boys use muscle-enhancing drugs (like steroids).
How do we improve male body image?
The best method in order to improve overall male body image is to prevent or remove the media’s barrage of unfair advertisements and ridiculous standards that are forced upon society. Although that is unlikely. So what society can do is become media literate. This means that society must question the standards and impossible expectations that are conveyed through the media. In addition to this, here are a list of ways in order to attempt to assist this technique (http://www.eatingdisorders.org.au/):
- Be kind to yourself
Instead of criticising yourself and focusing on what you don’t like about yourself, try focusing on what you do like. Avoid seeing yourself as a collection of separate body parts, and try to see yourself as a whole person. Focus on all the great things your body does for you.
- Positive thinking
If you find yourself criticising yourself or engaging in negative self-talk, catch yourself and stop. Give yourself a pat on the back when you’ve done something well, and treat yourself as you would treat a friend.
- Avoid critiquing other people’s bodies
Stop yourself from making unkind comments about other people’s appearances. Not only are such comments potentially hurtful, they reinforce the importance of adhering to unrealistic beauty ideals to anyone listening.
- Look after yourself
Take the time to look after yourself and spend time doing what makes you happy. Having hobbies, taking time to relax, and engaging in self-care are all extremely important. Rather than setting goals around weight loss, focus your goals on being healthy and happy.
Summary
In summary, male body image is often a topic that is shoved under the rug as women’s body image is a dominant issue. Not only is it important, but it really does shape the happiness of a large portion of male teenagers in society. In extreme cases, self-harm, eating disorders and suicide can occur. As a society, a state and as a country we must stand up to reverse negative male body image.