Are we too body conscious?
You’re all probably thinking, women, obviously. You’d be forgiven for thinking that, but you might not necessarily be right. Just looking at the 2009 cosmetic surgery statistics shows that there was a 21 per cent rise in men who went under the knife, compared to a measly 5 per cent rise in women, suggesting that it is in fact men who are more body conscious after all.
It has also been reported that male anorexia figures have had a frightening rise in the last few decades. In 1990 one in ten anorexia suffers were male, this has now risen to one in four, it could be said that this is in correlation to the change in the ‘ideal’ man‘s body. Previously the ‘ideal’ male figure was large and muscular, where as now more and more males, especially celebrities, are adapting to a new long, lanky, boyish look.
This shift to a new slimmer figure stems from the fashion world. Both men and women strive to be as slim and toned as the models they see on the fronts of magazines. The size zero craze has pushed women to aim to be stick thin, causing those who aren’t to have more body hang ups than they had before.
On the other hand, the first port of call for body conscious men is the gym. If guys aren’t happy with their bodies they hit the gym and work out obsessively, where as women diet. Even this simple choice of what to do about your body if you’re unhappy with it is defined by our sex. Obviously women also go to the gym and men eat healthy, but the main port of call is gym for men, diets for women.
Perhaps it seems that women are more body conscious on the whole because they are more vocal about their feelings. Women will happily sit down for coffee with friends and discuss what they don’t like about themselves, or throw a strop if an old item of clothing doesn’t fit anymore, whereas men on the other hand, don’t let their guard down as much around their peers. This maybe because lads feel they have to be just that, ‘lads’, and uphold their manly we ‘love football, beer and girls’ approach to life.
Celebrities undoubtedly play a part in making both men and women body conscious. Seeing the likes of Cheryl Cole, David Beckham, Megan Fox and Zac Effron strutting their perfect bods around our TV screens is enough to make anyone want to be them, or be with them. With more and more girls lusting after these celebrity hunks, and vice versa, it’s understandable that the world is becoming more self conscious. However, let’s not forget the extensive teams these people have to help them look that gorgeous, and the money they have to put behind it.
It could be argued that women face more pressures to look good, with factors like make up, hair, tanning, nails and hair removal, but men may argue that they have to do just the same. For men, the tall, dark, handsome look is pretty much impossible to master if you’re not born that way, where as arguably any woman could look like Katie Price with a good cosmetic surgeon and makeup artist to pile on the slap.
Female First- Rachael Patan
Tagged in Health and Beauty