Media Images of 'Hunks' Spur Body Anxieties in Men
CHICAGO (Reuters Health) - Research has for years linked women's exposure to photos of skinny supermodels with feelings of inadequacy about their own bodies. Now, a new study suggests that men are driven to the same insecurities when faced with magazine portrayals of buff, muscled hunks.
"We always think about these sorts of things with women, but we see the exact same things with men," said study co-author Dr. Regan Gurung of the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. He and co-researcher Jennifer Otto presented the findings here Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association.
Magazine, television, and other media depictions of extremely fit, muscled men have increased in number over the past few decades. "There is data that, in the media and advertising literature, exposure of men in advertisements is coming very close to that of women," Gurung said. He said one watershed moment occurred when rap star-turned-actor Mark Wahlberg posed for designer Calvin Klein "in his little white briefs." From then on, images of buff, semi-nude men have become as ubiquitous in advertising as those of the curvaceous supermodel. Read more