Both Men And Women Equally Unhappy With Their Bodies

Picture by suez92 from Flickr

I do happen to see quite a lot of men and women who are unhappy with their bodies. And lately, some boys and girls too. Previously, I used to treat a lot more women who were unhappy about how their bodies looked so they'll exercise more and get injured in the process. They'll come and see me hoping that I'll make them pain free so they can exercise again.

Their injuries were easy to treat, their mindset much more difficult.

Well, it seems that men are just as likely to be insecure about their looks. I think we're in a cultural shift in terms of the ideal body image. In movies, advertisements and magazines etc, the ideal man is often portrayed and shown to be more muscular than men in the real world.

Don't get me started on the ideal female physique. The fantasy female has a slim hourglass figure with big boobs and a BMI which was in the normal range but close to the underweight category.

A recently published study of 12,716 respondents found that only 28% of men said that they were "extremely satisfied" with their appearance compared to 26% of women.

It is not surprising to note that weight was closely to people's body image. Only 24% of men were extremely satisfied with their weight while 20% women felt extremely satisfied with theirs.

These findings are consistent with the emphasis placed on the importance for being slender for women and appearing athletic and/ or lean for men.

Take note that the subjects had to opt in to take part in the study so this sample size may not be representative of the general population.

And it gets worse for kids. Adolescent boys who were dissatisfied with their body shape were found to be more likely than girls to self criticize and feel distress (Mitchison et al, 2016).

Don't let others tell you how you look affect you. You're stronger than that.


References

Federicks DA,Sandhu G et al (2016). Correlates Of Appearance And Weight Satisfaction In A U.S. National Sample: Personality, Attachment Style, Television Viewing, Self-esteem And Life Satisfaction. Body Image. 17:191-203. DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2016.04.001.

Mitchison D, Hay P et al (2016). Disentangling Body Image: The Relative Associations of Overvaluation, Dissatisfaction, And Preoccupation With Psychological distress And Eating Disorders In Male And Female Adolescents. Int J Eating Disorders. 50(2): 118-126. DOI: 10.1002.eat.22592.

. Numbers and letters correspond to the affiliation list. Click to expose these in author workspace