Megan Roush Roush is a third-year
American literature and culture student who’s willing to talk about
your body image. Send a brief description of yourself to meegan@ucla.edu. Click
Here for more articles by Megan Roush
Like most people, I took a health education course in high
school that covered eating disorders, complete with the made-for-TV
movie starring Tracey Gold, who was a real sufferer of anorexia.
The way in which my teacher explained eating disorders led me to
believe that women were more likely to have eating disorders than
men, and that media images of rail-thin models affected only the
fairer sex.
This year I started to doubt my stereotypes when a guy I was
dating wouldn’t even share a cookie from Diddy Riese with me
and would, after his vigorous two-hour workout, scurry home to
drink a chalky “vanilla” powder protein shake instead
of coming over to hang out with me. On his coffee table, I found a
book by Arnold Schwartzenegger and several men’s fitness
magazines. I thought his behavior was somewhat unnatural, and even
disturbingly obsessive. My experience with this semi-obsessive guy
has led me to believe that we all need to start examining our
culture’s treatment of the male body and the effects it has
on young men.
Just as the effects of media images on young women can be
considered one of many “women’s issues,”
society’s approach to the male body can appropriately be
called one of many “men’s issues.” My male
readers often complain that I’ve written too many columns
about women’s issues. “Why don’t you ever write
about dudes?” they ask. I think most women don’t think
of men as having “issues;” we tend to think that men
have got all their problems solved. After all, “It’s a
man’s world.”
I’ll admit that I’d never even thought there was
such a thing as men’s issues until I encountered an
interesting article in Time magazine last spring. The article
covered the release of a book called “The Adonis
Complex,” by Harrison Pope, Katharine Phillips and Roberto
Olivardia, introducing their research on the development of
men’s obsession with their appearances during recent decades
due to a flux of media images and general cultural pressure. In
that same issue, Time ran a cover story on the availability of
prescription testosterone in a new, easy to use gel form.
 Illustration by CASEY CROWE/Daily Bruin Judging from this
kind of mass media exposure from a major American magazine,
men’s issues are not something of which we should continue to
be ignorant while the testosterone and men’s fitness
industries are booming, images of the “perfect” male
body are everywhere, and illegal steroid use among young men
continues to climb.
Perhaps we should start by taking a look at the effects of our
culture’s pressure to look “perfect” on boys.
People have often criticized the Barbie doll for making little
girls want to attain a figure that would require quadrupedal
movement due to the enormous mammalian features on her chest. The
current G.I. Joe Extreme doll would have a 55-inch chest and
27-inch biceps if he were a real guy, which, needless to say, is
physically impossible (John Cloud, Time, April 24, 2000).
What about countless male role models, such as WWF stars,
professional sports figures, and even actors? Among them
you’ll find lean, muscular bodies that are not all achieved
through legal means. In one psychological test administered by one
of the authors of The Adonis Complex, “more than half of boys
ages 11 to 17 chose their physical ideal (to be) an image possible
to attain only by using steroids,” according to Cloud’s
article.
Yet I’ve never heard a discussion on the damage these
images do on boys. Instead we worry about exposing girls to busty
Barbie and Britney Spears.
So why aren’t men’s issues getting the necessary
attention? One of the book’s authors explained to Time that
“it may actually be harder for men than women to talk about
these problems [associated with appearance] because it’s not
considered masculine to worry about such things.” Ironically,
I think the best way to expose men’s issues is through women,
or at least those issues concerning appearance; most women are
comfortable talking about body image and society’s pressures
to have a perfect body.
The popular women’s magazine, Cosmopolitan, published an
article in its recent October issue which discussed one
woman’s experience with her boyfriend who suffered from male
body-dysmorphic disorder (“My Guy Was Obsessed With His
Body,” Cosmopolitan, October 2000). “Alex”
continually worried about getting fat and never felt satisfied with
his appearance even though he worked out obsessively and severely
restricted his diet.
Although the article focuses on the reaction of
“Alex’s” girlfriend, the overall article makes an
interesting point, stated in a poignantly Cosmo way: “Role
reversal: Men freak about their physiques too.” I am hopeful
that discussion of a condition like male BDD in a popular magazine
like Cosmo will get women thinking more about men’s issues,
as well as the pressure they put on guys to have a perfect
body.
If you need further proof that men’s consciousness of
their bodies has grown, check out an article in last
Thursday’s Daily Bruin. Apparently, the Wooden Center will be
enlarging its weight room because the facility is simply too small
and overcrowded at peak hours (“Weight room looks to bulk
up,” Sports, Oct. 5).
The need for larger facility certainly reflects the growth of
enrollment at UCLA. I feel it also mirrors an increase since the
facility was built in the early ’80s for the self-conscious,
appearance-centered men at our school. I don’t mean to imply
that only men use the weight room, but in general you’ll find
more guys than girls waiting to use a bench on a crowded
afternoon.
Thankfully, our school has made one positive change this year
that I feel adequately addresses women and men’s issues. The
Women’s Resource Center, a campus office that deals with
students’ gender-related issues and problems, changed its
name to The Center for Women & Men.
In her submission to the Daily Bruin Registration Issue’s
Viewpoint section (Sept. 25), Tina Oakland, the Center’s
director, acknowledged, the “new name recognizes the strides
the Center has made over the past years toward providing a friendly
and confidential place for both women and men, and the desire of
men to be part of the process of creating a campus environment that
supports equality for all students.” In other words, the
Center’s programmers realized that an effective way to get
men involved in the equality process is to address men’s
issues.
Men’s concern with their appearances is one of many issues
men face, although a particularly conspicuous one, at that.
It’s also an issue that most women can relate to, which is
why I bring it up. On the more controversial end of men’s
issues, men face problems with sexual harassment and
discrimination, as well as other gender-related problems. Men can
also be victims. They can be falsely accused of harassment, rape
and impregnation and have little legal protection since our laws
predictably cast women as the “victims” in
gender-related problems and crimes.
The idea that men can be victimized draws criticism from many
women, but I feel it’s time we become more receptive and
open-minded when it comes to talking about gender-related issues
and how they affect men in particular.