Gay men face a lot of pressure when it comes to our body image—from ourselves, from each other, from the media—but men, regardless of sexual orientation, are feeling the effects from modern standards of beauty.
“Do I Look Fat? Men Ask This Question, Too” takes a look at just how self-critical gay and straight men are when it comes to their bodies (via Kenneth in the 212):
– When it comes to their weight, 39% of heterosexual men and 44% of gay men said they were dissatisfied.
-When asked about muscle tone, 30% heterosexual men and 45% of gay men were unhappy.
-The second category found that 29% of heterosexual men and 37% of gay men said they had gone on a weight-loss diet in the past year. More than half of both heterosexual and gay men had exercised to lose weight in the past year.
– 61% percent of heterosexual men and 77% of gay men said they felt people judged them on their looks and many said they felt pressured by magazines and television to have a better body.
– Regarding sex: People were asked if they tried to hide parts of their body during sex during the past month and which parts. Twenty percent of heterosexual men, 39% of gay men did. The body part they tried to hide the most? Their stomach.
Same.
Since I’ve been asking if I was fat since I was resigned to the husky section in the boy’s department, I’m not surprised that other gay men feel a similar pressure to be perfect, or at the very least, appear so.
I am a bit surprised, however, that straight men face almost the same amount of dissatisfaction with their bodies, except when it comes to muscle tone. That’s a pretty big disparity. Ah, to live in a world when a six pack meant only beer. Too bad I hate beer….
Ah, to live in a world when weed came packaged like beer.
Source: out.com
