Another is sports. We value men who are involved in athletics or physical activity. In every culture, Ehrenreich says, adolescents struggle in some way to define adulthood, and in a culture dominated by media and marketing images, both boys and girls have a hard time figuring out who they are supposed to be. Not having much size is probably a greater issue for boys because the idea of being manly is tied to being large and powerful. There is a dominance in size that guys pick up on.
Little guys are often the first to grow a mustache to compensate for their lack of size.
This helps push issues about height, weight and physical prowess to the forefront. While girls may develop an eating disorder or other body image concerns as early as nine or 10, boys don't usually have problems until the early teens. This is when boys also worry more about height and physical ability. Puberty is a hard time for anyone, boy or girl, Ehrenreich notes. Young boys who are going through these changes, trying to figure out where they fit in, can't help but be concerned about how they look.