And while agonizing over a trip to the scale is typically considered the province of women, negative body image is becoming recognized as a struggle that crosses gender barriers. Although the problem is gaining attention now, the issue of male body image is an old idea. Societal forces push individuals to fit a certain idea of attractiveness, said psychologist Stacey Pearson of Counseling and Psychological Services. Men also bear this burden. For years, the media and women have waged war over the definition of an ideal body type.
Women cope with pressure to look like the supermodels gracing magazine covers and TV screens.
Now that media image is closing in on men. Men face more than the battle to stay thin. They also deal with pressure to gain muscle mass, said Prof. Kristen Harrison, who does research on body image and its relationship to the media. They want to be big with low body fat. This trend goes beyond emulating action heroes in the tradition of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean Claude Van Damme.