Over the last 20 years, women with eating disorders have become more willing to disclose such problems, but men often remain too embarrassed to do so. Studying a Canadian community, Garfinkel et al. Body dysmorphic disorder in males . Boys and men with BDD become obsessed that one or more parts of their bodies are ugly or deformed, even though they look perfectly normal. Penis enlargement, in fact, is only one of many cosmetic procedures sought by men.
Some men are satisfied with the results of such procedures.
But men with BDD may receive multiple surgeries, only to grow increasingly dissatisfied with their appearance. Millions of contemporary boys and men exhibit frank symptoms of at least one of the four disorders above, and possibly tens of millions experience some distress about body image. Our fathers and grandfathers didn't worry about going to the gym or working out on a treadmill. A generation ago, high school boys didn't flock to buy nutritional supplements like protein powders, amino acids and creatine. Cosmetic surgery for men was almost unheard of.