Fragrantly Beautiful

Flaws and effect

By JOCELYN NOVECK

the associated press

NEW YORK -- That guy in the Abercrombie & Fitch ad doesn't have a head, but does it really matter? His upper body is as sculpted as Michelangelo's David -- chiseled muscle, washboard abs and not a follicle of chest hair.

You don't just see him in the provocative ads for Abercrombie, the youth-oriented clothing chain: On billboards and in magazines everywhere, it seems, there's a male Adonis -- buff, sleek, hairless. Like that famous 500-year-old statue, it's nice to look at. But how does it make the average guy feel?

Maybe not so great. With all the recent attention on how paper-thin models and actresses can affect girls and women, it's worth noting that men can suffer from body image problems, too.
"Body image is not just a concern for women," says researcher Deborah Schooler, who has looked into the adverse effects such media images can have on male self-esteem. "It affects men, too, and it demands attention."

In the past, research has understandably focused on women and the dangerous eating disorders that can stem from body-related emotional issues. When looking at men, researchers asked the wrong questions, Schooler argues.

"Asking men about just weight or size misses the boat," Schooler, a research associate at Brown University, said in a telephone interview. What men are more concerned about, she says, are other "real-body" factors, like sweat, body hair and body odor.

In a study published last spring and recently featured in Seed magazine, Schooler, then at San Francisco State University, and a colleague looked at 184 male college students. The more media these men consumed -- especially music videos and prime-time TV -- the worse they felt about their bodies' "real" aspects.

Further, they found that such negative feelings affected their sexual well-being, in some cases leading to more aggressive and riskier sexual behavior. The study appeared in the journal Psychology of Men and Masculinity.

Does all this mean that it's unhealthy for "Average Joes," as the researchers titled their study, to aspire to the lean, muscular body idealized by Michelangelo and Abercrombie alike? One prominent promoter of men's fitness argues no -- unless, of course, it's an obsession.

"What's good about that image is that it's the picture of health," says David Zinczenko, editor of Men's Health magazine and a bestselling diet author. "With diabetes rates skyrocketing over the past 70 years, a little more 'lean' wouldn't hurt us."

Indeed, the very concept of the male ideal appears to change with the seasons. "We seem to go from rugged to smooth, rugged to smooth," says longtime fitness personality Richard Simmons. "You're either the Marlboro Man or you're the Surfer Boy. You're a cowboy, or you're a lean, mean swimming machine."

Simmons calls body image "a very personal, private thing for guys -- something they don't want to talk about." But make no mistake, he says: "Getting into a pair of jeans is just as important for a man as a woman. He wants to look good."

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posted by Cheryl Levesque @ 1:58 PM