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.
Related | There's Now a Study That Proves Gay Men Fat Shame One Another
"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.
