Men feel pressured by media body image

The latest consumer-driven image of the 21st century male is causing men to join health clubs through feelings of inadequacy.

After years of female insecurities due to unobtainable media images of perfection, the tables have turned on men as adverts depicting perfectly toned torsos are playing havoc with the new man's confidence. Researchers from the University of East Anglia questioned 140 15-35 year-old men in England and Wales after showing them a series of adverts from men's glossy magazines.

While many respondents felt aspiration, more than half the respondents said they felt pressurised or angered by the images. Roslind Gill who led the research told the annual British Psychological Society conference that men feel helpless: More than 50 per cent of the men felt very intimidated by the images. They were pressured and felt it was unfair that however much they worked out at the gym, they would never be able to achieve the sort of body you see, for example, in underwear adverts.