How Modern Media Makes Men Miserable With Their Bodies - Scott Griffiths

The representations of male bodies in a variety of media have become more disproportionate relative to the average male. Luke Skywalker, Han Solo from the original Star Wars, the action figurines look like normal regular guys. But then for the re-release, they look jacked. Magazines, TV, you see a similar pattern. Being a young guy growing up and thinking, "Oh, how am I supposed to look? Am I attractive? Am I hot?" And you look for a frame of reference. Let's say you see 100 male bodies in your media diet per week. The 100 that you see today in 2023, you come out on the negative end of those comparisons much more than you did 20, 30 years ago.

(wind blowing) What is muscle dysmorphia?

You can think of it like reverse anorexia. Sometimes it's been called bigrexia or musclerexia. If anorexia is a preoccupation with wanting to be thin and typically being successful at achieving that then muscle dysmorphia is the opposite direction. The preoccupation is wanting to be as muscular, as leanly muscular as possible and ex- obviously extends beyond just being a hobby or a pleasurable pastime. It, it causes real misery and impairment for the folks who have it.

What are the risk factors for this?

Risk factors include things like low self-esteem. Guys that have muscle dysmorphia, they almost always have pretty low self-regard and training, dieting, looking their best is one way to feel better about themselves. Often, it's, uh, one of the few, if not the only ways for them to achieve that. There is often a history of, of bullying. They may have been skinny when they were younger. Maybe they were fat and were teased and want to do something about it. They may have experienced some trauma, whether physical, sexual or similar. Often, they're perfectionists so they wanna do a job, uh, to their absolute best and they want it done right, which means that if they're gonna train, they want the best training regimen. If they're gonna diet, they want their diet to be on lock and they pore over research. They really can't stop. And often some obsessive compulsiveness as well. So folks who have muscle dysmorphia will tell us, "You know, when I, when I do something, I really do it. I go for it and get a little obsessive about it."

What does that tell us about why muscle dysmorphia comes about, that it's born out of... Uh, is it feelings of w- w- weakness, weakness and, and, um, maybe some learned helplessness perhaps in some regards and a few other bit... What, what does it tell us, all of those different risk factors you've just explained there about why muscle dysmorphia comes about?

Well, when your training is on lock and your diet's on point, it gives you a sense of control. It gives you a sense of control and it gives you a sense of achievement. And having, you know, having a feeling of control and, uh, achieving and having success in any pursuit is generally and broadly great. But in muscle dysmorphia, it becomes the singular focus. And generally speaking, when anything becomes a singular focus where it's the, the salve to a, a wound like low self-esteem, it doesn't often work out very favorably for the person affected.