Bro culture has brought body shame to men too

and the like appears to be growing across the community and in gyms. The availability seems to be greater.’’

Basically it’s normal dudes who are feeling the pressure to be constantly buff – and risking heart failure, infertility and strokes to do so. Growing up seeing guys use steroids has just been a normal part of my experiences. Steroids just appeared, alongside Woodys and a 1999 Toyota Corolla, as part of your average 18-year-old guy’s life.

And while the media chalks the steroid use up to rising male vanity, any veteran of the selfloathing game can call body shame when she sees it.

It’s not vanity, it’s insecurity. Young men are being told their bodies aren’t good enough any more. And as a feminist it’s heartbreaking, because it’s exactly the same way women are taught to hate their bodies. Look how well that turned out.

It starts with the rise of social media, which spams your brain with countless gym-rat ‘‘influencers’’ who pretend that the only way to get their perfect body is by clean eating and hard work. It sets the standard of beauty so high as to make you feel inadequate, and eventually you turn to steroids to achieve it.

Just as the average female model, who weighs 23 per cent less than the average woman, promotes unattainable beauty standards to women, now #fitspo figures do the same to men.

But then there’s a deeper problem in that, somewhere in the void of modern masculinity, the bro culture has emerged. Bro culture bellows at our boys that being ripped is the only way to get girls and look attractive.

But most importantly it’s the key to being A Real Man. It’s just the same way young women get taught that being size 6 and having a wardrobe in 17 shades of beige is the path to successful womanhood. So you get skinny 17-year-old boys jumping on the juice, convinced it’ll solve the tangle of insecurity, frustration and uncertainty that sums up most of your youth.

The saddest thing about it is at least women have people to turn to in order to help escape this madness. If you’re a chick having a dark day, you can find body-positive role models everywhere from fashion blogs to Bonds adverts. But there’s no such thing as a plus-sized male model.

Dudes can’t even talk about getting a prostate exam. How will they ever deal with being trapped in a cycle of insecurity and self-loathing – complicated by illegal and potentially lethal drug habits?