Talk to boys about the sham of a perfect body

HAVE you ever had the experience of being squashed by the b e aut y of others? It happens frequently. Let me elaborate. You’re going to a party. You’ve prepped and preened. You subject yourself to a final quality-control check in the mirror in the hallway and give yourself a mental nod of approval. All’s well in your little world.

But as you step over the threshold into party world, your self-image dive-bombs as you first scan, then benchmark yourself against the competition in the room. This is not usually a conscious process. It’s hard-wired in humans and has evolved over millions of years to help our species survive when we were crawling out of swamps and moving up the food chain into the relative safety of caves. Stereotypically, when it comes to benchmarking beauty, women are more susceptible to this process. The male stereotype is much more likely to dive-bomb when rivals have higher status, wealth and power. But is the overload of exposure to “beauty” that bombards us every day in the media changing the gender divide when it comes to preoccupation with the body beautiful? A report by advertising think tank Credos, reveals that boys and young men are increasingly worried about their body image. Out of 1,005 boys surveyed aged eight to 18, 68 per cent felt pressured by friends to look good; 53 per cent said they felt pressured by advertising and social media to conform to certain body types. Along with eating disorders, more than half the boys felt that extreme exercising and dieting were not exclusive to girls. Alarmingly, 23 per cent of boys believed there was a perfect male body type. Despite these pressures, a third reported that they found it difficult to talk to their parents about their worries over physical appearance. There is nothing new about the power of beauty. Concepts of beauty change over time and cultures, but our preoccupation with it is ancient and enduringly potent.