EDITOR’S LETTER
FEELING AT EASE STARTS WITH A LONG HARD LOOK
The subject of body image – the way we see others, the psychological effects of being seen – has rightly been the focus of much discussion, debate and crusading in recent years. Understandably, the spotlight has been on women. After all, you don’t need to be a patriarchy-pegging feminist to acknowledge the way society, media, advertising, fashion and films have placed disproportionate pressure on women to conform to a prescribed ideal of beauty over the years. But men are not immune to such pressures, regardless of their origin. And their susceptibility is increasing. In this issue, Men’s Health contributing editor Jamie Millar addresses the topic of male body image with moving candour, beginning with his own experiences – attempting to reconcile the appearance and demeanour of adolescent heroes with his own – before profiling a number of different characters – the competitive strongman, the professional cyclist, the crash dieter – each with a very different story to tell, yet with a common theme at their core. For Jamie, it was the likes of He-Man, Brad Pitt in Fight Club and the loving indoctrination of his macho father that implanted in him the kind of ideals he probably had little chance of emulating. ‘Nearly three decades later, I’m still trying,’ he says. ‘Or maybe it would be more accurate to say “compensating”.’ For Kyle Green, a PT and physique competitor, training for strength and size can be traced back to a childhood from which his father was often absent and seeing working out as a way of gaining approbation. In sharp contrast, Oscar Mingay’s story is one of desperately trying to lose weight and refusing to eat in his quest to become a champion cyclist. As Jamie says, with characteristic eloquence: ‘The question of male body image is multi-layered, sometimes paradoxical. It is, by definition, a superficial subject that goes deep – right to the core of who we are, who we want to be, who we wish we weren’t. We externally manifest values that, somewhere along the line, we’ve internalised.’ Now, it’s probably worth saying at this juncture that, since I’ve been in this job, barely a year has gone by when someone hasn’t written a piece for the national press landing the full weight of responsibility for this stuff at Men’s Health’s door. Naturally, it’s an accusation I refute, though not without consideration. Yes, we frequently feature men with enviable physiques. But while enviable, they are also achievable – should that be your goal. What’s more, we aim to give you all the tools and qualified instruction to show you how. Believe me, if repeated exposure to chiselled torsos and pneumatic chests were enough to create a conflicted mindset, I would not look the way I do. But this is glib and I recognise that. Regardless of context or intention, images wield power. I can make an impassioned case for the effectiveness of a 12-week training and nutrition plan featured in this magazine; what I can’t do is persuade someone that it wouldn’t be easier and quicker for him to try and achieve the same via steroids, surgery or starvation. We conducted a broad reader survey as background to this piece. Some of the results were unsurprising; others were disquieting. Eighty per cent of respondents said their body shape forms a crucial part of their identity. Eighty-seven per cent agreed – 38% strongly – that social media has put men under pressure to maintain a ‘perfect’ physique – though as the testimonies above illustrate, men’s definition of perfection is blurry. Most tellingly, more than twothirds of respondents said that their body image has impacted their mental health. Clearly, we are behind the curve. Women have been taking a stand against this crap for a long time. The truth is men have never been objectified in the same way or to the same extent. What we are seeing with the body positivity movement is a cultural correction. Women are owning their size and, in the cases of people like Tess Holliday or Bryony Gordon, acquiring cultural cachet by doing so. Men have never been pushed to the kind of extremes that demand this form of redress. But it’s there, albeit festering under the surface, just as male mental health issues are wont to do. I confess to not much liking the phrase ‘body positivity’, far less ‘fat acceptance’, simply because I think there’s a line to be drawn between highlighting the damage prejudice has on self-esteem and advocating the physical and mental health benefits of exercise and eating well. The point is this, as our story concludes: ‘You don’t have to change. What does is the statistic that 33% of you rarely talk about your issues with poor body image or low self-esteem – 44% never. Let’s join the conversation.’