work (Gagnon, 1971; Glassner, 1988). Today, successful new men’s magazines like
Men’s Healthencourage men to see their bodies as women have been taught to see
theirs—as ongoing works-in-progress. In part, this coincides with general concerns
about health and fitness, and in part it is about looking young in a society that does
not value aging. But more than that, it also seems to be about gender.
Men’s bodily anxieties mirror those of women (see Bordo, 2000). While women
are concerned with breast size and weight, men are concerned with muscularity—that
is, both are preoccupied with those aspects of the male and female body that suggest
and exaggerate innate biological differences between the sexes. It would appear that
the more equal women and men become in the public sphere, the more standards of
beauty would emphasize those aspects that are biologically different.
Many men experience what some researchers have labeled muscle dysmorphia,
a belief that one is too small, insufficiently muscular. Harvard psychiatrist Harrison
Pope and his colleagues call it the Adonis complex—the belief that men must look
like Greek gods, with perfect chins, thick hair, rippling muscles, and washboard
abdominals (Pope, Phillips, and Olivardia, 2000).
Take, for example, those two icons of ideal femininity and masculinity, GI Joe
and Barbie. Their proportions are so unrealistic that if they existed in real life, they
couldn’t function. But they’ve also changed over time. Barbie’s measurements have
changed dramatically, in part because of pressure by feminists. In the 1990s, she went
from measuring 38-18-34, to the “Happy to Be Me” Barbie in 1998 who measured
36-27-38. In 2003, Mattel launched the “It’s a New Barbie World” for a younger
“tween” audience; she measured 30-19-32—somewhat more supermodelish, but also
less curvy. “Barbie may only be a doll,” wrote one irate mom to the company, “ but
when some little girl’s best friend and role model is a doll, we have to consider what
will become of young girls when they grow up” (Hand, 2003).
The standards for men are increasingly impossible. In 1974, GI Joe was 5' 10" tall
and had a 31-inch waist, a 44-inch chest, and 12-inch biceps. Strong and muscular, but
THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE BODY 527OBJECTIVE: Examine the research on body image and
eating disorders.STEP 1: Research
Take some time to read some of the reviews of body image
research available on the Internet. Websites like the Social
Issues Research Centre and the Media Awareness Network are
good places to start.STEP 2: Develop
Participate in an online body image survey by going to
the Monash University website and searching for “open
learning psyII.” Click on the top result. (Please note
that some instructors may also ask you to look at the
collated data for this project and answer some questions
about the data; directions for this option will be given
in class.)Answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper:
1.What does body image research suggest about gender
and body image?
2.What did you think about this survey? How accurate do
you think it might be? What are some of the potential
problems with an online survey?
3.What differences would you expect to find between men
and women on this survey? Explain.
4.How might you study the topic of body image?
5.What if anything does this have to do with eating disor-
ders? Cite some sources for this question.
6.How does all of this relate to sociology?STEP 3: Discuss
Bring your responses to class and be prepared to share and
discuss your thoughts on this assignment.Body Image and Eating Disorders
Developed by Katherine R. Rowell,Sinclair Community College.