April 15, 2002
Mirror, mirror on the wall
By Stacie Baillie
sbaillie@uwo.ca
In between repetitions, during his workout, McLeod talks about the healthy benefits of working out. Just looking at him you can tell that he is dedicated to looking after himself.
"If people look better and feel better, they function better in anything they do, so it's kind of an emotional, psychological and physical thing," he says.
Through his close-fitting, sweaty T-shirt, his chest swells with each repetition. The definition of his pectoral muscles hints at the possibility of a six-pack under his shirt. His slim, yet strong build resembles many of the men that grace the cover and ads of Men's Health each month. His shaved head adds to his masculine appearance, as he shyly admits that part of the reason he works out five or six times a week is to look good.
More guys throughout Canada are going to gyms to lift weights, trying to become as big and bulky as possible. Local gyms in London are swelling with men trying to look better and feel better about themselves and their appearance.
High protein and low carbohydrate diets are important tools in helping men to do this and achieve their desired results quickly. Protein shakes and powders make it easy for men to get the nutrients that will help them build muscle.
While men start to look after themselves, the importance of making a good first impression has become more important. Cosmetic surgery allows men to get rid of their imperfections, while spa treatments help men feel good about what they've already got. More men than ever before are looking for shortcuts to looking good by fixing things that no amount of exercise or dieting can change.
This all adds up to over $3 billion a year that men spend on beauty products and procedures.
It's a huge change from men of other generations, who paid little or no attention to how they looked, but were happy to shower with a bar of soap and some shampoo, perhaps put on some Old Spice, and head off to work. They were men whose measures of beauty were the calluses on their hands and the size of their beer belly. To them, aging was welcomed or ignored; wrinkles or crows feet around the eyes were ignored, while some saw it as a way to gain respect.
But today these imperfections are causing men greater anxiety. Men are falling into the media-induced trap that women have been subjected to for years. Images on magazines are promising men ideals that are unattainable by most, but sought by many.
Just like women, men are falling victim to these images, with equally dangerous consequences. This has led to the rise of male eating disorders for the very first time. Once seen as a women's disease or problem, anorexia and bulimia among men is rare, but becoming much more common than ever before.
Chris Tieche, 23, laughs as he admits his goal is to be on the cover of Men's Health. A small guy, with dyed blond hair, he has a long way to go before he'll be chosen to be a model, but that doesn't stop him from going to the gym five days a week. He says he works out to be healthy, but more so for esthetic reasons. While he says the media may influence his body image subconsciously, he thinks it's more of a personal thing than the media telling him what to look like. "I put pressure on myself to maximize my workout and do the best I can do in the gym."
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| Photo by Stacie Baillie |
| More men are lifting weights in an attempt to develop the ideal body shape. |
The desire for a muscular build, or muscularity, is a concern to Don McCreary, a social psychologist who has published in the area of men's health and body image. His research has shown that the male standard of attractiveness is a bigger and more muscular build. "Whereas women compare themselves to ultra thin ideals and think they are fat, men tend to compare themselves to an unrealistic muscle-bound ideal," McCreary said in a telephone interview from Toronto.
While he realizes the power media have to influence the way men see themselves, he says placing the blame for this body image on the media is not that easy. "I can't say that the media cause people to change their perceptions or whether they're reflecting their perceptions. But they are a good indication of where we are."
Citing a recent presentation by a colleague, McCreary says a comparison of male film heartthrobs from the 1940s to today shows a dramatic change in their muscularity. While McCreary does not blame the media for body image problems, it is undeniable that they contribute to the problem as they provide young men with a dangerous ideal.
Most people know of Barbie's disproportionate and idealistic body measurements, but it's less well known that only one in 10 men can look like Ken. Even more alarming are action figures, like GI Joe, which have become overly muscle-bound in the last 30 years. Compared with an average male physique, today's GI Joe's muscularity represents a body that even the most advanced body builders can never achieve, says McCreary.
But the pursuit of the dream has led to the growth of a market for muscle building and fat burning supplements among 18 to 40-year-olds. The industry has seen explosive growth. Sports nutrition supplements amounted to more than $16 billion in sales for 2000 in Canada. Stores such as Spartan Nutrition and Fitness on Richmond Street in London sell an assortment of products for athletes.
The general manager of Spartan, Aaron Brady, says the most popular products are those that help people build muscle and burn fat more quickly. Protein powders and protein bars allow men to get more protein in their diets without the inconvenience of preparing high-protein foods, like chicken, beef and eggs. Creatine, another popular supplement, speeds up men's recovery time after a work out, allowing them to workout more frequently and have more strength for their workouts.
At this point there have been very few studies done on the long term effects of taking these products, but in the short term men do see benefits from taking them.
Brady believes that young men and teens are looking to these products out of impatience. "A lot of the time they have trouble gaining muscle because they're young and they have a fast metabolism and they want everything to happen overnight," he said.
Brady admits that he once fell into the trap of working out to build muscle, but now focuses on the health benefits. The esthetic benefits are a bonus, but still important in some ways. "I know what I want now, so now I just do it for fitness," says Brady. "But I still do it for appearance since, let's face it, we live in a world where you're judged by your appearance."
But some men, no matter how much they diet or exercise, cannot feel better about their self-image. These are the men who are turning to cosmetic surgery.
Although Canada is slow to keep statistics on plastic surgery, Lorraine Cauchi, a registered nurse and co-owner of London's Lormar Centre for Cosmetic Medicine and Surgery, says United States trends showing that over one million men had cosmetic procedures done last year are reflected in Canada. That is a 256 per cent increase since 1997. Today men make up at least 20 per cent of the patients in Cauchi's practice.
While no surigical procedures are done at the Lormar Centre, Cauchi has noticed an increase of male patients coming in for liposuction and laser treatments.
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| Photo by Stacie Baillie |
| Lorraine Cauchi shows a diagram of how to create the perfect hip through liposuction. |
Liposuction removes fat pockets in problem areas like the love handles and male breasts, while laser treatments might be for hair removal or the reduction of wrinkles. Some might see these men as vain, but Cauchi is quick to defend her clients.
"It's not vanity," says Cauchi. "Most of our patients who want cosmetic surgery truly are the opposite. They're lacking in self esteem because of some physical thing that really drags them down."
By fixing their "problem areas," men can take off their shirts in public and not be embarrassed or insecure. While the women Cauchi sees in her office are looking to improve their looks and appear younger, men aren't as obsessed by youth.
"Men don't want to look younger. They want to look good," said Cauchi. "Men want to be the best looking 40- or 50-year-old there is."
But other men are looking for less extreme ways to feel good about themselves, and are looking to unconventional ways to do it.
While most men might be reluctant to try something traditionally seen as something just for women, Andrew (who didn't want his last name used) regularly goes to spas for manicures, facials, massages and waxing. It takes up a large portion of his budget. He goes when he needs to, and would rather spend money at a spa than at a bar.
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| Internet Source |
| More men are enjoying the benefits of facials and massage than ever before. |
But Andrew is not alone. Today men account for 35 per cent of the people going to day spas, according to an industry magazine. This is more than a 300 per cent increase in the past 10 years.
"You don't necessarily have to be vain or gay to enjoy these things, which is very much the misconception," says Andrew. "The fact is, it's a very relaxing experience."
While Andrew may spend more time at spas than the average man, he sees it as nothing to be embarrassed about. He has even recruited many of his friends; for important events his friends, who are "guys' guys," will go in for an eyebrow wax or manicure.
He says the women he dates think his beauty regimen is funny. It only becomes a problem when he takes better care of himself than his girlfriend.
A 23-year-old student at the University of Western Ontario, Andrew grew up influenced by European culture, and has a very European look: a slim build with dark hair and an olive complexion.
As a teenager he spent his summers in Europe. He says this helped him develop an appreciation for European ideals of beauty, and he gained an appreciation for presenting a well-kept, confident image. "There are a lot of practical reasons for going to a spa for esthetic treatments," he says. "It's more professional and cleaner looking. People notice this stuff. On dates, people will notice my hands and say how nice they look."
His fascination with spas and their services started with a manicure five years ago, and ever since then he's been hooked. It is now a necessary part of looking good and taking care of himself.
"Really I could do it myself, but it wouldn't be as good and it wouldn't be as relaxing," says Andrew. The pampering and relaxation that comes with a trip to the spa is what he likes the most.
His favourite place in London is Ethos the Spa, where he says he feels very comfortable in the slippers and robes the spa provides for its clients. Some men feel embarrassed or shy putting on the robe, especially on their first visit to the spa, but Ethos the Spa has made an effort to be inviting to both men and women. Clients are greeted by a calming atmosphere: earthy colours on the walls, soft music playing in the background, and the gentle sound of a fountain in the reception area.
Owner Katina Kritikos says the number of males coming to her spa has grown in the last five years, especially among male university students and businessmen.
"Men think that they work out, and that's a way of relaxing. It's not relaxing their mind or their body because you need to be lying still to relax and let your body heal," says Kritikos. "So men are much more aware of it than ever and realize it's very important to take care of themselves."
The new obsession with appearance among men can be dangerous. Fixing what bothers men on the outside may not help what's bugging them on the inside.
London psychologist Kathy Berg worries that men may look to cosmetic surgery as a quick way to overcome their insecurities. "It promotes self hatred and exploits people's insecurities," she said.
Some men take this preoccupation for perfection to extremes, creating poor body images and in some cases eating disorders, says Berg. While the incidence of men with eating disorders is small, some are increasingly falling victim to the disease commonly thought of as a women's problem.
A recent study found that men may account for 25 to 33 per cent of all people with eating disorders. But Berg doesn't see that many males in her practice, saying the problem will often go unreported until it reaches a severe point and patients have to be hospitalized.
Male eating disorders are an area of research that is just now gaining momentum, but Berg believes that a lot of men resort to anorexia or bulimia in an attempt to live up to the unrealistic ideal created by the media.
"The media demands that we all look the same and men have to go to drastic measures to look like them," says Berg. "It presents promises to them: increased self esteem, popularity, and confidence, and it's these promises that people want."
Eating disorders are illnesses, triggered by individual temperament, family situations, trauma and abuse and occasionally illness. The males that Berg does see in her practice are young men. Most are athletes in sports like wrestling, where a lot of emphasis is placed on weight. Wrestlers trying to fit into a certain weight class feel pressured to binge or "suck weight," which means going into saunas or wrapping themselves in cellophane, to lose weight by losing fluids. Problems like these may be extreme, but they signal a dangerous trend for male body image.
But back amid the crashing of weights and the whirring of exercise equipment, eating disorders are the farthest thing from McLeod's mind. He continues his quest to be strong, adding more weight with each set of chest presses. McLeod's belief in a balanced lifestyle is what he sees as the key to staying healthy and feeling good about himself. He knows that if he wasn't as informed about how to live a healthy life, he could easily have fallen for the media's idea of how he should look. "If you educate yourself about what you do, it really affects everything you do, starting from the inside out," he said. "That's what I teach people, and I've been very successful at it myself."