Muscle Dysmorphia

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Body image has primarily been a problem for females. Recently, however, this view has opened up and has been seen in males. While women fixate on looking thin and slim, men’s obsessions are on the opposite spectrum, where guys want to be big, thick, and muscular. First known as "reverse anorexia", and now properly called muscle dysmorphia this obsessive compulsive disorder makes individuals believe that they are small and muscularly undeveloped and meanwhile they are moderately or highly muscular. This disorder is mostly seen in males and is rather unhealthy because it raises potential for self-esteem issues, steroid abuse, anti-social attitude, stress, over-meticulous diets and workout plans, and in worst case scenarios, suicide. In our society ideal body image for males has been put up to an impossible pedestal and the examples for the perfect physique are worsened by media causing this disorder to grow even further.
The article "Body Image in Boys: A Review of the Literature" by Geoffrey H. Cohane and Harrison G. Pope is an important starting piece to the problem of muscle dysmorphia. Cohane goes through a survey and questionnaire study of boys under the age of 18 and tests them to see the king of attitude and choice they will have toward body images. These results were compared to different boy groups as well as to the girl groups that were asked about body image. Different kinds of assessments were done, including body dissatisfaction scale, imagery and questionnaires evaluating attitudes toward body types. In most studies girls were always dissatisfied with their body weight wanting to be thinner, but according to Pope's reports on fourth grade boys "45% of the boys wanted to change their weight"(p.2). Coupled with other st...

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...ternational Journal of Eating DisordersVolume 29, Issue 4, Article First Published Online: 28 MAR 2001." Body Image in Boys: A Review of the Literature. Wiley Online Library, 14 Mar. 2000. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
Choi, Al. "Muscle Dysmorphia: A New Syndrome in Weightlifters." British Journal of Sports Medicine. British Journal of Sports Medicine, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. .
Leit, Richard, Ph.D. "International Journal of Eating DisordersVolume 31, Issue 3, Article First Published Online: 14 MAR 2002." The Media's Representation of the Ideal Male Body: A Cause for Muscle Dysmorphia? Wiley Online Library, 14 Feb. 2001. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Mitchell, Natasha. "Bigorexia: Young Men, Body Image and Steroids." Radio National. ABC RN Life Matters, 10 Mar. 2014. Web. 04 May 2014.

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