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Hot Girls in Magazines Make Guys Feel Like Shit Too

By Lisha Arino - Nov 10th, 2008 at 5:00 pm

The “impossibly hot girl” ideal promoted by the popular culture and advertising has a surprising effect on men, according to a recent study conducted by the University of Missouri (h/t to Broadsheet}. While we all know by now that such images foster lower self-esteem among women, the study found that it does the same thing for guys too.

Unlike women though, men’s insecurities (or straight men, anyway) stem not from the “perfect” body type, but rather on their ability to get the “hot” girls featured in magazines into bed. The study divided men into two groups. The first group viewed “lad magazine layouts of sexually idealized females.” The other group received the same layout but with new two additions: an average-looking “boyfriend” and caption about how the model was attracted to him. The subjects in the first group reported feeling more self-conscious about their appearance than the second group, which “felt that the model in the ad liked average-looking guys” and thus, felt more secure about their attractiveness.

The findings of this study are interesting, mostly because society seems to assume that guys don’t think about these things, but you rarely hear about it. Unlike a recent issue of Life & Style, whose cover claims to have answer to whether men prefer “skinny” or “curvy” girls, you’re never going to find a men’s magazine that explores women’s body type preferences. Every time a guy’s confessed some sort of self-consciousness in their appearance to me, they’ve always done so sheepishly and asked “Is that weird?” before changing the subject.

But while I find the results of the study kind of reassuring, I still find them problematic. Both sexes are basing their self-worth (to an extent, and some more so than others) on this nearly impossible ideal which does nothing but reinforce it, making everyone, in the end, feel like they’re not “good enough.”

We can talk all day about what we can do change this image (featuring different body types, emphasizing health over waist size, feeding the models, etc.), but the first step is to stop idealizing, envying, and striving for it, which is something that every person has to do for themselves. Sure, seeing diverse, healthy models can show people that beauty doesn’t have to be narrowly defined, but the prevalence of the young and ultra-thin can only be defeated if people learn to accept that the imperfect.

Image courtesy Flickr user derekdalton, used with a Creative Commons license.

Tags: body image, gender equality