Gay Men and Body Dissatisfactn - Center for OCD and Related Disorrs

Contents:

• BODY DYSMORPHIA AND EATG DISORRS GAY MEN
• BODY DYSMORPHIA CONTU TO BE A SER ISSUE AMONG GAY MEN
• GAY MEN AND BODY DISSATISFACTN
• BODY IMAGE DISTURBANCE AND ASSOCIATED EATG DISORR AND BODY DYSMORPHIC DISORR PATHOLOGY GAY AND HETEROSEXUAL MEN: A SYSTEMATIC ANALYS OF GNIVE, AFFECTIVE, BEHAVRAL UND PERCEPTUAL ASPECTS
• NEEDG TO BE “PERFECT” TO BE LOVED: THE TERSECTN OF BODY DYSMORPHIC DISORR, SEXUAL INTY, AND GAY CULTURE GAY MEN. A QUALATIVE STUDY
• GAY AND UGLY

BODY DYSMORPHIA AND EATG DISORRS GAY MEN

In his article “It Gets Better, Unls You’re Fat, ” Buzzfeed wrer Louis Pezman talks openly about the pa of beg an overweight gay man who stggl to measure up to the gay physil ial:.

For a subset of others, specifilly those geilly predisposed to eatg disorrs, the tirels pursu of the ial gay physique may evolve to a life-disptg (and at tim life-threateng) eatg disorr. Disfort wh his body started his all-boys elementary school, where he was overweight and began to experience puberty and his buddg to the London gay scene where O'Shghnsy's body dysmorphia followed him like a shadow. He stggl wh the photo-heavy, body-foced vib of the onle datg scene for gay Sciallo has never had an official diagnosis of body dysmorphia or an eatg disorr, "I would be lyg if I said that I didn't still obss over the number on the sle, " he thks the gay muny is due for a reckong about appearanc.

BODY DYSMORPHIA CONTU TO BE A SER ISSUE AMONG GAY MEN

2 percent of heterosexual men, but the number is far higher gay and bisexual fact, a study published 2020 the journal Body Image nducted surveys om 268 gay and bisexual teens and adult men and found BDD more than 49 percent of the study study attribut the high prevalence of BDD to the strs of livg as a sexual mory, which enpass a wi-range of anxieti, cludg the fear of rejectn, sexual orientatn ncealment, homophobia, bullyg, and threats of vlence. Reasons Why Body Dysmorphia Is PrevalentWhile a growg body of rearch and experts pot to the mory strs mol as a key culpr the surge of BDD among gay men, there are other Media Sets the Bar Too HighGay men often fd themselv wh an Adonis plex, explas Dr. It also creat a space where people exprsg body posivy may be shamed and bullied for their not beg “gym-f, ” acrdg to a qualative study published May 2023 the journal Sexual and Relatnship Therapy that foced on the experienc of 10 gay men livg wh BDD.

The study looked at the effect of 11 social media platforms over 2, 700 gay men and found that those who spent the most time on image-centric social media (thk Instagram) more likely to feel bad about their own mcl and to have an eatg Culture Is Harmg the CommunyIn many ways, gay culture self has led to the rise BDD sce is often characterized by a sire for youthfulns and a mcular physique, says Whel. Gamboni, examed BDD 10 gay men and found that 60 percent of them started to experience symptoms, such as anxiety over appearance, antisocial tennci, and a sire to hi om others, when they me out. And all the participants said their symptoms of secury about their body creased when they beme immersed gay male participants scribed a prsure to f to a perfect ial, and they felt strs that the muny that accepted them for beg a sexual mory would now shun them for their appearance.

GAY MEN AND BODY DISSATISFACTN

That adds to the strs of a beg sexual mory and has a damagg effect on physil and mental DisorrsParker’s 2020 review ced a bevy of rearch showg that gay adults diet, rtrict their eatg, bge, purge, and exercise more than heterosexual men. The study also found that gay adult and adolcent mal are more likely to suffer om a clil eatg disorr than heterosexuals, wh half the gay participants of one study at risk of velopg a clil eatg disorr.

“You are the expert you, ” she says, and suggts people try different typ of therapy to fd what feels Communy and Support Gay SpacEngage wh a muny that mak you feel are many gay spac that aren’t rooted the bar or club scene, where you feel you’re unr a microspe, not Gamboni. Meta-analytic data (that is, a study that b data om multiple pennt studi) dite that gay men tend to report slightly higher levels of dissatisfactn toward their bodi pared to heterosexual men. Recent data also suggt that heterosexual men report the lowt levels of body dissatisfactn pared to heterosexual women, and gay men and lbians, wh ltle differenc noted between the latter groups.

Given that gay men by virtue of their sexual orientatn are terted attractg other men as sexual partners, and men—regardls of sexual orientatn—place a higher importance on physil attractivens, n be seen why gay men may have an add prsure to be body foced.

BODY IMAGE DISTURBANCE AND ASSOCIATED EATG DISORR AND BODY DYSMORPHIC DISORR PATHOLOGY GAY AND HETEROSEXUAL MEN: A SYSTEMATIC ANALYS OF GNIVE, AFFECTIVE, BEHAVRAL UND PERCEPTUAL ASPECTS

Although there are no known empirilly-based treatments that specifilly addrs body dissatisfactn among gay men, gnive behavral therapy has proved effective at rcg body dissatisfactn and BDD symptoms among men and women of varyg sexual orientatns. Body image disturbance and associated eatg disorr and body dysmorphic disorr pathology gay and heterosexual men: A systematic analys of gnive, affective, behavral und perceptual aspects.

NEEDG TO BE “PERFECT” TO BE LOVED: THE TERSECTN OF BODY DYSMORPHIC DISORR, SEXUAL INTY, AND GAY CULTURE GAY MEN. A QUALATIVE STUDY

This study ntribut to the quantatively large, yet narrow spe rearch on body image gay men by asssg whether gay and heterosexual men systematilly differ on var dimensns of body image disturbance and associated pathology, i. N = 216 men (n = 112 gay men, n = 104 heterosexual men) participated an onle survey measurg the discrepancy between self-rated current and ial body fat/ mculary; drive for leanns, mculary, and thns; body satisfactn; body-related avoidance and checkg; appearance fixg; overall body image disturbance; eatg disorr and body dysmorphic disorr pathology; general everyday discrimatn experienc; and volvement wh the gay muny.

Gay men showed a greater discrepancy between self-rated current and ial body fat; higher drive for thns, body-related avoidance, appearance fixg, overall body image disturbance, eatg disorr and body dysmorphic disorr pathology; and lower body appreciatn than heterosexual men (all p ≤. Contrary to expectatn, everyday discrimatn experienc were more strongly associated wh body image disturbance and eatg disorr/ body dysmorphic disorr pathology heterosexual men than gay men (all p ≤.

The rults suggt greater body image disturbance gay men than heterosexual men regardg gnns, emotns, behavrs, and perceptn as well as higher eatg disorr and body dysmorphic disorr pathology. Catn: Schmidt M, Tbe CO, Herich T, Vocks S, Hartmann AS (2022) Body image disturbance and associated eatg disorr and body dysmorphic disorr pathology gay and heterosexual men: A systematic analys of gnive, affective, behavral und perceptual aspects.

GAY AND UGLY

In ntrast to the gnive-affective ponent of body image, only a small number of studi have foced on the behavral ponent of body image disturbance gay men, and if so, predomantly on exercise behavr. In sum, rults are rather divergent, wh some studi suggtg that gay men exercise more often than heterosexual men [24, 25], which would be le wh a prevly mentned high drive for mculary, and other studi revealg that gay men unrtake equally [22] or even signifintly ls physil exercise [17, 22, 26]. Dpe the multiple, yet divergent rults on exercise behavr, only one study has examed differenc between gay and heterosexual men regardg body-related avoidance and pulsive self-monorg, cludg checkg behavr [21], and found greater levels of avoidance and checkg behavr gay men.