Muscle Mania
The Sun Herald
Saturday July 25, 1992
THOUSANDS of teenage boys are risking their health by working out in gyms, taking steroids and ating the wrong foods in their obsession to look like"Greek God" models who flex their well-oiled muscles in glossy fashion magazines.
According to doctors and health workers, the number of teenage boys wanting to build muscle, lose weight and achieve the "perfect" body has reached crisis point, with many risking radical diets and unhealthy exercise.
Unfortunately, little research is available on how boys perceive their bodies but dietician and Sydney University nutrition lecturer Jenny O'Dea says boys are under as much pressure as girls are to look good.
"In the past few years we have seen a surge of advertising featuring well-oiled, muscle-bound men who look like Greek gods," she said.
"In all the men's magazines you see very few models and actors who don't look perfect."
Ms O'Dea, who is leading the research into what boys think about their bodies, recently completed a survey of 180 boys and girls, aged 16 and 17, at an inner Sydney high school.
According to the survey, which is yet to be released, 29 per cent of 17-year-old boys believed they were overweight while 37pc said they were too skinny. According to Ms O'Dea, all of them fell within a healthy weight range
MS O'DEA said the survey found that many of the teenagers were critical of their bodies.
"It's a field which has been neglected and it's really starting to emerge as important because what boys feel about themselves affects what they do,"she said. "Boys are quite complex about the way they think of their bodies."
From the survey Ms O'Dea said many of the boys wanted to gain weight to"look cool, be more confident, look more attractive to girls, be stronger and to pick on other kids".
"The shy skinny boys get picked on and they feel if they build their bodies up they could pick on other people," Ms O'Dea said.
The survey also revealed that many boys drank expensive "musclebuilding"milkshakes believing they would lose weight and build strength.
She said an alarming number of students relied on fancy potions to increase muscle. One Sydney teenager drank 18 eggs a day mixed with milk for three months to build muscle.
"He was an athlete and he was drinking six milkshakes a day," she said.
"That's a crazy, unhealthy thing to do and it would raise your blood cholesterol level. Young boys seem to believe that sort of thing will build muscle.
"But these milkshakes are not really special dietary foods and they will probably just make them fat."
Ms O'Dea partly blames parents who constantly hint to their children that they should lose weight to be healthy.
"The media is not to blame for everything and a lot of kids are telling me their parents want them to lose weight," she said.
Ms O'Dea said the increased obsession with body image may lead to an increase in the use of steroids. "That's possible but we don't have any research on in," she said.
"Boys should look at what type of person they are and not what sort of body they have.
"Society needs to question whether we want to look like a perfect person or be a good person."
As part of her on-going research, Ms O'Dea has developed a bodyimage course which is already being trialled in NSW schools.
CLINICAL research dietician at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospi tal's weight control centre Kate Burns believes young men's obsession with their bodies is a result of women's liberation.
"I suppose women have slowly encroached on traditional male roles and in building up their bodies men may be trying to make up some lost ground," she said.
Ms Burns said American research revealed a 20pc increase in the number of men who were dissatisfied with their bodies between 1972 and 1986.
"In 1972 only 15pc of men weren't happy with their bodies and 25pc of women, yet in 1986 that rose to 34pc of men and 38pc of women," she said.
"Men seem to find it much more difficult to talk about their bodies yet it's normal and acceptable for women to discuss their bodies."
THE SURVEY RESULTS
BOYS
55pc wanted bigger shoulders
45pc wanted a bigger chest
45pc wanted bigger arms
19pc wanted a bigger body
18pc wanted a smaller waist
GIRLS
46pc wanted smaller thighs
40pc wanted a smaller stomach
37pc wanted a smaller bottom
26pc wanted a smaller waist
15pc wanted to be thinner all over
© 1992 The Sun Herald