Dr. Jordan Foster

And in my own research with students, particularly young men,

That's something that we try and sort of dialogue around is that you are working on the body.

And if it was a woman working on her body to improve her appearance, we would typically describe this as a kind of beautification.

So can we have that sort of switch, right, to think about muscularity even as an investment in appearance and in beauty?

Yes, 100%.

And this is something that we're seeing sort of slowly rising among men.

And again, not surprising.

So as the weight of beauty shifts more onto men, as it has long been borne by women, we're seeing that corresponding rise in body-related issues.

So an uptick in reporting on things like body dysmorphia.

muscle dysmorphia among men.

So this preoccupation with the size of one's bodies and sort of persistent unhappiness with the sort of size of their muscles, right?

Or the shape and tone of their body overall.

We're also seeing in general more sort of appearance anxieties and insecurities being reported by men and young men especially.

And I think that's due not only to this investment in beauty and the body, but also to the rise of sort of men's bodies on platforms that young people especially are deeply invested in.

So we know on social media, if you open your Instagram or TikTok, you're going to see some topless men.

You're going to see men who are sort of centering your eye on their appearance.

Typically, these are very muscular men.

They tend to be quite conventionally attractive.

That's having a kind of...

effect right on on young men and other men who are seeing all of this and are now really inundated in ways that women long have been inundated by these beauty and body messages and so it is taking a toll across like i said those insecurities that rise in anxieties and in more extreme cases in instances of body dysmorphia and muscle dysmorphia specifically