Male Body Image and Magazine Standards: Considering Dimensions of Age and Ethnicity

Abstract

This study contributes to two theory streams by examining magazine use among males, along dimensions of age and ethnicity. First, social comparison theory (SCT) is invoked to examine how males use magazine images to benchmark the “ideal” male. Second, a developing theory of magazines as standard bearers for “the ideal woman” is modified to suggest that magazines also set standards for “the ideal man.” Findings of focus groups and interviews with two generations of males—Generation X and Baby Boomers (BBs)—posit that such images tend to fuel males' eventual ambivalence toward their body. Two significant patterns were identified among the data: (1) authority of magazine standards and (2) competition.