Paige-Monet Vosges

Written Comm. II

Professor Trent Kays

Annotated Bib.

Body Image: Women vs. Men

Body image is a huge issue today whether its society making fun of males for being out

of shape or women getting upset because they feel that only women can be uncomfortable in

their skin. Many think that only women go through insecurities about their image, but truth be

told men do as well. Low self-esteem can lead to depression, anxiety and just feeling like youre

not good enough. Men and women can share and express the same feelings, when it comes to

body image often both sexes can relate.

Lovejoy, Jessica. "Body Image Issues Are Not Just For Women." The Huffington

Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 26 Mar. 2014. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

Lovejoys article is describing the issues on how people see men and women when it

comes to body image. Taking a relatable and funny approach on the situations she uses many

examples on how society and the media look at people having a hard time dealing with their

image. She includes sayings that you hear often and critiques the way people use them so the

reader can understand the serious matters behind this issue. This article correlates to this topic

because she specifically breaks down how men and women go through the same thing and

although people look as men as macho and strong they have feelings too and they can go through

the same things women go through because in the end regardless of what sex you are, we are all

human.
 "Male vs. Female Body Image." Bradley University: Male vs. Female Body

Image. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

This is a research project on body image from Bradley University. In this project, they

cover the difference and in similarities on body image between men and women and the reasons

society should care. In the research, they give proven facts about the male body image and how

they differ from women in many ways. Males are more prone to eating disorders than women.

They took stereotypes and what society often believes and proved it wrong with research. They

also included their own sources as well and where they got their information from. This research

group cited all their sources and gave statistics with just about every example they chose. I chose

this research topic as one of my sources because it extremely helpful and had many facts and

details. I learned plenty from it and it helped me better understand my topic.

Rumsey, Nichola, and Diana Harcourt. The Psychology of Appearance.

Maidenhead, Angleterre: Open U Press, 2005. Print.

A book that relates to my topic is The Psychology of Appearance. Rumsey speaks on

appearance being such a huge deal and how ever a person feels about their image influences how

they interact with their health behaviors. This books discusses the health aspect of body image.

She explains that the way a person feels on their body image can influence the desire to change

their image or keep it the same. Throughout her book she gives relatable examples to give the

reader an image and fully comprehend the scientific aspect of the topic. In the beginning of the

book she explains the structure of her writing. For example, if you wanted to go in further detail

of a certain topic in parentheses she has the chapter you can seek to understand the subject better.
Also, she explains what the reader is about to read and gives life experiences to better explain the

health side along with the science side of body image. This book relates to my topic and the other

sources I chose because appearance is relevant to health and psychology.

Brennan, Maggie A., Christopher E. Lalonde, and Jody L. Bain. "Body Image

Perceptions: Do Gender Differences Exist?" Body Image Perceptions: Do Gender

Differences Exist?(2010): n. pag. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

This is a research journal that compares body image perceptions of male and female.

There were many questions this research revolved around such as do men and women experience

the same dissatisfaction? Is body image dissatisfaction associated with the same consequences

regardless of gender? And do similar factors predict negative body image perceptions? They

completed this research by having students at University of Victoria complete a survey that

spoke about image, self-esteem, situations and body mass index just to name a few. The data was

compared between men and women; their results were that women felt more affected by body

image dissatisfaction than men. However, men were still clearly affected at how they see

themselves. This research journal can be compared to the research project done at Bradley

University because they had similarities but also some differences. They both compared men and

women and tried to see which gender was more affected by the social problem. Both projects

ended with different results but they both concluded the same issue. Not only are women

affected with dissatisfaction but men as well and the media does not make this issue any better.
 "Women 'more unhappy with their bodies than men'" Daily Mail Online.

Associated Newspapers, 10 May 2001. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

This is a news article from Daily Mail Online that speaks about the women perspective

on body image and how although males are more likely to be overweight than females, females

are a bit more insecure. In the article the author speaks about research done at Glasgow

University and goes into depth about their results. In the study males and females were ask to

give their body mass index (BMI) and they were told to say whether they felt they were too

heavy, too light or about the right weight. One third of the males were overweight while only a

fifth of the women were overweight, yet the females werent content. The females were three

times more likely to complain about their weight when eighty percent of them were in shape.

Studies like this show how eating disorders and low self-esteem can take over peoples lives.

Including this study in this article added creditability to the authors purpose. The writer was

trying to bring awareness to the societal problem and how eating disorders have soared over the

years especially in young women.

In conclusion, these five sources helped better comprehend the issue on body image

between men and women. It does not matter the gender of the person when it comes to

appearance and how they feel about themselves. These sources proved that it is not only women

who go through low self-esteem but also males. Sometimes males feel that they are too strong to

feel this way but its a natural thing while some may not care or are content with their body

image others are not. Body image, low self-esteem and depression is a mental thing that one

must realize within themselves. Social media makes it harder with often showing slim females

and muscular men. Only recently has media showed plus size women in ads and fashion shows
but you still wont see over weight men. Everyone should feel happy in their own skin and if

they dont you can make changes but dont be drastic and put your health at danger. Body image

should be seen in a positive way not negative and should be kept within.