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Body Image

Focus Groups with Boys and Men

Staffordshire University

HELEN RICHARDS

Hope Hospital

In this exploratory study, boys and men (aged eight, thirteen, and sixteen years, and young adults) gave accounts of body shape ideals, body esteem, exercise, and diet in a series of focus groups. Men and boys in all groups presented discourses where being lean and muscular was linked to being healthy and fit. Being fat was related to weakness of will and lack of control by all age groups, and discourses of blame were used to describe those who were overweight. Sixteen-year-olds described peer pressure to be slender and muscular, and two young men had experienced teasing about their body size. Adult men and teenagers explicitly linked having a well-toned, muscular body with feelings of confidence and power in social situations. Data are discussed in relation to recent suggestions that Western cultural attitudes to the male body are in a state of change and that men are becoming more concerned with body image.

Key Words: body esteem • men • boys • muscularity • health • exercise • social pressure

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