From body image to body dysmorphia

The way we look to ourselves and the outside world is for an important part driven by media.

If we go back in time, we mostly call certain looks to a decade. The fifties brought the “Rock and roll” and Elvis retro-style hair. When I think “sixties” I see long hair, hippies, free love, a lot of flowers and a distinct music. Its was followed by “ Punk “. People follow a certain code in fashion, hairstyle, music etc.

As long as it comes to fashion or hairstyles, most people can adapt to these unwritten rules, mostly the younger people are very eager to be accepted, you’re “in” or “out”, in the sixties you where either “hip” or not, now the magic word is “cool”. What if this typation involves our body-image?

In the mid-sixties the most admired look changed from Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe to a British fashion model called “Twiggy”. The most wanted body type changed from a fully curved voluptuous  blond model to a boyish thin girl.

Whether you're thin, fat, small, dark, blond, redhead, you wanna be something else," said the world's first boldface supermodel. "I wanted a fairy godmother to make me look like Marilyn Monroe. I had no boobs, no hips, and I wanted it desperately."

Since then the fashion markets unnatural cq unhealthy thin models. To achieve this look , mostly very young, girls develop an unnatural  eating behaviour from diet pills to bulimia and anorexia. The first signs of body dysmorphia embodied in eating disorders.

Harrison Pope

Professor Dr. Harrison Pope is an American physician and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is one of the most highly cited psychiatrists of the 20th century. That is because Pope's research focus is on substance abuse, especially anabolic steroids. He was one of the writers of the book the “Adonis Complex”  (2000) where he argued that the media fuels body image disorders for not only women but men as well.  His research in this areas includes work in the area of men and their body image.  Pope has been a pioneer in designing the first randomized clinical trials of several currently accepted treatments for psychiatric disorders.

He performed many resarches on the subject of body image resulting in  eating disorders and abuse of different substances. His research paper “Muscle dysmorphia. An underrecognised form of body dismorphic disorder”(1997) got a lot of media attention. In his slipstream other researches started to assume any form of bodybuilding was a psychiatric disorder. Like by example “Big men feeling small: childhood bullying experience, muscle dysmorphia and other mental health problems in in bodybuilders” (2007).  All these scientists put bodybuilders on the psychiatrist's couch, as if attending the gym to build an aesthetic, athletic and ripped body, is a mental disorder that originates in low self esteem, being bullyed or something simular. Reading this reminded me on “Little Deaf Louie” that later in life became one of the best bodybuilders of his time, Lou Ferringo and actor playing “The Hulk”, he was also very shy  and showed that clearly in the documentary “Pumping Iron”.

The  official thought in the USA and many other countries is, anabolic androgenis steroids are a threat for the public health and therefore a lot of funds is available for “scientist” that want to unerline these dogma with “scientific data”.  Not to long ago the medical community made themselves the laughing stock, by simply denying the effect that anabolic steroids had on muscle mass and strength (1996) !!

It remembers me of the time that bodybuilding was an obscure underground activity, the only media attention was negative. The broad accepted opinion then was that bodybuilders where all gay men (a big part indeed was). The muscles created with pumping where mere mass and a bodybuilder was not strong at all. Arnold Schwarzenegger proved them wrong to win a traditional  Munich stonelifting in 1967 by lifting a stone weighing 508 German pounds, approximately 560 English pounds. The girls didn’t like all these muscles, people who have seen the same girls seeing a show of the muscular “Chippendales “ or the full monty  strippers ‘London Knights” ,know better. Now bodybuilding has become mainstream, you still see that lots of official media bring negative articles about anabolic steroid use (abuse) in sport and bodybuilding in particular.

Lets put it all in perspective. People drinking a pint wil not all end up lonely as an alcoholist, with no social life and health problems. Guys eating a burger at Mc Donalds will not all end up being obese and at the end to fat to leave their home. I’m sure you can think of many other examples (marihuana?). All this doesn’t mean there are no risks in dieting- working out and using ergogenic means, some people and especially vulnerable young boys and adolescents are likely to be affected by wrong information. Lets make one thing crystal-clear, educated USE of anabolic androgenic steroids is NOT DANGEROUS, the ABUSE of big quantities of steroids – fat burners and diuretics can be dangerous. Competing a bodybuilding contests on professional level today is unhealthy (understatement), period.

What is body dysmorphia – muscle dysmorphia – eating disorders –negative body image etc ?

Popular media outlets such as television and magazines tend to portray idealized body images.Young children and adolescents seem to be particular susceptible to the ideal body image in the media.  “Body image” is how a person feels, thinks and attitudes his or her body.The difference on how someone actually looks and how he or she would like to look, forms the degree of body dissatisfaction and plays a large role in self-esteem. Altough magazines strongly portray an idealized body image, the influence of television on body image has been found to be even greater than that of magazines. Even viewing commercials present on television, presenting an idealized  body image, can have that impact. While women and girls internalize a thin body ideal, men and bys internalize a muscular ripped body ideal. Twenty years ago a man that shaved his breast , armpits and pubic hair was a queer in everybodies mind,  the times they are changing (Bob Dylan).

Synthol and bodyimplants

No matter how much muscle is gained, or no matter how much synthol is injected, the person with Body dysmorphic disorder will constantly see the same skinny, vile, failure in the mirror. This typically leads to very destructive and even deadly methods of gaining muscle in a desperate attempt to lose the distorted perception - in this case, synthol (failure). It is very hard, though, for anyone that does not have Body dysmorphic disorder to be able to understand just how someone could do this to themselves - go through life looking like this and actually thinking it looks better with each injection of synthol - and to yet continually see themselves so distorted to the point where they need to inject more and more synthol because they are not "big" enough.

Someone afflicted with BDD can obsess not about muscle/size, but instead about their hair, nose, chest, etc., it still hurts and ruins the lives of whoever is afflicted with it. Think Michael Jackson .

We should actually feel sorry for these individuals as they are mentally ill and need to be medicated and/or counselled.

The music industry,

The chiseled look that began taking over music back in the '80s. That's when rockers started showing up in tight-fitting T-shirts with buff bodies and torn off sleeves showing arms of steel.

Today hip-hop in particular, has glamorised the bad and buff body, which many kids embrace as a model. We didn't need the well-publicized probe into HGH and steroid prescriptions allegedly sent by an Orlando pharmacy to rappers to notice that Timbaland and 50 Cent are among the many rappers who are as powerfully muscled as blocking backs. "In the rap business," says one well-placed music-industry source, "guys look at an athlete like LeBron James, who's built like a tank, and they say, 'I want to look like LeBron.' " And that's how the record companies want them to look. The source confirms that steroid and HGH use "is absolutely happening in the [rap] industry" and puts the percentage of users -- an educated guess, he admits -- at "about one third." PED use in the hip-hop world is as much about preparing for the job as simply trying to look good. The beast is a ripped physique, one that plays well in music videos, and the beast must be fed. The source describes one artist whom MTV would not feature because he was overweight. He was told to get in the gym. And, if he's like many other artists, he'll get in the gym, but he'll also get on the juice. It's a cycle of narcissistic necessity.

The movie industry

In the beginning most muscular actors played in “sword and sandal” movies. In 1970 Arnold Achwarzenegger made his debut in “Hercules in New York”, in which he plays the son of Zeus. This trend coninued with Conan the Barbarian. Later many muscular man and former bodybuilding personalities played in action movies.Every once and awhile, a hollywood actor will make such a dramatic physical transformation for movie role that it gets people talking. Ed Norton by example openly admitted using steroids to gain weight for his role in “American History X”. He had to gain 35 pounds of muscle. Other actors transform to muscular so quick that the trained eye spots AAS use from a distant. Still, as in many aspects of the American sociaty  the term “don’t ask –don’t tell “is relevant. It’s the most spotted side-effect of AAS usage a loss in memory.

Few segments of society depend as heavily on physical appearance as Hollywood, and it turns out that Sylvester Stallone, who may one day give us Rambo: The Assisted-Living Years, needed more than one-handed pushups and raw eggs at dawn to stay cut. May 2007, in Australia the yhen 61-year-old Stallone (see picyure) paid $10,600 to settle a charge of criminal drug possession after he was found to have 48 vials of HGH and several vials of testosterone. Stallone has since acknowledged that he takes HGH and testosterone regularly, and legally. "Everyone over 40 years old would be wise to investigate it (HGH and testosterone use) because it increases the quality of your life," Stallone told Time.

Adds a prominent Hollywood plastic surgeon, who requested anonymity because he has many clients in the industry, "If you're an actor in Hollywood and you're over 40, you are doing HGH. Period. Why wouldn't you? It makes your skin look better, your hair, your fingernails, everything.

Action hero toy dolls on steroids

Two star wars dolls show visible muscle mass increase from their 1970,s versions to their 1999 iteration (right)

 An interesting study conducted by Pope et al . They examined the changing ideals of male body with popular boys toys.  GI Joe, Luke Skywalker, Hans Solo Gold Ranger, Ahmed Johnson, Iron Man, Batman a Wolverine. They evaluated the muscular changes in the 30 years following toys: GI Joe, Luke Skywalker and Hans Solo (from Star Wars), the Gold Ranger, Ahmed Johnson, Iron Man, Batman and Wolverine. Researchers measured the toys waist, chest and biceps circumference, these values lay the body height of 178 cm. Most attention focused on GI Joe, because of the availability of models from 1973 to 1998.  Large increases were observed for the measured body parts.  Moreover, as the name suggests, from GI Joe Land Adventurer (1973) GI Joe Extreme (1998). In relation to its height of GI Joe has reached a size bigger biceps than any bodybuilder in history. . In addition, the piece is not only considerably larger chest, including the abdominal muscles were clearly . Furthermore, the increase in action figure dimensions may contribute to the multifactoral development of an idealized body type that focuses on a lean, muscular physique The two heroes of Star Wars during the time also ran up the volume on the shoulders and chest muscles. The only exception to the trend of increased muscularity is Ken, the boyfriend of Barbie. But Ken is classed as a doll, not an action figure.

Some action figures, such as the 1998 Wolverine, for example, have a bicep measurement equal to the waist measurement and a chest that is twice the size of the waist. This type of muscularity is unrealistic. The dimensions of Barbie would not even be anatomically possible on humans. A women with her dimensions of 36-18-38 would not be able to live.

 Action figures are boy’s equivalent of Barbie, and like Barbie, the physical dimensions of action figures have now reached sizes that are near physically impossible. It’s not surprising that there has been a large increase in male body and health care products in the last few years. Studies showed that the pressures for females to go down in size aren’t that different from males trying to go up in size. Men and teens will try to achieve their goal figure by any means including the use of anabolic steroids or even suppressed eating. Body dissatisfaction can be very harmful because of its correlation with depression. As the media continues to promote the perfect body, it seems that people will continue to hunt and try and achieve the perfect body. This could lead to an even greater up rise in the number of men, teens, and boys with eating disorders and depression.( Poncelet B. "Male Body Image: Your Son and His Body". 30 Nov 2009) .

Aging and anti-aging

We are a nation looking for enhancement, a way to age gracefully, perform better and longer, and, at the outer edge, vanquish what was once considered that all-time undefeated opponent known as aging. We do that by Botoxing our wrinkles, lifting our faces, reconstructing our noses, despidering our veins, tucking our tummies, augmenting our breasts and taking a little pill to make sure we're ready when, you know, the right time presents itself. We also do it by injecting human growth hormone (HGH) and testosterone, America's new golden pharmaceutical couple.

I want to point out an issue that some of us are already familiar with and others will be at some point in their life.

Somewhere most of us started to work-out, for fitness, boxing, power-lifting or bodybuilding. Then you where infected with the virus and started to go to the gym more often, joined a discussion board, read magazines. You eat more, start to juice and grew a lot of muscles. While cycling you feel energetic, on top of the world, you have a huge libido a strong self esteem. The girls want you and the guys respect you. The muscles become part of your personality. After some time everyone that knows you, is familiar with the XXL look.

When you get older, you get a wife, kids a house maybe a dog. And we aren’t all professionals, thus most of us have a job and a social life. On a certain point we decide or have to decide to lessen our activities as our daily work-outs, the tanning, sleeping and excessive eating.

You are getting smaller, carrying less and less muscles, are buying normal sized cloth and everyone starts to ask questions, why you become so small.

When you are in the gym you are doing bench presses with weights that you normally used to “warm-up”. The new kids no longer ask you for advice

Your work-outs are not as rewarding as they used to be and your muscles, bones and joints start to hurt. You lack motivation and energy. You notice that you still have the appetite but can’t eat that much without growing fat. You’ve entered the vicious circle, that pulls you down. I’ve witnessed many times that some started to juice up again because they couldn’t handle this situation. It ruined relationships, because life with a juicing athlete isn’t pleasant at all for most females.

The future

The use of drugs in bodybuilding is almost a given today and although technically the use of substances such as steroids, diuretics and growth hormones are prohibited most competitive bodybuilders will use one or both of them to get the edge over their rivals.
But what happens when drugs are yesterdays news and gene doping becomes commonplace? Drugs give bodybuilders a competetive edge, but manipulating genes could potentially blow the competition out of the water. Regulating it will be even more diificult as it will leave no traceable substances and the effects of one injection could be permanent. Furthermore the potential for growth will be doubled.
The way such an injection would work is by supressing a gene that regulates the production of a chemical known as myostatin. Myostatin is a chemical that prevents the growth of muscle, and so by removing it from the body athletes could have the physiques of a bodybuilder at least without even training. This isn't science fiction either and has actually been successfully accomplished in mice.

Again in some ways we already do enhance our bodies both permanently and non-permanently. When you're in a car or using a phone you are already using technology as an extension of yourself. Plastic surgery meanwhile is a very obvious example of how we can change ourselves physically and permanently

..this is a subject we will cover from an other angle in future articles RT