Gay men and heightened body dissatisfaction

Scruffdog · 21-11-2018 9:38pm #1

Hey guys! I'm Ross, a gay Trinity College Psychology student from Ireland. I am researching why gay men experience such heightened body dissatisfaction and how gender ideals affect this. This is a part of my Final year dissertation at Trinity College Dublin. I would really appreciate if any of you could take a minute to fill out this survey - We hope to use results to formulate interventions to combat negative body image among gay men. Thanks

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc0L3hT37P0pgyEh1Rav8yfarYJ_Pt0Gsr-hPKUkBWqnKTh5g/viewform?fbclid=IwAR0mZ1hqGZ2iX__AQTJWvDasgr41FaWJzrHol0QXJr7sSv0gvIdd0dqgkFc

Mod permission given

Try_harder · 21-11-2018 9:46pm

Its too long with repetitive questions, with no indication of how far you've gotten

Scruffdog · 21-11-2018 10:16pm

hi! Thanks so much for giving it a go. Sorry to hear you found it too long. Was unaware the progress bar was not there, updated and it will appear now.

Try_harder · 21-11-2018 10:31pm

Done. It is quite long tho

Scruffdog · 21-11-2018 10:35pm

Thanks a lot man! :-)

AllForIt · 22-11-2018 12:32am

OP, not sure why you are focusing this on gay men particularly. The body dissatisfaction phenomenon is exactly the same for straight men these days.

It is an interesting question how gay men regard themselves physically when they are attracted to their own body gender. I have found as a gay man that some straight men are completely unaware of where they sit on the 'good looks' scale leading some of them to be wildly overconfident in their looks and expectations in female partners. I realize that putting it that way might seem a bit shallow but good looking ppl tend to date good looking ppl and so on down the spectrum of looks.

I do think whether if it is gay or straight ppl one is focusing on the emergence of Instagram and dating apps plays a role is one being dissatisfied with one's looks. On Scruff gay app for example you have a list of most 'woofed' guys, guys that are extremely lean and fit. I do think that such apps completely misrepresent what most ppl naturally look like. I know as someone who does work out that most of those guys are naturally big rather that it's a look that can be created by going to the gym everyday. It can but it's takes years of dedication if one isn't naturally lean and muscular and that's a bit too long for the instant gratification some ppl are looking for which explains the continuing rise of steroid use in both the straight and gay world.

I really do think that perhaps these kinds of thinks should be tackled in schools. To be vain is not a admirable characteristic but I think if we took the focus over to health rather than looks everyone would feel better about themselves.

Scruffdog · 22-11-2018 12:49am

AllForIt wrote: »

OP, not sure why you are focusing this on gay men particularly. The body dissatisfaction phenomenon is exactly the same for straight men these days.

It is an interesting question how gay men regard themselves physically when they are attracted to their own body gender. I have found as a gay man that some straight men are completely unaware of where they sit on the 'good looks' scale leading some of them to be wildly overconfident in their looks and expectations in female partners. I realize that putting it that way might seem a bit shallow but good looking ppl tend to date good looking ppl and so on down the spectrum of looks.

I do think whether if it is gay or straight ppl one is focusing on the emergence of Instagram and dating apps plays a role is one being dissatisfied with one's looks. On Scruff gay app for example you have a list of most 'woofed' guys, guys that are extremely lean and fit. I do think that such apps completely misrepresent what most ppl naturally look like. I know as someone who does work out that most of those guys are naturally big rather that it's a look that can be created by going to the gym everyday. It can but it's takes years of dedication if one isn't naturally lean and muscular and that's a bit too long for the instant gratification some ppl are looking for which explains the continuing rise of steroid use in both the straight and gay world.

I really do think that perhaps these kinds of thinks should be tackled in schools. To be vain is not a admirable characteristic but I think if we took the focus over to health rather than looks everyone would feel better about themselves.

Hey some really interesting points you have in there! I’d argue that it is important we research gay male body image separately; research has consistently shown it to be lower than straight men. Further eating disorders/muscle dysmorphia feature disproportionate numbers of gay men. Re; tackling the problem - you are dead right I think schools is the way to go. Volunteer organization is actually doing wonderful things in Irish school today - would reccomend looking them up!

prinzeugen · 22-11-2018 2:10am

Did the survey. You are going to get zero data with the questions you have asked.

In my case, with the way the questions were worded, I contradicted a previous answer.

You should have asked about weight first. And allowed us to skip a few questions.

I am 38 and underweight. Its my body not a mental or other disorder. I can eat for 5 and dont put on a stone. Been like that since I was born.

I got the impression from the questions that you were looking at overweight people. Yes I am concerned about my weight. I should be heavier!

Questions asked 3 times but worded differently. I hope I answered the ones about my BF right!!

Try Questions about age and weight first. Do you go to the gym? If yes ask about weights, supplements etc. If No, Skip to the next bit.

Scruffdog · 22-11-2018 7:38am

prinzeugen wrote: »

Did the survey. You are going to get zero data with the questions you have asked.

In my case, with the way the questions were worded, I contradicted a previous answer.

You should have asked about weight first. And allowed us to skip a few questions.

I am 38 and underweight. Its my body not a mental or other disorder. I can eat for 5 and dont put on a stone. Been like that since I was born.

I got the impression from the questions that you were looking at overweight people. Yes I am concerned about my weight. I should be heavier!

Questions asked 3 times but worded differently. I hope I answered the ones about my BF right!!

Try Questions about age and weight first. Do you go to the gym? If yes ask about weights, supplements etc. If No, Skip to the next bit.

Hi! Thanks for your feedback. The questions used are all standardized sets for the construct I’m measuring. I understand the similar questions can be tedious but that is to prevent the confounding of results that occurs when people skim through answering randomly/press the first answer for each question. Thank you for your response!

Goodshape · 22-11-2018 6:31pm

Scruffdog wrote: »

I understand the similar questions can be tedious but that is to prevent the confounding of results that occurs when people skim through answering randomly/press the first answer for each question.

Okay, but on the other hand – I'm about 1/3 of the way through page 10 of the 11 (!!) page survey and I feel like I'm answering the same 3 questions for the hundredth time :-/

Very close to calling it quits and just closing the tab to be honest. Feel like I'm being badgered into changing my mind on some of these questions or something.

Or is people's willingness to put up with mind-numbing repetition a part of the psychology test? :pac:

Scruffdog · 22-11-2018 7:28pm

Hey! I understand it is a bit long & a lot of the scales have similar questions. Appreciate your participation nonetheless!

JupiterKid · 23-11-2018 1:37am

Hi Scruffdog, I am a lecturer and I supervise and mark undergraduate dissertations. I am a gay man also.

I sincerely hope that this is only a “pilot” survey and that you plan to amend it accordingly. In my opinion it is rather poorly thought out and arranged and needs a lot more work. There are far too many repetitive questions and no aspect of facial appearances is covered in the questionnaire.

I hope you take my constructive criticism on board!

Scruffdog · 23-11-2018 8:02am

JupiterKid wrote: »

Hi Scruffdog, I am a lecturer and I supervise and mark undergraduate dissertations. I am a gay man also.

I sincerely hope that this is only a “pilot” survey and that you plan to amend it accordingly. In my opinion it is rather poorly thought out and arranged and needs a lot more work. There are far too many repetitive questions and no aspect of facial appearances is covered in the questionnaire.

I hope you take my constructive criticism on board!

Hi thank you for your feedback, albeit I am disappointed to hear what you have to say. I have a research question grounded in the literature and all questions are a part of validated scales. This means I am confident I will effectively collect the data regarding the constructs I am investigating, thus being able to support/not support my hypothesis. That being said I understand it may be rather long and at times because of nature of psychological scales, a little repetitive.

jobbridge4life · 23-11-2018 1:56pm

Completed. Best of luck.

jobbridge4life · 24-11-2018 12:05am

JupiterKid wrote: »

Hi Scruffdog, I am a lecturer and I supervise and mark undergraduate dissertations. I am a gay man also.

I sincerely hope that this is only a “pilot” survey and that you plan to amend it accordingly. In my opinion it is rather poorly thought out and arranged and needs a lot more work. There are far too many repetitive questions and no aspect of facial appearances is covered in the questionnaire.

Sorry but that is't constructive criticism.

I sincerely hope you don't provide 'feedback' like that to your students.

AllForIt · 25-11-2018 12:53am

jobbridge4life wrote: »

Sorry but that is't constructive criticism.

I sincerely hope you don't provide 'feedback' like that to your students.

Sounds like constructive criticism to me.

I didn't complete it because I felt it was a bit narrow. It seemed to assume that anyone who works out is doing it for the looks. I do it for my health and the better looks are an added bonus therefore I didn't feel the survey took 'me' into account. I'm no survey expert but I know from previous posting Jupierkid is so I'd be interested on his take on my opinion of the survey. I could be completely wrong but yet I felt the survey was aimed at a particular type of person to the exclusion of others.

Gay men and heightened body dissatisfaction

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