Music Videos Make Men Feel Flabby, Insecure And Angry

If you thought it was only females who felt insecure about their appearances in media like music videos, then guess again.

The ABC reports that according to new research studies that the portrayal of buff dudes and muscle-bound hunks in music videos are giving Australian men a complex about their appearance.

The new study focuses on male body image and mood in relation to music video clips, containing images of well-built and attractive singers and artists with a high degree of body focus, and the results have found that men are feeling insecure about their body image as a result.

The research is being headed by Dr Kate Mulgrew of the University of the Sunshine Coast, who surveyed ninety males aged between 17 to 69 years, who were randomly shown one of three separate videos – one full of buff me, one containing average looks, and a third displaying no body focus. The work’s results, published in the scientific journal Body Image, are the first of their kind to focus specifically on music video clips.

“It is important to extend the research as music television is arguably one of the most popular forms of media entertainment and different forms of media may influence body image in different ways,” says Dr Mulgrew, adding that men were regularly exposed to music videos in pop culture as a “socially acceptable way of getting information about appearance.”

Citing a New Zealand study that shows men watch more than five hours of music television per week, but that “this figure may be higher” due to internet usage, “considering 58 per cent of internet-using Australians have watched television online.”

The participants were shown the three specifically produced videos (basically buff guys, not buff guys, no buff guys) and asked questions relating to body satisfaction, mood and muscle tone after viewing the videos.

Dr Mulgrew’s research demonstrated that males viewing the videos with muscular singers reported poorer satisfaction with body tone and image. ”We thought muscular music video clips would have a negative effect but we didn’t expect it to have an effect on everyone equally,” reports Dr Mulgrew.

On top of dissatisfaction, the men who viewed the muscular videos also reported an increase in anger, which was a surprise to Dr Mulgrew who plans to do further research into the area of emotional responses, including psychological factors.