Disordered eating and the muscular ideal

Despite sparse scientific attention, research efforts during the past decade have begun to reveal the complexity of male body image concerns. Early research conceptualised and measured male body dissatisfaction in terms of the drive for thinness and excess body fat E.g. [1]. However, most men in Western societies desire a body that combines low body fat with well-developed musculature, and which is further characterised by broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and big biceps [2,3]. The simultaneous pursuit of overt musculature and low body fat has led researchers to conceptualise muscle dissatisfaction and body fat dissatisfaction as separate but related constructs that are equally central to male body image [4]. Recent research has been dedicated to the development of instruments that measure fatand muscularity-related body image concerns in men, so that the full spectrum of male body dissatisfaction can be assessed [5,6]. However, in contrast to research efforts on body image pathology, little research has attempted to delineate various dimensions of disordered eating as they pertain to the muscular ideal. Current conceptualisations of disordered eating are synonymous with body fat, fat loss, weight loss and calorie restriction, all of which characterise the drive for thinness, not the drive for muscularity. This bias in our understanding of what constitutes disordered eating is evident in the research instruments used to measure disordered eating behaviours. The gold standard Eating Disorders Examination [7] contains mostly thinness-oriented items. For example, “Have you gone for periods of eight or more waking hours without eating anything in order to influence your shape or weight?”, “Have you had a strong desire to lose weight” and “Have you wanted your stomach to be empty?” Such items, whilst appropriate for measuring thinnessoriented eating pathology, are insensitive to eating pathology motivated by the desire for greater muscularity.