The Dark World of Unrealistic Male Body Standards

if you search Google for the perfect male physique something interesting shows up the same for Men's Health this wasn't always the case now let me close those tabs before I start getting strange looks again but many are calling this phenomenon one of the biggest threats to the fitness industry and this isn't coming from people that just want an excuse to be lazy unhealthy relationship with food I don't Court a banana I don't nor is it coming from the give yourself a hug type people yeah they're they're cooking monster in fact the People speaking out are

heavily incentivized to shut up and smile and most do but the more you listen the more you realize a harsh truth for an increasing number of men and boys this otherwise benign desire to be more attractive transforms into something categorically disordered this is a systemic problem to Taboo for television but a human brain isn't built to recognize often until it's too late no there's no short secret recipe for it you know you just have to don't do this at Iron Man I don't ever want to be Immaculate it's not it's not natural there's not many

drug use or abuse issues where you get complimented so much they see it on the small screen on their phone they see it on the big screen in Hollywood movies it's in their hands when they're a [ __ ] toddler so yeah I decided to start start trying don't compare yourself to these people because they're probably lying to you anyway you need to pull your head out your ass and understand it takes its toe it's not right is it I know it's not right but I can't say if I say that this is going to

stop so how did bodies this Mafia become so widespread and deadly but more importantly why are more people speaking about this [Music] what is the perfect male physique for me growing up it was something like this health magazines suggests the same over time this ideal has morphed towards something leaner and more muscular trust me Hollywood films make this clear similarly reality TV shows female dogs are criticized for becoming unrealistic but male dolls are arguably even worse 1960s GI Joe looks like he's about to unveil the iPhone 30 years later he looks more like a bodybuilder

early Luke Skywalker besides modern Skywalker Batman besides more than Batman you get the point if we ask AI to show us the ideal male physique a similar image is painted there's a clear ideal becoming more and more extreme so what are we seeing here these are the men at the Woody B tribe showing their slender bodies white teeth and eyes and a beauty pageant to win the attention of the female judges this is what the peak male looks like in the bodai tribe where the men compete to be the fattest ancient Greek statues depict a

lean muscular body is desirable while traditional Japanese culture Associates masculinity with self-discipline loyalty and honor to identify the physical ideal we need to understand what beauty is the Oxford dictionary defines it as the quality of being pleasing to the senses or to the mind and looking across different cultures the ideal seems to vary and change over time social media and the internet have erased cultural boundaries and created a highly competitive environment where only the most extreme stand out this emphasis on leanness and muscularity isn't just a western thing it's gone Global we are witnessing the

homogenization of the ideal male physique or some refer to as hyper masculinity even society's ideal men seem to be getting stuff done to achieve this there has been a lot of talk about you know red pill and self-improvement creating your hyper masculine character looking like you swallowed a shovel is probably not the answer the psychology that somehow would have led to this guy thinking he needs a jaw implant or something I can't even fathom a self-improvement can absolutely go too far we aren't just talking Greek statue physiques that was passed long ago from facial Aesthetics

to height and muscle definition some of the methods men are using to achieve such ideals you might find disturbing that smile you see is from a man who just had his bone shattered in a surgery to add two inches to his height a painful procedure that more and more men are getting although Mukesh recorded the physical pain at a 9 out of ten he stated it was less than the emotional pain he felt when people mocked him for his height we'll get rid of those love handles because other men are getting abdominal implants with some

injecting oil into their muscles each year over 2 million Americans have cosmetic surgery a number that's Rising With Many trying to achieve an instant boost in muscularity total spent on my body modifications is 950 000 US Dollars now people can do as a please but for many one cycle or surgery is Never Enough bigoraxia is a dysmorphia people have where they never see themselves as muscular enough already I'm very curious as to why my voice is thicker than usual proper chestnuts work why is my voice so thick my arms are sound big enough in comparison

to my to my chest and my back of course this can lead them down a path of steroid abuse when I was 15 I did something crazy that changed my life forever and with the rise of start like compounds readily available to buy on the internet many teenagers are shutting down their hormones for a more muscular physique do I take any supplements as a 15 year old bodybuilder yes let me show what it take I'm currently on 50 milligrams a day of rag 140. so 25 milligrams a day of mk677 you might argue these people

are just morons however some of the methods used in Hollywood are also questionable people I was eating so much chicken breasts the hardest part about it was actually chewing and all so I would just put it into a blender blend it all up and just drink Chicken in fact to achieve his Physique in Baywatch Zac Efron was also taking powerful diuretics to dry himself out when I was done with that movie I don't ever want to be in that good of shape again really I don't think it's surprising that many people struggle with disordered eating

habits like Freddie flintoff who developed bulimia I became known as a fat cricketer really that's when I started doing it you put your fingers down your throar as you gag your bite into your hands so hard the wrenching to get it out it's not right is it I know it's not right but I can't say for sure that this is gonna stop if you can look past the airbrush marketing and Hollywood magic eating an exercise disorders among celebrities are everywhere so if I'm gonna get a girlfriend I gotta have a six-pack and so I thought

that if I didn't eat anything well I wouldn't get any fat and then if I worked out a ton I would get big and muscular meanwhile some of the biggest influences are using Photoshop video shop and other deceptive practices to stand out on social media here in the western cultures there has always been a tradition of muscularity but in the last several decades this emphasis on male muscularity seems to have accelerated no matter where you look this can be seen yeah nobody wants to admit it so where could this change be coming from and what

could be driving it over time the Hollywood betrayal of the ideal man seems to be getting more and more muscular so when I get to Orange is the New Black uh for that for the first shirtless scene I definitely did some unhealthy crash dieting and being a TV long enough I'll tell you this is something that almost all actors and actresses do for these shirtlessings they often achieve their physiques for aggressive crash dieting at the expense of their physical health to meet Hollywood's demands it's a couple hours a day and it was it was brutal

uh the tricky part was eating the same occurs in Bollywood so putting on the weed was fun I could eat and drink whatever I wanted and have a great time and I had a ball I have to say I had a ball but it was also most uncomfortable even my wrestling training was affected because I was carrying so much weight that I couldn't really move fast enough this was a silver era of bodybuilding this is the gold era and this is today with many bodybuilders displaying bubble gut you're ripped on the show receive bellies and

if they want to do that they go to modernity water something like that and they can see plenty of stomach still colomboism is a side effect of heavy steroid usage probably I don't need to tell you a similar physical progression can be seen in reality TV seriously it's like you're photoshopped this is Jason Momoa Aquaman his physique labeled as a dad board same thing for an off-season bodybuilder Chris Bumstead can you write to this guy specifically done time can't see him oh part of me wants to put these warped ideals down to improving knowledge resources

and just a natural result of increased competition but the rise of cosmetic drugs technology to manipulate videos and a super competitive social media environment where people only post their highlight reels it can be difficult to separate social media from reality but others have argued there's a darker side you see some people profit immensely of these warped ideals an invisible hand sounds very tin for hearts but to understand this perspective we need to go deeper the man who wrote the book on propaganda and shaped the world of marketing as we know it [Applause] 1920 women didn't

smoke it was extremely taboo a masculine thing to do there's a terrible by men that does not permit women to smoke either in public or even at home of course the tobacco industry wasn't happy missing out on 50 of potential customers everything they tried to do to appeal to the female demographic failed they simply wouldn't buy based on rational reasons presented the stigma was too much to overcome when Along came a young marketer Edward Bernays he had a secret weapon knowledge passed down by his note or Uncle the father of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud believed that

much of human decision making was driven by unconscious and irrational impulses often resulting in excess and over compensation benays decided to apply his uncle's theories to Market him he didn't need to appeal to the individual woman and the rational benefits of smoking he needed to completely reshape the cultural perception of smoking so he hired a group of women a big event told them to light up cigarettes with photographers ready to take photos of them these ladies weren't just lighting cigarettes but torches of Freedom demonstrating their ability to assert their independence he had staged a political

protest to invoke the right emotions in the woman next morning there wasn't a newspaper in the United States even in New York Times and a front plate story debutants light torches of freedom to protest man's inhumanity to women by a taboo against smoking it worked Bernays were going to use trick after trick after trick in the marketing and political world he wrote the book on propaganda and set the path of much of the advertising you see today with companies hiring psychoanalysts to capitalize on this new approach to marketing a shift from need to desire in

a post-war America Modern Men quite often tries to work off his frustrations by spending on self-gratification model man is eternally ready to fill out his self-image by purchasing products which complement and what better way to improve one's self-image than through your own body Vogue magazine invented cellulite a perfectly normal thing turned into a condition marketers went hard tapping into the insecurities of women driving the massive growth of the beauty industry buy this to be good enough was an extremely powerful message is it wrong to give people what they want by taking away their defenses but

much like with cigarettes Marcus has realized they're missing 50 of their potential customers only this time it was the men thank you much like with the Creative Marketing of lung cancer sticks this is not always in your best interest and after many iterations these standards what people want is become more and more unrealistic advertising lives or dies by its Commercial Success an insecurity cells the human brain has evolved over millions of years and isn't built to deal with the rapid rise of the internet whether intentional or not the display of unrealistic and deceptive ideals in

the media exploit our cognitive biases often to the detriment of both mental and physical health it's why some of the most mainstream Fitness advice is the least effective I don't know who still needs to hear this but you do not Target fat around your stomach with specific exercises 8 million views oh let's ask the average person what they think let stop asking the average person you know you're stupid the average person is this is known as the dunning-kruger effect where people with low experience in an area tend to overestimate their ability or knowledge regardless of

how smart you are if you're part of the human species you're susceptible to your cognitive biases being exploited you things that don't make any sense but you look at them and you're like holy crap he looks amazing I'm gonna do what he's doing this is the halo effect where people who are considered attractive tend to be rated higher on other positive traits as well if you were to look at this podcast there is this some cheap [ __ ] Joe that's the [ __ ] bro you see that curtain down the back fats and meats

and never eating carbs but the way that he's tried to mimic the guest position on Joe Rogan you [ __ ] piece of [ __ ] social proof is another where simply a large following can make a person more trustworthy by presenting a certain body type or standard as the norm marketers create a reference point that influences our perceptions of what is desirable the anchoring effect this an array of other blind spots is what the media Taps into often those people on social media in magazines and on the big screen are just Hawks in the

machine at the start this was more blatant and easier to identify today it's all around us often with no Escape don't get me wrong I'm down for super effective marketing that helps people live healthier lives but no other industry has such a high failure rate of being so profitable I can't help but think back to the many people getting life-altering surgeries developing eating disorders and a lot of the negative side effects we haven't even discussed yet meanwhile obesity and suicide rates are on the rise in America and a recent poll found that one in eight

UK adults have Suicidal Thoughts related to body image there's a very clear disconnect in fact have a psychiatrist warned about this over 20 years ago I don't think even here relations how serious and widespread this will become the many problems men have of their warped physical self-perception was grouped under an umbrella by Dr Harrison Pope the Adonis complex Adonis was half man half God according to Greek mythology visual Perfection the god of beauty and attraction Dr Pope has documented cases of men quitting prestigious jobs people smashing their own faces with a hammer to qualify for

plastic surgery and others dying and disordered diet and exercise regiments although these are extreme examples this was over 20 years ago and we've seen many more cases since Pope suspects unrealistic standards driven by the media is what's fueled the rise of the Adonis complex yes I've done steroids but here's the catch when beauty is so subjective the ideals were extreme the effects are fatal today's children are growing up the internet as a Quantum presence in their lives with little knowledge of a world without it and the harmful effects of unrealistic body standards are evident through

the growing list of casualties [Music] I'm a 14 year old and I'm thinking about taking 50 milligrams of deca per week for four weeks I know about the side effects on adults but not in teens is there any side effects I should know I'm a 16 year old boy currently undergoing cosmetic limb lengthening surgery I don't think I know what's best for me yet but I absolutely cannot see myself regressing this decision sometimes unorthodox and drastic Solutions are the best ones I'm 15 years old and recently found out about Psalms my goal is to gain

more muscle and get leaner I'm 5'11 and 145 pounds currently my main concern is whether or not I should take legandrel considering my age these are just a few people on public forums about to make life-altering decisions with many going through with it so yeah I decided to start start training whoa dude what did you just say we're witnessing extremely young kids take puberty altering performance enhancing drugs with parents suspected to be giving it to their children as young as six for a chance to make it in Hollywood there's not many drug use or abuse

issues where you get complimented so much I'm trying to do things more naturally a suffering I know I look like complete rubbish right when you train every single day for like two hours do a lot of steps get like four hours sleep you have no team to support you and everything is being done just by you it takes its toll in life there is this feeling that we all live with inadequacy there is this call to achieve and to go beyond all expectations to outperform other people to measure oneself against the panoply of influencers and

gurus to work ridiculously long hours Scots was one of the more wholesome Fitness YouTubers doing much the things we see Hollywood boast about yet it seems to have contributed to his early death but I've set it up you're going to think I'm gonna grow up I see it I remember seeing a 19 year old die of a heart attack in the local paper four different steroids were found in this system which was suspected in large heart a contributing factor similarly to bodybuilder Dallas mccava who collapsed on stage recovered and sadly passed away with her heart

and was three times the size it should have been a lot of people are speculating how much testosterone was this guy actually injecting together 55 000 nanogram per deciliter Total Tea there's tributes on YouTube for all of the bodybuilders who pass away each year the age is getting lower someone is literally going to have to die on stage before something changes in bodybuilding maybe these are extreme cases but if you actually listen to what the very celebrities many look up to as saying a very different side gets presented it's hard to look like even if

you do work out to be that kind of in shape is is not it's not natural the way they achieve their Rapid Transmissions is often highly unsustainable for guys that's unrealistic I'm telling you Zac Efron actually went through a phase of depression and insomnia after his brutal drug assisted crushed Baywatch regiment Channing Tatum Luke Jackson Ed Sheeran Tyson Fury developed Eating Disorders Anna warned about their unsustainable practices I started noticing it for the first time when I just started rebelling against a gym and these people are the top coaches and doctors at their side truly

I don't know how people that work in nine to five actually stay in shape because it's my full-time job and I can barely do it when studies are suggesting the majority of men are now displaying signs of body dysmorphic disorder is it's an issue that's hard to ignore but because of a stigma speaking about this seeking help or even thinking about it is seen as weak with many willing to end their lives or pin themselves because help isn't as much and even those who look the best aren't immune to this because everything is subjective I

look at the normal reasonable human being with like an acceptable amount of like muscle tone right but still in my head there was like this crazy just Distortion body dysmorphia this doesn't mean you shouldn't find people in great shape motivating just that even your favorite Idols get older and struggle with these things yeah it doesn't get much coverage because it's not as glamorous resistance training and having high goals isn't inherently pathological I have respect for anyone who achieves an impressive body transmission especially if done honestly however unrealistic body standards can have deadly consequences regardless of

where you think this stems from many pointer Hollywood actors supplement companies dolls and clothing companies I get why some people want to see the fitness industry burn to the ground but pitchforking individuals stealing kids Power Rangers probably isn't the answer it's just little plastic doll nor is polarizing people with men or women have it worse arguments there is no them in us the market decides what sticks so Mass awareness is a big part of the solution you vote with your money and attention this isn't necessarily better than this nor is this than this and definitely

not this or this it's up to you to discover what you really want and not have others decide this for you Dr Pope suggests the following as potential Outlets if you get caught up personally I still go to the gym while I'll never look crazy it's been very satisfying to get closer to a goal that I had as a kid especially considering I don't think it's an unhealthy Obsession anymore ironically with progress being the best once I chilled out and focus on other things I realized the hard way that looking good means nothing if you

don't feel good if you ever try to get in shape please understand this it's all I'm trying to get across in the video I don't often ask but sharing this video wherever you can would really help a lot self-improvement is supposed to enhance yourself as a person not replace yourself so the perfect male physique based on the evidence it never existed it's what you believe it is I just hope trying to get there for you isn't as deadly as it's been for so many people hey everyone so if you like this video we're currently working

on plenty more so if you want to be notified when they're out then please subscribe this video was not anti-fitness unrealistic expectations body dysmorphia and disorder behaviors are massively overlooked hurdles when it comes to getting in shape whatever this means for you I personally know how frustrating it is trying to live the life of a hardcore bodybuilder or making the progress of a 10 year old one of the areas I struggled with the most was eating out and doing so with some degree of flexibility so this is why I put together a free guide to

help you do so it's something I really needed when I first started it's how I and many others make more progress while eating the foods we actually enjoy but more importantly doing so with our law of the guilt I love these dark gimps leave you with so if you're interested I'll leave a link in the description but as always thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one [Music]