Homosexual Male Stereotypes

One of the other issues that further causes gay men to develop body dissatisfaction at higher rates than straight men in their representation in the media. For years, pornography has been prevalent in American society. Women who watch pornography often say that the women are oversexualized and have unachievable bodies, men however are not usually watching pornography in order to make comments on the male actor’s body. However, gay men, who watch homosexual pornography tend to have similar issues as straight women. “Gay male pornography is often rife with muscular, attractive men” (Duggan & McCreary 48), and videos often show two or more males with hyper-muscular, toned bodies engaging in relations. As homosexual men watch these videos they …show more content…
Men’s health and fitness magazines are full of images of super toned men followed by advertisements for supplements and protein powders that will supposedly help people look like the men in the …show more content…
These images in the men’s magazines are usually not what the average man looks like, but to the gay men viewing the images, this body is usually seen as the ideal body. Because gay men purchase these types of magazines at higher rates, it is understandable why as a whole they have a more negative body image than straight men. Overall, the media portrayal of men, both gay and straight, adds to the dissatisfaction gay men have with their bodies. Straight men tend to not engage with this type of media as much, and when they do body image is not usually what they are focused on. Gay men however, see unattainable body standards, in majority of the forms of media they view, leading them to develop harsher self-body images than those of heterosexual men. Another major media influence on body dissatisfaction within the gay male population is social media. In recent years, it is not unusual to hear stories about someone receiving negative comments and messages over social media that push them to the point of harming