Gay men obsessed with image
It's official, gay men are rapidly becoming the most image-conscious sector of society, taking painstakingly long to get ready for a night out and spending copious amounts of money to ‘improve' their overall image.
In America, the rush to go under the knife has taken plastic surgeons by surprise. It seems that gay men are not afraid of a quick nip-tuck, having everything from bicep enlargement and buttock augmentation to Botox, teeth whitening and liposuction. And the cost doesn't seem to matter.
Business minded executives have latched on to this market, opening up grooming salons such as The Refinery in Mayfair, London that offer treatments for just about everything you could think of. Marina Aspinall, general manager of The Refinery, recently stated that “more and more men want to look good, as if they had just stepped out of a magazine or the way they'd like to look on their wedding day ... They are happy now to get their nails done or have a facial, the way many women have always done.”
However, it appears that such an image-driven way of life is having negative effects on the gay community, especially young teenagers who find the pressures too much. Many gay men suffer from low self-esteem as they feel inadequate in regards to their penis size. This, in part, is due to the apparent superiority given to those gay men with larger penises.
Rates of anorexia, bulimia, exercise addiction and muscle dysphormia among gay men are rocketing as they try to do everything they can to be a mirror image of the toned, young boys that litter the pages of magazines such as Gay Times and Attitude.Recent studies reveal that one of the main reasons that drug taking remains at such a high level in the gay community is due to image. Addiction to crystal meth and cocaine is at an all time high, as gay men try to maintain a socially acceptable body image.
It seems that the root of many eating disorders and drug addictions by gay men is down to a need to feel attractive to other gay men. Many gay teenagers who do not feel attractive have low self-esteems and low self-worth, turning to drugs and not eating properly to try and ‘fix' their bodies.
