Disordered eating, drive for thinness, and body dissatisfaction in gay men

Although there is a traditional assumption that body dissatisfaction is mainly isolated to women, we now know that is not the case. Emerging evidence suggests that men have equal levels of body dissatisfaction, but for different reasons: while women tend to want to reduce body mass, men generally prefer to increase their muscularity, particularly in their chest and arms. Early research on eating disorders and body dissatisfaction in men focused on ways in which homosexual men were similar to women in body dissatisfaction and eating pathology, leading to an assumption that homosexual men were at greater risk for eating- and body-related pathology. Extant research indicates that homosexual men are more likely to desire a thinner body, and engage in disordered eating behavior than heterosexual men; however, this has not been fully explored. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not homosexual men differed from heterosexual men primarily in their levels of drive for thinness and muscularity. Women (both homosexual and heterosexual) were included for comparison. Participants completed the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ), the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ), Drive for Thinness (DFT), Drive for Muscularity (DFM), and Eating Attitudes Test (EAT). Differences between groups were assessed with a series of Mann-Whitney U Tests. The results suggest that, compared to men, women reported higher dissatisfaction with their body shape (p<.001), increased drive for thinness but less drive for muscularity (p<.001), higher scores on the SATAQ (p=.018) and more disordered eating (p<.001). Compared to heterosexual men, gay men endorsed more body dissatisfaction (p=.004), drive for thinness (p=.033), disordered eating (p=.004), and internalization of the thin ideal (p=.029); they also reported less drive for muscularity (p=.055). Compared to homosexual women, heterosexual women did not differ on the BSQ (p>.8), DFT (p>.5), or EAT (p>.2); heterosexual women reported higher SATAQ scores (p=.004) while homosexual women reported higher DFM scores (p=.004). Consistent with previous research, these data suggest that sexual orientation may be a risk factor for body dissatisfaction and eating disturbances for men, but less so for women. It is unclear, however, what role measurement bias may play in these findings as these questionnaires are typically geared to women and feminine physiques. Future research would do well to address the causes and validity of this inequality, and how it may be addressed in a clinical setting. Moreover, clinicians should be aware of, and sensitive to, body dissatisfaction and disordere