"Just Shave It Off"

Glen Jankowski; Michael Sherwin; Nova Deighton-Smith; Beth T Bell

doi:10.22374/ijmsch.v4i1.55

"Just Shave It Off"

International Journal of Mens Social and Community Health ◽

10.22374/ijmsch.v4i1.55 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. e54-e67

Author(s):

Glen Jankowski ◽

Michael Sherwin ◽

Nova Deighton-Smith ◽

Beth T Bell

Keyword(s):

Body Dissatisfaction ◽

Critical Part ◽

Head Hair

IntroductionHead hair comprises a critical part of the male appearance ideal, which itself is a crucial signifier of a man’s masculinity. However, difficulties in recruitment have meant that research has not yet fully explored how men construct the loss of head hair (baldness), perhaps because it is considered “feminine” to disclose body dissatisfaction experiences to a researcher or other people. Methods and DesignOnline forums provide an opportunity for the anonymous discussion of body dissatisfaction that may overcome this obstacle. The first 260 forums posts from the two most popular baldness forums were thematically analysed. Ethics StatementInstitutional ethics approval was granted. Results and DiscussionWe identified three themes titled: (1) Baldness is an ugly and demasculinising condition, (2) Baldness is stigmatised by a superficial society and superficial women and (3) Resistance to baldness despair. Our findings show baldness distress, and stigma exist though so does resistance, which can be comforting to men experiencing baldness or any form of body dissatisfaction. Conclusion and ImplicationsOnline forums are a salient resource to enhance our understanding of men’s balding concerns and disclosure barriers. Independent, professional and effective baldness support that unpacks baldness masculinised and medicalised framing is recommended.

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Men’s Baldness Stigma and Body Dissatisfaction

International Journal of Mens Social and Community Health ◽

10.22374/ijmsch.v4i1.63 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. e68-e82

Author(s):

Glen Jankowski ◽

Michael Sherwin ◽

Nova Deighton-Smith

Keyword(s):

Standard Deviation ◽

Facial Expression ◽

Body Dissatisfaction ◽

Facial Expressions ◽

Skin Tone ◽

Central Component ◽

Facial Hair ◽

Institutional Ethics ◽

Head Hair ◽

Research Questions

Introduction: Head hair forms a central component of the sociocultural male appearance ideal (e.g.,mesomorphic, tall, young and not bald) and carries masculine connotations and stigma. Immense pressures to conform to this male appearance ideal gives rise to body dissatisfaction. Previous assessments of body dissatisfaction are too narrow, ignoring dissatisfaction beyond mesomorphy such as baldness dissatisfaction. Our study involved two research questions: (i) Do the facial expressions assigned to images of bald and non-bald men differ? and (ii) What forms of body dissatisfaction, including baldness dissatisfaction, do men have and are these related to men’s wellbeing and muscularity behaviours? Method: Eighty-six male participants aged 18–58 years (mean = 23.62; standard deviation = 7.80) were randomly exposed to 10 images of smiling men (half balding and half not) and were asked to rate the facial expression displayed. Participants also rated their body dissatisfaction and wellbeing. Ethics statement: Institutional ethics approval was granted. Results: We found that participants interpreted the facial expressions of images of bald men slightly more negatively than non-bald men. Most participants reported some form of body dissatisfaction correlated with wellbeing and muscularity enhancing behaviours, albeit weakly. Participants also disclosed a range of body dissatisfaction aspects (including surrounding muscularity, body fat, teeth alignment, skin tone and facial hair amount) though generally were not impacted heavily nor highly dissatisfied. Conclusion: These findings underscore the complex challenge in producing a complete assessment of men’s body dissatisfaction and the general resilience men experience with extant appearance pressures around their bodies and head hair.

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Improving Body Satisfaction

European Psychologist ◽

10.1027/1016-9040/a000206 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 62-71 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Carolien Martijn ◽

Jessica M. Alleva ◽

Anita Jansen

Keyword(s):

Eating Disorders ◽

Body Dissatisfaction ◽

Automatic System ◽

Body Satisfaction ◽

Western Society ◽

Related Information ◽

Current Article ◽

Women And Girls

Feelings of body dissatisfaction are common in Western society, especially in women and girls. More than innocent discontent, body dissatisfaction can have serious consequences such as depression and eating disorders. The current article discusses the nature of body dissatisfaction, how it develops and how it is currently being treated. We also discuss novel strategies to increase body satisfaction that work on the automatic system (e.g., by retraining attentional and conditioning processes), since recent research suggests that appearance-related information is processed automatically. We suggest that extant methods should be combined with these novel strategies, in order to optimally improve body dissatisfaction and to prevent its detrimental consequences.

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