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Evolving ideals of male body image as seen through action toys
Author(s) -
Pope Harrison G.,
Olivardia Roberto,
Gruber Amanda,
Borowiecki John
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
international journal of eating disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.785
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1098-108X
pISSN - 0276-3478
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1098-108x(199907)26:1<65::aid-eat8>3.0.co;2-d
Subject(s) - action (physics) , waist , psychology , body shape , circumference , body mass index , developmental psychology , medicine , mathematics , physics , pathology , quantum mechanics , geometry
Objective We hypothesized that the physiques of male action toys — small plastic figures used by children in play — would provide some index of evolving American cultural ideals of male body image. Method We obtained examples of the most popular American action toys manufactured over the last 30 years. We then measured the waist, chest, and bicep circumference of each figure and scaled these measurements using classical allometry to the height of an actual man (1.78 m). Results We found that the figures have grown much more muscular over time, with many contemporary figures far exceeding the muscularity of even the largest human bodybuilders. Discussion Our observations appear to represent a “male analog” of earlier studies examining female dolls, such as Barbie. Together, these studies of children's toys suggest that cultural expectations may contribute to body image disorders in both sexes. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 26: 65–72, 1999.