The inclusion of a sample of women in our study
enabled us to make some observations about the extent
to which men’s experiences of objectification
parallel those of women. As expected, the women in
our study reported significantly higher levels of self-objectification,
and significantly lower levels of body
esteem, than the men did. In addition, the correlation
between men’s self-objectification and body esteem
is small relative to that of women. These findings
reflect the general pattern of gender differences
in the body image literature (see Levine & Smolak,
2002), which suggest that men’s body image experiences
mirror those of women but are typically less
prevalent and, when present, less severe.
Also as expected, men are significantly more
likely than women to exercise for health or fitness,
a result consistent with previous studies
(e.g., McDonald & Thompson, 1992; Tiggemann &
Williamson, 2000). Finally, men report exercising for
appearance-related reasons to an extent comparable
with women, which is in contrast to some previous
research that showed that women tend to exercise
more for weight control reasons, whereas men exercise
more for function-related reasons (e.g., McDonald
& Thompson, 1992; Silberstein et al., 1988;
Tiggemann & Williamson, 2000). The finding is compatible,
however, with the evidence that men are
becoming increasingly concerned about their bodies
(e.g., Luciano, 2001; Parks & Read, 1997; Pope et al.,
2000).