Faceboook Usage, Body Image, and the Muscular-Ideal

Chow, Yin Shan (2017) Faceboook Usage, Body Image, and the Muscular-Ideal. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

Like thinness in women, muscularity has long been a desirable trait in men as per societal norms. A muscular physique is lauded as the ideal, forcing men to adhere to unrealistic and impossible beauty standards. The media is often pinpointed as the main propagator of such an ideal. In the age of new media, the study turns towards examining the muscular-ideal expectations in the social networking giant Facebook and its impact on young men in Malaysia aged 18–24. The present study shows that Facebook usage affects the muscular-ideal internalisation in young men, which leads to dissatisfaction with their bodies, and their likelihood of acting on those dissatisfactions. Social comparison tendency is also found to be a predictor in muscular-ideal internalisation.