Gay & bi men differ significantly when it comes to body image

Bisexual men and gay men have different ideas of a satisfactory physique, according to a new study, a difference researchers say indicates coupling the two groups together in research leads to false conclusions when it comes to bi men’s body satisfaction.

Psychologists at Nottingham Trent University in the U.K. interviewed 370 gay, bisexual, and straight cisgender white men and found that bisexual men share more in common with straight men when it comes to opinions about body satisfaction than they do with gay men.

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He called out the erasure that comes with being bi and married to the same woman for 29 years.

When it comes to height, penis size and “capability,” however, the results were consistent among all sexual orientations.

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“Traditionally, bisexual men have been grouped in the same category as gay men when it comes to body image research,” said Dr Liam Cahill, lead researcher for Tackling bisexual erasure: An explorative comparison of bisexual, gay and straight cisgender men’s body image. 

“Our findings show they are unique in how they experience differences in their body image,” he said.

That means that while there is a perceived ideal among men of all three sexual orientations that is “muscular or lean with low body fat,” bisexual men’s dissatisfaction with their physique is only compounded when bi and gay men are classified together.

While the research indicates straight and bisexual men are less dissatisfied with their muscularity than gay men, that same ideal and societal pressures still influence all three groups, regardless of their sexuality.

Bi, straight, and gay men all experience the same motivation to gain muscle and lose fat, the study authors suggest, but gay men are typically more dissatisfied with the results.

“When it comes to increased pressure and dissatisfaction related to muscularity, previous studies have found that gay men’s stronger preference for muscular partners may contribute to their higher levels,” Cahill said. “This is a pressure that bisexual men may only experience when they are integrated with the gay community, hence their dissatisfaction is lower.”

Nevertheless, “Bisexual people often face increased marginalization and exclusion, even from sources inside the LGBTQIA+ community,” the authors conclude. “Due to this, bisexual men may be subjected to more adverse mental and physical health (including body image concerns).”

“As of the most recent review of this issue,” they add, “only a small number of studies have explored bisexual and gay men’s body image differences.”

“Our findings contradict the view that bisexual and gay men experience similar body-image concerns concerning their drive for leanness and muscularity dissatisfaction.”

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