The Adonis Complex: The Secret Crisis of Male Body Obsession

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Summary: Obsession with body image: it's not just for women anymore!
Review: "The Adonis Complex" is an interesting book about an important, but often ignored (and rarely spoken of - hence the subtitle "The SECRET Crisis of Male Body Obsession") problem affecting a lot of men -- obsession with their body image. It seems that only a few years ago, this was a problem that only affected women, but not anymore. Pick up a newspaper or magazine, or turn on the TV these days, and it is hard to avoid images of half-naked guys with washboard abs, bulging muscles, a full head of hair, and a generally youthful appearance selling products ranging from underwear to cars, suntan lotion to soft drinks. In the view of the authors of "The Adonis Complex," this constant bombardment via media images of "buff"men is an important factor pushing many men to spend hours of their lives (and large quantities of their money) obsessing over (and attempting to enhance) their looks.

Interestingly, the authors of "The Adonis Complex" point out, male concern over body image has increased as women have made substantial gains in many traditional male arenas - work, the military, sports, etc. The authors hypothesize - plausibly, in my opinion - that men's desire to look more "masculine" has increased in response to these gains, as they ask themselves "what is there left...to distinguish myself as a man." Thus, the one area where men can still distinguish themselves vis-à-vis women is physical strength/muscles. As the authors put it, "no matter what...achievements women accomplish, they will never, ever be able to bench-press 350 pounds." Sadly, though, this is not much of a basis for a well-balanced, happy life. And, ironically, many men cited in "The Adonis Complex" lose the very things they want most - jobs, relationships - through their obsessive/compulsive behavior in attempting to make themselves more attractive. (Also ironically, most women actually seem to prefer far LESS muscular men - Leonardo DiCaprio, for instance - than the hyper-masculine ideal pursued by many. In fact, according to "The Adonis Complex," most women seem to find super-muscular men to be unattractive, even disgusting!)

The bottom line here is that working out or spending time working on one's appearance is fine if you are doing it to be healthy, stay fit, and even to look good, as long as it is done within moderations and doesn't get taken to extremes. Personally, I try to get to the gym 4-5 times a week and to eat a healthy diet, and it makes me feel good to do so. But after reading this book, I can definitely see how thin a line it is between a healthy activity and an unhealthy obsession!

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Summary: Science mixed with sensationalism
Review: A lot of research has been put into this book. Unfortunately, the research is mixed up with anecdotes and conjectures. In extrapolating research data, the authors often make wild guesses as to what proportion of the population is affected by the Adonis Complex. There are also lots of case studies that focus on extreme cases. These amount to little more than sensationalistic journalism.

The book does have a lot to offer. The fat free mass index is a great way to calculate your genetic limits with regards to lean body mass. Sample surveys are provided to help diagnose those who may be suffering from the Adonis Complex. The book seems to condemn an obsession with a lean, muscular body. However what people are willing to sacrifice to obtain their goals is just a matter of personal choice and the authors have no right to make judgements upon those who strive to better themselves. A lot of the information is eye opening but I wish they'd just stick to the facts.

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Summary: Finally The Truth ....Revealed
Review: First of all, "The Adonis Complex" isn't a official medical term but since body image is such a vast concern among ALL male age groups, 3 brave people have decieded to write and explore about male body obsession. I immediately decieded to read up on this book because I too have found myself facing the Adonis Complex. The book starts off at the Olympic Gym in Boston, Mass and examines male weightlifters. They cover everyone from the "built personal trainer" to the lean "skinny" guy exercising for a common cause. All these men have one thing in common; they all are insecure and they are obsessed with having and maintaining a great physique! This book covers steriod use and why people choose to use them, muscle confessions from REAL people with The Adonis Complex, and phychological disorders among males such as muscle dysmorphia. There is a section for parents to read on how to know, treat, and prevent body obsession in young boys and teenagers. You want to know what women REALLY think, the answer lies here. In conclusion, I felt releaved and a bit depressed when I realized how many of us men suffer with The Adonis Complex. Men especially read up on this book because you will NEVER see yourself and other exercise buffs in the same way again.

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Summary: A Groundbreaking Book
Review: The Adonis Complex is a groundbreaking book that sheds light on a mostly unrecognized problem. In response to a previous comment, Harrison Pope is not just a "bookworm academic"--he is writing from personal experience, having lifted weights for the last 30 years. These authors are all experts and leaders in their field. They have developed some groundbreaking studies and came up with the term "muscle dysmorphia". This is not a dry, academic book. Their research is very thorough and detailed, but very easy to understand, and there are many interesting anecdotes about men who have suffer from this problem. This is an excellent and well-researched book on a seldomly discussed topic.

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Summary: A Revelation
Review: The authors of this book have been doing a lot of research over the years. The chapter notes contain at least 50 research papers that they have published in various scientific journals. Some of their findings are pretty stunning. For example, in a study of college men, they found that the average man would like to have a body with about 30 pounds more muscle than he actually has, and that he believes that women actually WANT him to look that muscular! In fact, when the authors studied actual women, they found that women preferred a male body that looks like an ordinary college student with no extra muscle. The authors also quote a street corner survey in which women were asked to rate the attractiveness of big bodybuilders on a scale where 0 was most attractive and 5 was the most repulsive. More than 90% of the women rated the bodybuilders as a 5.

As a woman, I'm not surprised to learn this, but I think it's a revelation to see some of these studies about how men feel about their bodies. It makes it more understandable to me why men do dumb things like taking steroids. I'd particularly recommend this book to other women.

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Summary: This book is a screed
Review: There has been a lot of hype about a so-called "secret crisis of male body image" recently. However, no crisis can be "secret," if it truly IS a crisis. This "crisis" has been invented. Certain interested parties (who are products of the 1960s) consider this payback for the supposed "damage" that has been done to women in past generations by society's foisting on them of its perfect body image ideal, ala Barbie.

The fact is, the many "surveys" done to support these assertions have been conducted among out-of-shape men (and women). Has the input of in-shape, attractive men been considered? Hardly. Many of us are proud of the work we have done (naturally, mind you) to stay in shape and attain an attractive shape, yet we are dismissed.

Yes, there are indeed those of us out there who take care of ourseleves; we are also talented, compassionate, and worthwhile people, and make valuable contributions to society.

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Summary: An Assault on the Perfect Image
Review: This book is concerned with how men see themselves, and how media plays into making us more insecure and unhappy with our bodies. It's an interesting dilemma, if only because it is something society has done to women for centuries. It is a light read, and yes there are quizes...but be warned, unless you know your body fat percentage and are very adept with a calculator you may never figure out your results. And I did figure out my results, and little was given to explain exactly what it all means. But it is a fascinating topic! And the authors keep the tone breezey and fun. They even talk about how GI JOE has gotten more buff over the years (sort of like how Barbie has dimensions that are unreal). There is a section that also tells you how to recognize if a man is on steroids. Great stuff to combat those images thrust at us daily by muscle magazines and fashion editors! You could file this under MEN'S STUDIES, but it's an important topic that needs to be brought to light. It seems as if we are approaching equality for men and women, but rather than stopping making women objects...we have just extended the same discourtesy to men.

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Summary: Food for thought with a decent amount of nonsense thrown in.
Review: This is a work I've seen many other reviewers label as "groundbreaking" or "eye-opening". Although this book does raise some valid questions about males and obsession with body-image, I don't know that many great insights come out of it. The book goes into some detail about how women for years have been the target of the media and society to be "thinner" in an attempt to look as good as the models on magazine covers. In other words, there is something wrong with looking ordinary. Now the coin has been flipped and the media has saturated us with numerous images of Adonis-like God-men who have perfect bodies and chiseled abs. Understandably enough, some men feel as if they don't measure up to this image or ideal and develop hang-ups over being chubby or ordinary. We further find out from this book that some men obsess about body image and oftentimes muscularity because they associate this with masculinity. Groundbreaking news there! This has led some men to develop muscular dysmorphia or BDD (body dysmorphic disorder) which is basically an unhealthy preoccupation with a body-part, or image that is not grounded in reality. The book goes on to suggest therapy or antidepressant medication to help treat these more severe cases. If not treated men could do very scary things such as use steroids. The book is comical when it comes to steroids. These bright authors claim that any man who attains a high level of muscularity and claims to not use steroids is a liar. This struck a nerve with me. I know several people in the bodybuilding and fitness world who have never used illegal steroids and most certainly do have high levels of muscularity. I find it rather insulting that these so-called PhDs take it upon themselves to call these people who have worked their behinds off with exercise and diet a bunch of liars. What is even more comical is that in this book these grave scenarios are given of what happens to men who use steroids. We are told of murders, violence against women, beatings etc..but then told shortly later that the percentages of these occurrences are rather low and that major complications or side-effects from these drugs are not always that common. Mixed signals here?? In my opinion the book would have been much better if the authors would have stuck to the facts instead of trying to use scare tactics to dissuade people from trying steroids or other muscle-building supplements. The last ridiculous notion I found in the book was the idea that one of the main reasons men have become preoccupied with muscularity nowadays is because of a rise in feminism in our time. This is just beyond classic. I'd love to see objective scientific research showing that men subconsciously hit the gym to try and build up muscles whenever women make gains in feminism. I couldn't help but chuckle over this one. In fact, I am sure when women gained the right to vote men went out in droves and started doing military presses with buckets or cement blocks because they felt this new "feminism" threatened their last shred of masculinity. The authors themselves in the book claim that masculinity is not necessarily associated with muscularity so they think they are the only ones that can figure this out? The rest of men are just stupid neanderthals who can't grasp the concept that bigger muscles don't equate to more masculinity? Please! I'll give the book a three based simply on the fact that it's nice to see someone look at the male side of the coin for a change but it definitely needed a higher dosage of objectivism and a deletion of some of the more silly notions found in its pages.

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Summary: Exellent Book
Review: We are not all in this for looks. If you haven't trained hard before and pushed yourself to your true physical limit, then it is impossible to pass judgement on why someone would be obsessed with exercise. We all have our own ways of talking to God--the monk meditates, the poet writes, the singer sings. Some of us (whom this book is about) instead like to go to the gym, push ourselves to failure, and train harder than we have ever trained before. Bookworm academics should stay in the libraries and out of the weight room.