I was a college gym rat, hooked on binge eating, believing I needed to be muscular like my childhood hero, not suffering from stretch marks and stomachaches
I sent this to my college age son who is also a bodybuilder with an eating disorder and body dysmorphia. On the outside, he looks great, but on the inside, he’s hurting. Your piece acknowledges that guys aren’t immune to feeling lousy about how they look. The pressure is intense to fit in and to be “attractive.”
I appreciated your honesty and words. Maybe my son will read this. Maybe he won’t (odds are on the latter since he’s a college student and it’s a link from his mom, lol) but I read it and understood exactly the message. Thanks for that.
aw yeah, I hope this can be of some help, but yeah so many young men continue to struggle and a lot of young people don't read long essays! I'm hoping that breaking the silence has an effect. I'm happy to chat with him anytime!
I'm so sorry that you suffered from extreme low self-esteem and got sucked into the evils of television at such a young age. Where were your parents in all this?
The more I hear stories about kids and TV the more worried I get. When I taught first grade in LA years ago, one little boy shared the gruesome show he had watched the night before. Finally I had to interrupt him, thank him, and then warn him and my other students that many things on TV are inappropriate for kids....even those shows targeting children that you watched. The producers should be ashamed, your parents should have monitored what you watched.
I was no Barbie, but thankfully, I had parents who restricted my TV viewing (we didn't even own a television until I was ten) and I never aimed to look like her. I am horrified today at all the plastic surgery, injections, fake boobs, etc. that young people are subjecting themselves too just to fit into some false idea of what beauty means.
I also attribute the rise in violence, shootings, killings, etc. with what TV promotes to the young and vulnerable under the guise of what's hip and cool.
Perhaps, at some point, you might share your experiences with kids at local schools. That you wrote a book is a giant leap towards helping others who suffer body dysmorphia and issues with self-worth.
I sent this to my college age son who is also a bodybuilder with an eating disorder and body dysmorphia. On the outside, he looks great, but on the inside, he’s hurting. Your piece acknowledges that guys aren’t immune to feeling lousy about how they look. The pressure is intense to fit in and to be “attractive.”
I appreciated your honesty and words. Maybe my son will read this. Maybe he won’t (odds are on the latter since he’s a college student and it’s a link from his mom, lol) but I read it and understood exactly the message. Thanks for that.
aw yeah, I hope this can be of some help, but yeah so many young men continue to struggle and a lot of young people don't read long essays! I'm hoping that breaking the silence has an effect. I'm happy to chat with him anytime!
Thank you Justin. It’s so important for men to speak up about this. I’m recovering from a 40-year eating disorder, so I related to much of this.
https://buckysinister.substack.com/p/death-of-a-bodybuilder
Here’s a post I wrote that relates to yours:
thanks Bucky ! wow, your piece was so good! and we have a lot in common too.
I'm so sorry that you suffered from extreme low self-esteem and got sucked into the evils of television at such a young age. Where were your parents in all this?
The more I hear stories about kids and TV the more worried I get. When I taught first grade in LA years ago, one little boy shared the gruesome show he had watched the night before. Finally I had to interrupt him, thank him, and then warn him and my other students that many things on TV are inappropriate for kids....even those shows targeting children that you watched. The producers should be ashamed, your parents should have monitored what you watched.
I was no Barbie, but thankfully, I had parents who restricted my TV viewing (we didn't even own a television until I was ten) and I never aimed to look like her. I am horrified today at all the plastic surgery, injections, fake boobs, etc. that young people are subjecting themselves too just to fit into some false idea of what beauty means.
I also attribute the rise in violence, shootings, killings, etc. with what TV promotes to the young and vulnerable under the guise of what's hip and cool.
Perhaps, at some point, you might share your experiences with kids at local schools. That you wrote a book is a giant leap towards helping others who suffer body dysmorphia and issues with self-worth.