For decades when the conversation was about people being insecure about their bodies that
talk was usually about women.
It was mainly women having cosmetic surgeries, while beauty products were almost all aimed
at women.
The quest for body-perfect was on, and the stress involved in trying to look the right
way was enough to make someone spend a small fortune on products and clinics.
But something changed not so long ago, about the time the millennial generation grew into
their last shoe size.
It was men in the mirror stressing over their un-perfect face and flabby belly.
These days you can find all manner of articles talking about men and their “six-pack stress”,
or recent credible research showing that these days men are more concerned about their body-image
than women.
Not surprisingly, more fellas are now going under the knife hoping for an Instagram-able
body.
First of all, let’s talk about the new man and his body image.
That research we just mentioned was published by The Guardian in 2012.
It revealed that in the UK in one particular study 80.7 percent of men talked in ways that
promote anxiety about their body.
That means those men talk a lot about perceived imperfections of their body, how they should
look, how they shouldn’t look.
The same study found only 75 percent of women did the same.
It also found 38 percent of men interviewed were willing to give up at least one year
of their life if they could have the perfect body.
Fewer women would do the same, although the newspaper didn’t say how many.
Astoundingly, 5.3 percent of men interviewed said they would sacrifice a decade or more
of their life for the perfect body now.
That study also found that a lot of men were so stressed about how they looked they didn’t
even go to the gym out of fear.
Many men were taunted about their belly or man boobs, while about one fifth of men were
on a special diet to improve muscle mass or lose a bit of weight.
To our younger viewers this won’t come as a surprise, but you don’t have to go too
far back and men would have laughed at this kind of insecurity.
You get the picture, in this age of tech-driven narcissism men’s confidence in their bodies
is at an all-time low.
What happened to these men, the guys, the geezers, the fellas, the chaps, the fathers,
the brothers, the sons and uncles?
These new men, so obsessed with their pecs, their arms, their abs, getting tuned-out on
Tinder, made fun of on Facebook, insulted on Instagram, are looking for a way out of
reality, a solution to the puzzle of body perfection.
Many of them are turning to cosmetic surgery.
Just listen to what a professor of men's health at Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK
said to The Guardian.
He said, “There's been a big increase in the numbers of British men having cosmetic
procedures such as a nose job or removal of breast tissue; that's gone from almost nothing
to quite a significant industry over the last 10 years.”
Let’s face it, six-pack surgery was always bound to happen with all this insecurity around.
In fact, in 2018 the tabloid media interviewed a bunch of young British men to find out how
they felt about their bodies.
Here are some of the replies:
Age 25.
“I’d like to lose my gut, have a nicer and more symmetrical face, get some new teeth,
have nicer hair and bigger arms.
Actually, there’s not much about me that I do like.”
Age 25.
“I would like bigger arms and to tidy up my stomach a bit, plus white teeth and a strong
jawline.”
Age 27.
“Sometimes I look at my ripped body and think, ‘Who is this for?
Do I even want to look like this?’
I’m straight but I’m always at the gym to try to beef up, which means I have no social
life and spend most of my time either looking at myself in the mirror or comparing myself
­unfavorably with other, bigger men.”
Age 19.
“There have never been more ways to measure your success or failings as a man.
Your pecs, abs and arms.”
There is enough evidence out there to suggest that indeed more men now are likely to at
least think about six-pack surgery.
You can find statistics that tell you that more men in many nations now are getting plastic
surgery.
In the USA, according to data supplied by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in
2017, 1.3 million American men had cosmetic procedures, and that was an increase of 29
percent since the year 2000.
One plastic surgeon with offices in New York and Los Angeles said the number of men getting
surgeries from 2018 to 2022 would shoot up.
In his practice of late he saw a change, and that was more men getting surgeries than women.
Selfie culture in recent years has made that surgeon a lot of money.
You can find a slew of articles and research out there talking about a crisis of masculinity,
the male mental health crisis, high male suicide rates, an era in which men have been demoted
from their role as protector and provider but don’t seem to have found a new role.
Well, maybe the new role is looking good on Instagram and showing off a chiseled body.
What we are trying to say, in answer to today’s question, is that it’s not at all surprising
that six-pack surgery is taking off.
Before we tell you how much it’s taking off, we should tell you a little about the
surgery itself, but we won’t spend too much time on this as we’ve already talked about
it in another show.
Many overweight men that get six-pack surgery might also have liposuction around the waist,
particularly that region we call the love-handles.
That’s because to chisel those abs and for them to look good, you might have to remove
a lot of fat first.
Some guys might also go for a breast reduction to remove those man-boobs, as that might look
out of place with the new six-pack.
One guy we found also had deltoid/bicep augmentation, because hey, surely if you have that six-pack
the rest of your body should also look like something you regularly work to death at the
gym.
What happens next is something called “Abdominal Etching”.
This is how the Journal for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons describes the procedure,
“The etching technique is performed with liposuction in a superficial plane, to create
indentures consistent with ‘six-pack abs,’ or definition of vertical abdominal lines.”
Some surgeries also offer implants, with a New York surgery describing it like this,
“Abdominal Implants take it one step further, actually placing implants throughout the region,
providing an even more defined and structured appearance.”
As we have said in other shows about cosmetic surgeries and implants, there is always some
risk, but we won’t go into that today.
What we want to know is are more men getting six-pack surgery and will it become more popular?
Well, as it’s new-ish and we are talking about it and more surgeons are offering it,
of course it’s taking off.
According to the British media, more young Brits are flying into Thailand to get the
surgery done because it’s cheaper there – around $3,800.
We found another Brit who made headlines because he flew to Turkey to get his 48-hour six pack
and he paid $3,500.
The guy said he was “thrilled” with how he looked after.
In the USA you might pay up to $10,000, so that’s why some folks opt for a holiday
and some surgery, and if you stay long enough for the bruising to go down you might get
the beach body you want for your island holiday.
The procedure might be cheaper, it just depends on how much etching you require, other fat
removed, and which clinic you go to.
Thailand has always been a hub for medical tourism and people from the West wanting to
change their face, get some gold-plated teeth or transform their sexual organs.
One Thai surgeon at one of the more well-known places people go to get six-pack surgery said
this in a newspaper article, “We’ve been doing this for about three to four years now,
we get anywhere from 20 to 30 customers requesting a six-pack every month.”
But the surgeon also said this, if you really want the surgery to work well you have to
have some muscle there in the first place.
He said most people he gets in his surgery are already fitness junkies, but they feel
they are not defined enough.
He said this, “In order to naturally get a six-pack, one needs to work out as well
as get lean.
Most of our clients come in with a lot of muscle, they just want to save themselves
months of leaning down.”
This surgery won’t transform an obese body to a ripped body.
One guy, who actually was Thai, was all over the media after his six-pack surgery.
He went to a clinic where you can get the job done and then also get your penis or nipples
whitened.
We had a look at forums to see what people, well men, were saying about getting a six-pack
job.
We should say that while articles are now saying things like, “Six-pack surgery is
now a thing”, it’s actually been around for a few years.
On Reddit most people didn’t seem interested in getting the surgery, and a few posters
said men doing it were just lazy and didn’t want to put the work in.
One poster wrote, “Imagine being this desperate for people to look at you.”
Another said, “This seems like unnecessary vanity surgery, and yes it looks super weird
to have ‘shredded abs’ next to love handles and poorly defined pecs, but I'm more curious
about the long term.”
Another person said, “If this isn't a sign of the times we live in (instant-gratification),
I don't know what is.”
With that in mind, it seems many people out there seem to think such surgery is not worth
doing and people need to stop being so vain.
With all this criticism around maybe more men won’t be signing up to get this procedure,
but then again, as we have showed you today there are a lot of insecure guys out there
who worry all the time about not having the perfect body.
Many of these men are still young, and so we guess a lot of you worry about your body.
Would you sign up for getting an instant six-pack?
What if it were free?
Do you have body insecurities?
Tell us in the comments.
Also, be sure to check out I Did 30 Push-Ups For 30 Days And This Is What Happened.
Thanks for watching, and as always, don’t forget to like, share and subscribe.
See you next time.