Young men in York 'struggling with how they feel about their bodies'

It's feared young men in York are struggling with feeling positive over their body image.

New research, commissioned by suicide prevention charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) and Instagram, has investigated how Generation Z and Millennial men feel about their bodies, the societal pressures they face to change how they look, and the damaging impact on young men’s mental health:

• The pandemic has led over half (58%) to feel negatively about how they look

• One in two (48%) 16-40 year old men have struggled mentally because of how they feel about their body

• Only a quarter (26%) of Gen Z and millennial men feel happy with how they currently look

• Jason Minto is Healthwise Manager for Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL), who operate the Better York leisure centres: "We're finding that a lot of young men are coming through wanting to come to the gym, because they're looking at their bodies and are feeling insecure about how they look.

• "The research that's come out correlates with what we've seen, so it shows how things are moving on with young men's mental health.

• "In today's society a lot of young people - men in particular - have a lot of social interaction and the pandemic has affected that. Not being able to come to the leisure centres has been hard.

• "There's been lots of stuff in the community, which is great; however we feel some of the men have missed that gym environment. There are a certain types of people who like to come to the gym, but generally we're finding that some of the young men who come to us didn't want to come in the first place.

• "They're trying to get that self-confidence to feel better about themselves. Some of the people who do come to our gyms don't have those 'perfect bodies' - it's actually quite rare you see that.

• "Generally the people who come to us are quite overweight, but you're seeing the same young men coming back again and again because of that feeling that they want to better themselves.

• "My message would be that you need to be confident in your own body. If you're comfortable, no matter how you look, do a form of exercise that you want to do. Do exercise that makes you feel good; it's not a question of how other people perceive you, it's how you perceive yourself".

Simon Gunning, CEO of CALM said: "Body image worries affect people of all genders, body types and backgrounds. And the conversation is much deeper than just weight or body shape.

"The worries are complex, and can have a significant impact on people’s mental wellbeing. We know that men can often feel disengaged or excluded from the conversation of body positivity because of unhelpful stereotypes.

"So, like with so many of our campaigns, our partnership with Instagram aims to challenge stereotypes of masculinity and open up a new conversation for men and the communities and people around them.

"It's totally normal to worry about whatever strange things you spot in the mirror but it is important to get help if these worries begin to affect your mental wellbeing.

"As a suicide prevention organisation we know how important it is to talk about everyday worries and tackle them head on. We hope this campaign will be the start of a new conversation that leads more men to seek the support they need.”

More information on the Better York leisure centres can be found here: https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/york/york-leisure-centre

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