According to recent research published via The Conversation, men are more into posting about #cleaneating than women.
Researchers examined the nine highest ranking images on Instagram categorised under the hashtags #cleaneating and #eatclean over eight days and found 68 percent of posts featured male subjects.
Yep, despite Instagram’s demographic being comprised of mostly young, 18-29-year-old female users – and the weight loss industry’s unwavering focus on women – it’s the men who are sharing most of those carefully curated, brown rice and steamed vegie, flat lays.
Or not. Perhaps the most interesting point to come out of the research was that the images which achieved top post status overwhelmingly focused on the man’s body, not their food.
Well, you don’t win friends with salad.
The images, often staged in a gym environment, featured men flexing their muscles in exaggerated displays of hegemonic masculinity and emphasised the hard work involved in adopting a “clean” lifestyle through accompanying hashtags like #determination, #noexcuses and #motivation.
The frequency with which men featured in the top #cleaneating posts illustrates how important diet and body image has become for men today.
The #cleaneating movement is all about eating foods that are perceived to be “clean” and “pure” and encourages a plant-based diet mostly free of meat, gluten, sugar and alcohol. Sounds like fun…
But it can be a slippery slope. Recently, there’s been a lot of discourse surrounding the eating disorder: orthorexia, an obsession with consuming only foods that are pure and perfect. And there have been some really sad stories.
Now, it seems we’re adding another layer of expectation: men must also adhere to this stereotypical idea of masculinity. Might be time to give Instagram a break for a little while…
