Do Young Men Have Body Image Issues?

Redeeming Wounds is back after a hiatus to manage our growing platforms. For the month of October, we'll delve into questions emerging among young adult men in the United States. While research indicates they're becoming “more spiritual,” this isn't the simple win it appears to be. They're seeking conservative, empowering spaces, and many are turning to the church to find them. This influx is a unique opportunity; though they come seeking one thing, we can offer them something more. In the next four weeks, we'll explore four relevant questions and provide tools to help the church engage.

Data from the National Institute of Mental Health confirms that while eating disorders disproportionately affect young women, they are also a significant challenge for young men. The higher prevalence in females is directly linked to intense and long-standing social pressures about appearance, which have caused profound trauma, a reality powerfully underscored by anthems like "Victoria's Secret" and "Build a Bitch."

Now, as society slowly re-evaluates its pressure on young women, research reveals a troubling trend: eating disorder rates are increasing faster among young men. To make matters worse, the common perception of this as a "female issue" causes young men to overlook their own symptoms, delaying recognition and treatment. The conclusion is clear: emerging males are grappling with a silent and growing crisis in body image; it is hidden and both severe and severely overlooked.

In its conversations about young adult men, the church frequently discusses identity, purpose, relationships, and spirituality, yet body image is almost never part of the dialogue. While these are vital topics, their broad nature often prevents a direct engagement with the specific struggles these men endure. A simple book study after a service cannot address the profound pain of unspoken issues like body image, which data confirms is both present and rising in young males. Consequently, many men suppress this pain, seeking validation through behaviors that feel more "manly" or empowering.

So what can the church do to start thinking about the topic around young adult males and body image? The first, and most crucial step, is to become a community that actively de-stigmatizes the struggle. Data from the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) indicates that nearly one in three people with an eating disorder is male, and a study in JAMA Pediatrics found that body dysmorphic disorder affects a nearly equal percentage of young men and women. Yet, the cultural and often religious stereotype that these are "female issues" creates profound shame, causing many young men to suffer in silence. The church can counter this by intentionally integrating language that normalizes this challenge. This means sermons on finding identity in Christ can explicitly mention freedom from body-based shame. Small group curricula can include discussion questions about societal pressures on men's appearances. Pastoral prayers can voice the unspoken anxieties of feeling "too small," "overweight," or "not masculine enough." By naming the struggle from the pulpit and in discipleship, the church communicates that this pain is not a mark of personal failure or weak faith, but a real human struggle worthy of compassion and support. In this conversation, it is vital to speak with grace and clarity: to minister to the pain of body image is not to argue that physical health is irrelevant. As stewards of the bodies God has given us, we are indeed called to care for our physical health. This includes, with wisdom and without shame, acknowledging that conditions like obesity can contribute to significant health challenges. Our concern, however, is not with a number on a scale, but with the heart. We are addressing the crushing shame, the obsessive fixation, and the disordered behaviors that so often accompany these struggles. The goal is not to promote any particular body type, but to pursue wholeness, where spiritual, mental, and physical health are in right relationship, and where our worth is rooted in Christ, not in our physical appearance or fitness.

Secondly, the church must move beyond simplistic solutions and adopt a trauma-informed approach to care. The core of trauma-informed practice is understanding that behaviors are often coping mechanisms for deeper, unmet needs or unresolved pain. When a young man is obsessively working out, restricting food, or fixating on a specific body ideal, he is often trying to manage feelings of inadequacy, a lack of control, or a desperate desire for belonging. A standard book study or a piece of accountability software fails to address these root causes and can even exacerbate the shame. Instead, church leaders and small group facilitators need to be equipped to ask better questions: not "You should stop looking at those fitness influencers," but "What is the feeling you're chasing when you look at those images? What does that 'ideal' body promise you that you feel you're lacking?" This shifts the conversation from behavior modification to heart-level ministry, creating a safe space for vulnerability. Training in basic Mental Health First Aid can empower lay leaders to recognize signs of distress and respond with empathy, knowing how to connect individuals with professional Christian counselors who specialize in these areas.

Finally, the church has a unique opportunity to reframe the concept of a "good body." Our current culture, including the fitness subculture many young men inhabit, often worships a body that is a tool for performance, dominance, or attraction. The gospel offers a radical alternative: the body as a vessel for love, service, and connection. Practical ministry can flow from this theology. Instead of a men's ministry solely built around competitive sports, create service projects that utilize physical strength for a purpose, building homes with Habitat for Humanity, moving furniture for a single mother, or landscaping for the elderly. This redirects the focus of the male body from how it appears to what it can accomplish in love. Furthermore, fostering intergenerational community where older, wiser men share their own journeys with aging, changing bodies, and finding identity beyond physical prowess provides a crucial, counter-cultural narrative. By becoming a place that names the struggle, ministers to the root pain, and redefines the purpose of the physical self, the church can stop being a place where young men hide their wounds and start being a place where they find holistic, Christ-centered healing.