• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.43-55
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• 2010

With the sex role changes in the post-modern society, men are becoming increasingly interested in appearance and their bodies. Male muscles in particular, which also is a visual manifestation of masculine strengths, has become the focal interest for those men who care about appearance management. The purpose of this study was to identify the extent to which Korean culture emphasizes muscles in defining masculine body, and to understand Korean men's perception of muscle building and their bodies. For this purpose, a content analysis and a survey were conducted. The content analysis aimed at identifying the ideal masculine image represented in the ads featured in male fashion magazines. For the purpose of comparison, U.S. magazines were also examined. The result showed that male models' images shown in Korean magazines were not significantly different from the male images in American magazines in terms of the body size, muscularity, and the nudity of the models. A survey to 339 men aged between 20 to 50 living in Seoul area was conducted to explore the motives of muscle building, the criteria men use to evaluate muscled bodies, and the influence of muscle building on body satisfaction. Factor analysis and analyses of variances followed by Scheffe multiple comparisons were conducted for data analysis. The results showed that physical appearance improvement is one of the motives of muscle building especially for younger men. Muscle building in general is found to contribute positively to men's body satisfaction.