Are Mannequins Leading To Manorexia?

Rootstein's Homme Nouveau mannequin

Is manorexia on the rise? According to NYMag it is, and the introduction of new male mannequins from a British company called Rootstein may give males the same body image insecurities that the fairer sex has long obsessed over. Currently already 25% of eating disorder sufferers are men, which is up 15% since the 1990s.

Rootstein's Homme Nouveau mannequin will make its debut next month and sports a 35" chest and a feminized 27" waist. A look at their past forms shows a shrinking pattern; in 1967 The Classic had a 42" chest and 33" waist, in 1983 The Muscleman had a 42" chest and 31" waist, and in 1994 The Swimmer had a 38" chest and 28" waist.

American Apparel's Dov Charney, whose company's maximum waist size for men's denim pants is 33", has said in the past: “All the mannequins out there are these beefcakes, and we can’t even fit our largest size on them.” Meanwhile, the average waist size for the American man, at least 4 years ago, was 39.7".

Men, don't let what happened to Catherine Zeta-Jones happen to you! On the upside, at least the new mannequin will piss this guy off (skip to the 1:47 mark for skinny jean rant).

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By Jen Carlson in News on May 3, 2010 12:50 PM

Comments [rss]

boogpowell

http://www.americanapparel.net/sizing/default.asp?chart=mu.pants

See american apparels sizing chart. they have mens pants that go up to a 38 inch waist.

Clarice City

I lurrrrrve me some beefy man. Not like some roided out Jersey shore meat head, more like a little bit of tummy and really thick arms. Come to momma. mm mm mmmmm. Also, the ladies don't want you to have thinner legs than they do. K?

lizscribe

Um, I think the article says 25 percent of people who suffer from an eating disorder are men, not that 25 percent of men *have* an eating disorder...

Nyctini11

Why are my comments "being held for approval" WTF is that??

Rocknrope

In my day, we called men like these "Pencil-necked geeks."

Then we'd do a piledriver on Bob Backlund.

ridgeside

Their just trying to cater to malnourished,vegans or twinks(all the same thing). I wouldn't buy clothes according to what a mannequin is wearing, but then again I'm not gay.

hotstepper

manorexia? oh please!

everyone knows that the waist size of our pants will always be far less important than the size of whats in our pants.

evan7257

Our wallets?

miked1116

1 in every 4 men suffer from an eating disorder?

Really??

nycbrent

They must be including over-eating, not just the "traditional," restrictive eating disorders of anorexia and bulimia. It wouldn't surprise me if nearly 25% of men over-eat, and probably 1% have restrictive eating disorders.