A recent study showed that media images of sexy female models can evoke feelings of inferiority in men. Research team led by Jennifer Aubrey, assistant professor of communications at the University of Missouri measured the impact of magazines like Maxim, FHM and Stuff on college going men. These magazines contained visuals of sexually stimulating women, along with textual articles associated with fashion, sex technology and pop culture.

During the study, men were asked questions like ‘During the day, I think about how I look,” and then asked the same questions a year later.

Researchers said that they found that reading lad magazines related to having body self consciousness a year later. This was surprising because if you look at the cover of these magazines, they are mainly images of women. They wondered why magazines which were dominated by sexual images of women were having an effect on men’s feelings about their own bodies.

Further research was done by Aubrey with the help of Professor Laranire Taylor, associated with the University of California-Davis to find answer to this question. Study subjects were divided into three groups. The first group examined descriptive layouts of the female form, the second group concentrated on physically fit men modeling men fashion and the third group focused on neutral layouts touching topics like technology and film trivia.

Researchers concluded: “Men who viewed the layouts of objected females reported more body self consciousness than the other two groups. Even more surprising was that the male fashion group reported the least amount of body self consciousness among the three groups.”