The Adonis Complex: The Secret Crisis of Male Body Obsession

by Harrison G. Pope Jr., Katharine A. Phillips, Roberto Olivardia

Discusses the growing numbers of men who are taking the quest for perfect muscles, skin, and hair too far, crossing the line from normal interest to pathological obsession

Genres: Psychology, Health, Nonfiction, Sociology, Self Help, Gender Studies

304 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2000

Reviews

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

About two years ago I got really ill and I thought to myself: "Oh fuck, I've fucked it haven't I? My youth has ended! AND I WASTED IT ALL ON PHILOSOPHY! WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!?!?!11"

This precipitated a massive lifestyle change. I ditched cigarettes, alcohol, and junk food. I got a gym membership. I got into combat sports too, and promptly fucked my knees, back, and shoulders. I bulked too hard, had to diet, then resumed bulking. As a weak, sedentary nerd, I was bound to fuck the whole thing up in every way I possibly could, but somewhere along the line I stopped being injured and worn out all the time and instead I was simply healthy, resilient, strong. Turns out exercise is good for you — who knew?

Now let me tell you what happens when you start trying to get healthy. Capital, as the boundless drive for more, recognises something of itself in the budding athlete's drive for self-improvement, but with an important distinction: the human body, like all living things, is destined to age, decay, and die. Capital is not a living thing, but "dead labour", not given to limits, but continually pushing back its own limits in its never-ending expansion. Understandably, then, "be happy with your body" is bad business, and that's why from the day I started working out, the adverts I've been served have been desperate to give me Body Dysmorphic Disorder:

- CAN'T GET IT FULLY UP LATELY? EMBARRASSED THAT YOU AREN'T ABLE TO GET ENTIRELY, COMPLETELY ERECT WHEN YOU HAVE SEX WITH AN ATTRACTIVE WOMAN? HERE IS A VIDEO OF AN ATTRACTIVE WOMAN LOOKING EXASPERATED. EVER WORRY THAT'S HOW AN ATTRACTIVE WOMAN WOULD RESPOND TO YOUR NOT ENTIRELY ERECT PENIS?

- HELLO MALE IN THE 25-TO-34 AGE BRACKET. PERHAPS YOU HAVE NOTICED THERE ARE MORE HAIRS IN THE SHOWER LATELY. OH, YOU HAVEN'T? WELL. NOW YOU'RE GOING TO WORRY THAT THERE ARE. ANYWAY. IF YOU GO BALD YOU WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO HAVE SEX WITH ATTRACTIVE WOMEN. DOES THAT CONCERN YOU? HERE IS A VIDEO OF A BALD MAN WHO IS SAD. DO YOU WANT TO BE LIKE HIM?

- HAVE YOU BEEN FEELING TIRED RECENTLY? YOU NEED TESTOSTERONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY. YOU NEED TO INJECT TESTOSTERONE INTO YOUR BODY. YOU NEED TO PAY US APPROXIMATELY ONE-TWELTH OF THE MEDIAN SALARY IN YOUR COUNTRY PER YEAR SO THAT YOU CAN BECOME DEPENDENT ON US FOR A CONSTANT SUPPLY OF EXOGENOUS TESTOSTERONE.

Yeah yeah, impersonal economic forces embodied in our information infrastructure want me to be suicidally depressed so that I'll give them my money. So what? That's nothing new. Sure, but it's interesting when you consider the premise of this book. I like this book, and I like Pope. He seems like a good egg. But when Pope wrote this in 2000, he believed that by getting men to open up about their experiences of disordered eating, body dysmorphia, "bigorexia", etc. that we'd be able to fight back against the pernicious influence that the media has over our body images. The Spinozist position: knowledge is power. If you know you can't get as big as Arnie without steroids, then you'll stop worrying that you're inadequate as a man if you're not as muscular as him, right?

Maybe. But if you look at the state of fitness-related Instagram accounts, or YouTube channels, or online forums dedicated to fitness, you will see almost nothing but negging, infighting, absurd body standards, blatant steroid users pretending to be "natty", open steroid users saying "natties" are wasting their time, constant whining about women (including incredulous rage about how "she dumped me for a guy who can't even bench press his own bodyweight"), people insisting that if you can't deadlift 180kg or more the first time you walk in the gym you are WEAK, LOW T, etc. The sheer rate of innovation in methods of inducing self-hatred in anyone who happens to stumble across this stuff is impressive. And these are people who on some level ought to know better. Never being satisfied with your physique, always feeling small, putting down anyone who is pleased with a relative improvement in themselves — that's just the culture. It makes the stuff Pope describes in this book seem pretty chill, by comparison.

The truth is, this book is outdated. I'm sure the advice he gives for the worst sufferers (get on SSRIs and see a therapist) would work, but in 2000 the assumption was that for most people, knowledge would be enough. These days, knowledge is abundant, but so is rationalisation and propaganda. For many gym-goers the body is no longer just a personal statement, but a moral and political one, too: leftists are weak, effeminate, soy-eating homosexuals who go to therapy and talk about their feelings all the time — you don't want to be that, do you? Pope at one point suggests that part of the explosive growth of the gym and supplements industries in his time had to do with the "threatened masculinity" men were experiencing in response to feminist successes in gaining economic and legal equality for women. I think that thesis is sadly correct. But Pope is a good liberal, and so he thinks that "political" problems in this sense are given to rational disintegration. But political problems are actually libidinal problems, and those run very, very deep indeed.

None of that is to say that anyone who goes to the gym is a fascist, obviously. Otherwise, that's worrying for me. But ultimately every problem and every trend Pope talks about in the book has been accelerated and radicalised by social media, by the growing perfection of advertising technology, by the centrifugal ideological forces driving us all into ever more intense political and libidinal corners. "Talk about your feelings" is no longer an adequate solution on a large-scale. It probably never was.

But enough about the large scale. I was doing some RDLs a few months ago, probably had something like 120kg on the bar, but I'm not sure. This absolutely massive guy comes up to me and asks if he can work in, and of course I say yes. To my amazement he proceeds to do bent over barbell rows, maybe 7 or 8 reps, and I tell him that it was very impressive, because it was.

"No," he said sadly. "I used to be a lot stronger. Before I got injured."

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sujet très pertinent. La problématique a certainement pris de l’ampleur avec l’invasion des réseaux sociaux. L’ouvrage touche plusieurs sujets reliés au thème, ajoutant de l’ampleur à la problématique initiale. Un peu répétitif par moments, et la véracité des témoignages et des informations scientifiques est parfois douteuse. Mais lecture somme toute intéressante.

[Cwn_annwn_13 · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Adonis Complex points out the multitudes of deep psychological issues many American males have with their physical appearance. Huge bodybuilders that see themselves as being small, skinny males who see themselves as fat, obsessions with any physical flaw, real and imagined, that you can think of, complexs about penis size, etc. Steroids, plastic surgery, expensive supplements that have little or no real effect, dietary obsessions, etc. In other words American males are becoming just as neurotic and pathological about their appearance as women.

Its not that on the point that stating any of this is happening on a massive scale that I have an issue with this book. Its that the author acts like this is some sort of big revelation. I mean the guy is stating the obvious. You can go to any fitness center or weight lifting gym and the overwhelming majority of people working out aren't there because they are training for a sport or for the health benefits that exercise brings. They are there for no other reason than to improve how they look. I don't think anybody would debate that. I also think the author of this book has a tendency to overdiagnose. I get the feeling he would say anybody thats into bodybuilding or is slightly neurotic or narcistic about their appearance has a full blown identifiable disorder.

[Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t read the book super close but skimmed most of it and skipped two chapters but I thought it was very insightful. I didn’t understand the historical context of muscle dysmorphia more or less starting in the 60s/70s with the rise of bodybuilding and steroid use. I’m writing a paper on muscle dysmorphia and social media so there isn’t any info on social media as the book was published in 2000 but in general there are many good points that I will integrate in my paper. It did well at writing for a popular audience while still keeping it scientific

[Noah Tiegs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me a long while to read blah blah blah but like honestly, really great. Even as a man (because I’m gay maybe?) I had no idea the extent to which men feel so torn up about muscularity. And also like great nuance, good research, all the good stuff!

[Alex Bendix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super interesting. Like any psychology or mental health examining type book, it’s probably 60% longer than I want it to be (aka “you get the point” rather quickly and then the rest of the book is just more examples). I thought it was a great examination of all the different ways that men might feel insecure about their bodies and what’s driving those trends. What was interesting was how body insecurity is a trend of the last 30 years. The authors make the connection to masculinity - in a more equitable society there’s less of an obvious male dominance, so some men turn to weight lifting and muscle building to assert their masculinity. I also think it does a good job of drawing a line of the difference between healthy working out (you do it to feel good) and compulsive working out / body image obsession (you miss out on other activities because of it, you feel terrible if you miss a habit). In general they also generalize a lot of the issues to be problems of compulsion - men seek control through absurd control over exercise, eating, etc.
anyway, I thought it was beneficial to me to look out for the “watch outs” that I should be mindful of - when are things that bother me actually becoming a problem to talk to someone about?
As always with mental health issues, a key theme is - most of those who suffer the most talk to others the least, so talking to friends and loved ones is often the best cure! Or at least the first step towards the best cure.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Based on reviews I saw I though it wouldn't be that good. Well it is very good.
Having in mind that this was written in 2000 it's quite lucid and surely ahead of its time.
The essay is written as a psychology manual which is both easily accessible but also very in depth. It reads like an accessible scientific publication, excellent sourcing and references good prior research but adds anecdotal evidence which in psychology is essential since it's people with some negative and painful subjective experiences that are being treated, not just some numbers. Understanding how these people are suffering is essential.
The tone of the book is excellent too. It really shows some non judgmental empathy for people that are affected by body dysphoria and the Adonis complex even when these people refuse to seek treatment and chose to ignore the thing that is ruining their life.

In my opinion the best sections are
- The one on the origins of the Adonis Complex,
- The section on steroids, how widespread and how misunderstood it is.
- The section on how young boys and teens are struggling with unrealistic body issues, how they cope and how to help them

Even though this is a 23 years old book, it's still made with mastery of scientific method, well written and most of all relevant.

[Enrique Licona · Rating 5 out of 5]

With its 2000 publication, I wasn’t sure if it’d offer much insight or value into understanding current trends; however, I wanted to see what they looked like pre social media. My favorite part of the book was the historical context of the male physique and how it started turning into this fixation with muscle growth. After finishing the book, I became intrigued and wanted to know more about current research on muscle dysmorphia, anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS), and social media.

As with young girls, young men too are starting to be impacted by social media and even going the extra mile to enhance their appearance with harmful substances. What’s even more fascinating is that some men will know about some of the physical and psychological effects, yet continue to experiment - even if it means reducing their lifespan… simply for the gains.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a work I've seen many other reviewers label as "groundbreaking" or "eye-opening". Although this book does raise some valid questions about males and obsession with body-image, I don't know that many great insights come out of it. The book goes into some detail about how women for years have been the target of the media and society to be "thinner" in an attempt to look as good as the models on magazine covers. In other words, there is something wrong with looking ordinary. Now the coin has been flipped and the media has saturated us with numerous images of Adonis-like God-men who have perfect bodies and chiseled abs. Understandably enough, some men feel as if they don't measure up to this image or ideal and develop hang-ups over being chubby or ordinary. We further find out from this book that some men obsess about body image and oftentimes muscularity because they associate this with masculinity. Groundbreaking news there! This has led some men to develop muscular dysmorphia or BDD (body dysmorphic disorder) which is basically an unhealthy preoccupation with a body-part, or image that is not grounded in reality. The book goes on to suggest therapy or antidepressant medication to help treat these more severe cases. If not treated men could do very scary things such as use steroids. The book is comical when it comes to steroids. These bright authors claim that any man who attains a high level of muscularity and claims to not use steroids is a liar. This struck a nerve with me. I know several people in the bodybuilding and fitness world who have never used illegal steroids and most certainly do have high levels of muscularity. I find it rather insulting that these so-called PhDs take it upon themselves to call these people who have worked their behinds off with exercise and diet a bunch of liars. What is even more comical is that in this book these grave scenarios are given of what happens to men who use steroids. We are told of murders, violence against women, beatings etc..but then told shortly later that the percentages of these occurrences are rather low and that major complications or side-effects from these drugs are not always that common. Mixed signals here?? In my opinion the book would have been much better if the authors would have stuck to the facts instead of trying to use scare tactics to dissuade people from trying steroids or other muscle-building supplements. The last ridiculous notion I found in the book was the idea that one of the main reasons men have become preoccupied with muscularity nowadays is because of a rise in feminism in our time. This is just beyond classic. I'd love to see objective scientific research showing that men subconsciously hit the gym to try and build up muscles whenever women make gains in feminism. I couldn't help but chuckle over this one. In fact, I am sure when women gained the right to vote men went out in droves and started doing military presses with buckets or cement blocks because they felt this new "feminism" threatened their last shred of masculinity. The authors themselves in the book claim that masculinity is not necessarily associated with muscularity so they think they are the only ones that can figure this out? The rest of men are just stupid neanderthals who can't grasp the concept that bigger muscles don't equate to more masculinity? Please! I'll give the book a three based simply on the fact that it's nice to see someone look at the male side of the coin for a change but it definitely needed a higher dosage of objectivism and a deletion of some of the more silly notions found in its pages.

[Faith Taraskus · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ever have a son, read this book before you buy him any toys. It's about the male answer to anorexia and bulemia, "bigorexia" and steroid use.

[Janel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The content is interesting, but the writing is not.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book. We are doing a series in the fall on the media and body image and are going to definitely include this book.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5.0

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Research for my Sociology of Gender essay.