Survey reveals islanders’ concerns over misogyny and body image

A new survey has revealed islanders' attitudes to body image, masculinity and misogyny.

Island Global Research conducted surveys during the spring across Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.

More than 2,500 people responded - more than 700 from each island - to give the first picture of its kind of modern day attitudes to some of the big topics in today's society.

Discourse around masculinity has increased since the Netflix series Adolescence and Louis Theroux documentary Inside The Manosphere, and amid concerns about online communities and prominent influencers who promote misogyny. 

Body image, and how it is portrayed in the media, is an enduring topic, but is now being viewed through the lens of a generation more exposed to imagery than every before.

The findings:

The survey found less than 3% of men hold views 'across multiple measures that are consistently aligned with indicators of so-called toxic masculinity'.

However, more than 1 in 5 (23%) hold views consistent with the idea that feminism intentionally disadvantages men (as opposed to bringing ‘women up’).

Almost a third (31%) think that the majority of heterosexual women only want to date the most physically attractive 20% of men - a dating myth originating from Incel (involuntary celibate) ideology.

45% of women believe misogyny is 'very widespread'.  That rises to 71% of women aged 16-29.

68% are 'very concerned' about how attitudes towards masculinity are represented, and 79% are very concerned about how attitudes towards women are represented.

Lilyanne Guille, Manager of IGR, says the impact of online content promoting 'toxic masculinity' is still in the process of being well understood, and the topic is worth monitoring as exposure to such content continues:

"The fact that as many as 1 in 5 males in our islands have critical views of feminism and what drives female attraction towards men illustrates the potential appeal of such content, and why men seeing it may identify with some of the messages.

"However, it is also reassuring that when you look across multiple measures there are very few whose mindset can be more fully characterised as consistent with the concept of ‘toxic masculinity’."

The survey also looked at body image and how it is represented in the media and online.

45% said they 'very concerned' with how the female body is represented, rising to 74% of women in the 16-29 age bracket.

Overall 29% of women said they would consider weight loss medicines in future.  In the 30-59 age range, almost half (47%) said they would.

Men are almost twice as likely to consider using weight loss medicines than cosmetic treatments (23% vs 12%).

Lilyanne says the findings are 'striking' considering that weight loss medicines are a relatively new development.

"It would be interesting to revisit attitudes towards them in the future, as awareness and accessibility of weight loss medicines change."