SUMMARY

Part of Island Global Research’s own work, this survey explored attitudes towards body image, weight loss medicines and cosmetic treatments, as well as masculinity, misogyny and misandry. Globally, these are all topical issues where views can often be shaped by the media and digital content we consume.

From the responses of over 2500 people living in Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, we’ve learnt how the issues are perceived in our islands, including the extent in which there are differences in perspective by gender and across age groups. 

Key findings for the survey include:

•Females under 60 are most likely to be unhappy with their body image. Almost half of females aged 30-59 would consider using weight loss medicines in the future.

•Among males, weight loss medicines have much greater appeal than cosmetic treatments, with almost a quarter of males open to using weight loss medicines.

•While few males hold views that are consistently aligned with indicators of ‘toxic masculinity’ across multiple measures, more than 1 in 5 males were found to hold at least one view related to feminism and/or female attraction that is associated with this mindset.

•Overall 45% of females think misogyny is very widespread. This increases to 71% among females aged 16-29. Younger people, regardless of gender are more likely to believe there is hatred or discrimination exists against their own gender.

•Across the two topics, the greatest concern relates to how the female body image is portrayed, followed by attitudes towards masculinity and towards women. Concern about these issues is highest amongst young people, particularly females.

Lilyanne Guille, manager and lead researcher on this project, reflected on these findings and commented: 

“These results reveal interesting insights about well-established and more emerging issues. For example, it is striking how many islanders would consider weight loss medicines when you consider that they are a relatively new medical development. It would be interesting to revisit attitudes towards them in the future, as awareness and accessibility of weight loss medicines change.

Globally, the impact of online content promoting ‘toxic masculinity’ is still in the process of being well understood. 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’. This would also be a topic worth monitoring, as exposure to online content related to ‘toxic masculinity’ continues.

The survey also reinforces the perceived prevalence of two well established issues historically affecting women – misogyny in society, and issues around representation of the female body image in the media. The findings indicate that people feel there is still progress to be made on both accounts, while the relatively high levels of concern amongst young females suggests just how strongly the next generation feel there is a need for continued and meaningful change. Qualitative research would be insightful for better understanding the variety of concerns held by this age group and how this impacts their lives and perceptions of themselves.”

We would encourage you to take a look at our online interactive report which allows you to filter by gender and age group and see the differences for yourself.