A new study set out to discover how men react to pictures of attractive women in men's magazines, which typically feature scantily-clad women who are considered beautiful.

Seventy-seven male university students took part in the study and answered a questionnaire at the beginning of the study and one year later. Results showed that men who viewed magazines with images of idealized women suffered the effects of low self-esteem more often than men who viewed other types of magazines.

How is it that men who view images of beautiful, scantily-clad women feel worse about themselves? It may be that men feel that they will be unable to measure up to the beauty ideal that these women project, or that women who are so attractive would be les likely to date ?average?-looking men. The results are somewhat surprising, as it makes sense that women may feel threatened by models who are often unnaturally thin and have a phalanx of people and resources to help them look the way they do, but one would not expect that men would also feel inferior to attractive women in magazines.

The moral of the story? It seems that images of models in magazines may be harmful to both men and women, and that today?s ideal of beauty may be unnatural and impossible to achieve for the average person, leading to low self-esteem and image problems.

Related Links:

Buff Male Models May Hurt Men's Self-Esteem from Web MD

Increase Your Self-Esteem from AskMen.com