If looks could kill

More and more men are embracing the idea that success is linked to physical beauty and are paying for cosmetics, fitness programmes and plastic surgery to enhance their looks. But as they start to follow the beauty regimes of women, some men are taking on the neuroses too. Nadine O'Regan reports

Brendan Courtney, television presenter and producer, wears make-up off camera sometimes. "It depends on where I'm going," the former Treasure Island host explains. "If I'm going somewhere important I might put on Yves St Laurent Touche Eclat. It's like a coverstick under your eyes. It's translucent; it takes the darkness away."

Courtney also avails of bronzing powder, moisturiser and eye-cream. He attends the gym regularly and loves getting his hair cut. If he feels that his television make-up looks well on him, he doesn't bother to wash it off after the show has finished.

"People take my photograph wherever I go," he says. "I want to look good. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. If it's easy and you feel a little bit better about yourself, why not?"

To those of you now cringing with horror, here's the real shocker: Courtney's perspective is not as unusual as you might think. The extent to which Irish men are taking care of themselves is changing dramatically.

In the last fortnight a Sunday newspaper reported that Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has been receiving supplies of powder puffs, anti-shine cream and foundation to enhance his on-camera image. A spokeswoman for the party pointed out it was standard practice for party leaders and ministers to wear make-up in the Dáil.

The evidence of this phenomenon cannot be ignored. There has been an explosion in the global market for men's cosmetic products in recent years, and Ireland is no exception. In addition, plastic surgery clinics around the country now offer penis enlargement, ear reshaping and chest enlargement/ reduction procedures. Men want to look well, and they will take all the steps necessary to do so.

Not that most men will admit to it, mind. Working on your appearance is one thing, issuing declarations about your beauty regime quite another. In truth, the only folk entirely willing to reveal the depth of men's concern with appearance are those who have a hand in creating and shaping the finished product.

"You'd see them arriving into the salon from their early teens," says image consultant Celia Larkin. "Reflexology, acne treatments, facials - men are much more aware of the importance of protecting their skin against the environment than they would have been in our fathers' time. The majority of men now use at least a moisturiser. They're taking more care of themselves."

Much to the unbridled joy of women all around the country, you would imagine. After all, the elimination of hairy backs, protruding ears, beer-bellies and acne can only be a good thing, right?

Unfortunately not always. There is a darker side to this new-found concern with appearance. One 1997 US survey found that 45 per cent of men were dissatisfied with their bodies. They wanted either to gain muscle, or lose what they considered to be flab. For many, their desires had become an obsession.

The incidence of anorexia, steroid abuse and body dysmorphia in men have risen sharply in the US. Men are taking on the neuroses of women - and the results are sometimes tragic. But could such extreme situations possibly occur in Ireland?

"Whatever happens on the west coast of the US will be here in 10 years," says Dr John Griffin, director of the eating disorders programme at St. Patrick's Hospital, Dublin. "The fashions of Hollywood and the west coast always come to Europe."

Has he seen an increase in the number of Irish males with eating disorders? "Yes," he says. "Males are now becoming more conscious of body image and size, and will go to certain lengths to become slim, like the models in the pictures. There has also been a huge increase in the number of gyms in Ireland. Men are looking for this famous six-pack. Exercise is great, but in some vulnerable males, it drives them towards obsessing about their body image."

Griffin believes that the popularity of manufactured boy-bands can act as another negative factor that inclines young men towards eating disorders.

"The boys selected all seem to have the same kind of almost androgynous figure," he says.

"It's this MTV image. They seem to be exactly the same. And some males might think, 'maybe if I'm slim I can be successful and popular too'."

Unfortunately - when it comes to achieving stardom at least - they are partly right. Pressure may be placed on the fans of pop stars to look slim and attractive, but it can also be applied, in a different way, to the stars themselves.

The public demands that its singing superstars be gorgeous. In the fickle world of tweenie pop, where all the songs sound the same anyway, the most lithe figures and attractive faces win the record sales. Hence the extreme attention that is paid to appearance.

Sunbeds, face washes and cleansers all form an intrinsic part of 21-year-old Liam McKenna's routine. As a member of the pop group Six, McKenna feels the need to maintain a high standard of grooming. "Kids look up to us," he says, simply. "You have to keep up an image."

Some pop stars clearly find this harder than others. Westlife member Brian McFadden has struggled all his life with his weight. In a 2001 interview, he admitted he wanted to give up smoking, but didn't dare because of the potential for weight gain. "Smoking stops me eating," he said. "When I'm not smoking, I eat."

Think that sounds like something only a girl would say? Years ago, maybe this would have been the case. In her ground-breaking 1990 book The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf gave voice to the difficulties many women were experiencing due to the emphasis placed on their appearance.

"Beauty is a currency system like the gold standard," she wrote. "Like any economy, it is determined by politics, and in the modern age in the West, it is the last, best belief system that keeps male dominance intact." This statement may not ring true for very much longer. Now it seems as though women are at last coming closer to achieving equality, but of a most peculiarly warped kind. Men and women are both falling prey to the beauty myth, and both sexes are paying the price.

In fact, the only real winner in this story is the beauty industry. Since the Nivea For Men range was launched in Ireland in 1998, it has proved enormously successful. The line includes after-shave balms, washes and moisturisers. Although Nivea is continuing to expand the range, there are currently no plans to introduce products such as foundation or powders into the market. Irish men, it seems, are not quite yet that sophisticated.

"We're moving more into catering for different skin types rather than extending into beauty products, because we don't think Irish men are ready for that," says Lynn Harford, product manager for Nivea For Men.

"You have to take things slowly," she adds, "particularly where men are concerned, because you don't want to scare them by bringing in products which are typically associated with women."

Scaring RTÉ reporter Mark Little is quite easy to do. Just mention beauty routines, and he runs the proverbial mile. He will answer any question on the more philosophical elements behind personal presentation, but none at all on his own skincare regime. His reason for this is simple.

"In my line of work, if your appearance is a factor, then you're failing," he says. "If someone at the end of the news bulletin thinks about your appearance, you have failed. The important thing is to take the focus off your appearance and put it back onto the message." Having spent five and a half years working in the US, Little is better placed than most to assess the grooming differences between Ireland and abroad.

"In Washington, your suit is like body-armour," he says. "The people with the sharp suits are the people who carry with them a certain sense of importance. Coming home to Ireland, I can certainly say that I feel less pressure here to conform to a certain cookie-cutter way of looking than I did in the States."

Little is hopeful that this comparatively relaxed situation will prevail.

"I've heard more conversations among TV professionals here about not letting appearance dominate what they do", he says, "than I have about whether so-and-so has wrinkles or not. Among my peers there is a feeling that, ultimately, if appearance becomes the issue, then we've all lost."

Ten years down the line, it will be interesting to see whether that sentiment remains intact. Or whether the beauty myth will have claimed a whole new generation of males.