9 Out Of 10 Maltese People Want To Change Their Body This Year
In our recent 2017 Body Image survey, 9 out of 10 respondents said that they would like to change something about their body this year. Every new year sees people trying to turn over a new diet-exercise-regime leaf, but are these results symptomatic of just that, or is body image steadily becoming more and more of a bigger deal in Malta?
It certainly is around the rest of the world. In November of last year it was a point of discussion in one of Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaign events, when a 15-year-old girl asked Clinton how she would help girls overcome their preoccupation with how they look.
Indeed, more females took our survey than males (70-30% respectively), so body image does seemingly remain an issue greater felt by girls and women in our society. But the gap is getting smaller, and more and more men are becoming concerned with their body.
So what are Maltese people looking to change about their body?
The majority of respondents said that they would like to “tone up” their body in 2017, followed by the second most desired change – “to lose weight”. A goal which they may not see come to fruition until at least July, if this study is anything to go by.
The third most desired change for respondents was to “reduce the amount of hair” on their body. A curious preoccupation which could beg the question of whether we are moving away from our Mediterranean features – Mediterranean people are generally known to be more hairy – or if it’s a consequence of gender normative social requirements.
The fourth most common answer to question on what Maltese people would like to change about their body was – nothing. A decent 7% of our sample weren’t hoping to make any changes. But following very closely were a portion of people wanting to prevent hair loss (6%), and some wanting to gain weight (5%).
The portion of people looking to make more drastic changes was lower. Individuals wanting to have plastic surgery on their face made up 2% of the respondents, whilst 1% said they would like to have plastic surgery on their breasts this year.
Judging by our survey results, it’s safe to say that the majority of Maltese people are preoccupied with body image. Lovin Malta would like to encourage everyone to be healthy and moderate in whatever measures they take this year to change their bodies. Don’t go too crazy people!