As buff and brawny is no longer the ‘in' male body shape, men are increasingly joining the armies of women worldwide in the crusade to be thin. When men start asking whether they look fat in their skinny jeans, it proves thin is in for a whole new breed of human. Should we worry or, like all fashion trends, is thin not in for keeps?

Apparently men are more body conscious now than they were a decade ago. In 1990, figures suggested 10 percent of people suffering from anorexia or bulimia were men; today it's more like 25 percent, while figures for women remain steady.

Two out of five binge eaters are men and increasing numbers of teenage boys say they are dissatisfied with their bodies. The male segment of the plastic surgery market is booming - with moob jobs proving especially popular.

This isn't surprising when male fashion is cut to flatter the 27 inch waist, 33 inch chest of a Burberry fit model. It's merely the latest manifestation of the mounting pressure on men to be a certain shape. Not only are a significant proportion of contemporary male cultural icons slimmer than their girlfriends, but retailers are discriminating on waist circumference. Those even the slightest bit hip will be disgruntled to find that American Apparel doesn't sell its signature Slim Slack trouser with a waistband larger than 30 inches. Thanks to high fashion filtering down to the high street, our streets are overrun by teenage-bodied man-children in skinny jeans, covering their bird-like chests in flimsy cotton plunging V-neck T-shirts, with oversized hoodies hanging from bony shoulders.

This clashes head on with the traditional perceptions of the male physical ideal. This man is the Adonis, athletic, brawny, broad shouldered and very much capable of sweeping a woman off her feet and into his pec-laden arms. Until relatively recently, men of the slim-hipped Mick Jagger persuasion were assumed to be ashamed, perhaps considered less masculine. Now that thin is the cultural mainstream, the bulkier of the species will diet and go under the knife for it. Ricky Gervais says: ‘I laugh about being fat, but I should be ashamed. I should walk down the street and have people shouting "Fatty!". That's what I want, to get me out of it.'

Having said that, this doesn't mean that one has replaced the other. While thin may be in, our traditional male ideas have still managed to remain current. Much in the same way that the model look and va va voom curves have remained simultaneously relevant in the female population. After all, would Men's Health make the same sales figures without the signature robust physique of their cover guys?

So what we have on our hands is two polarised ideals on male beauty, living side-by-side and dividing men and bestowing a general sense that they're not physically perfect. We're leaving them wide open to eating disorders, inadequacy and self-consciousness.

It is tempting, as women, to respond with glee and welcome them head first into our nightmare. We've been subject to bolstering and shaving our body shapes to suit trends for decades. We've teetered between yearning for the severe and bony architecture of the catwalk model and the perennially tanned, busty babeness of the glamour girl.

If it helps allay the fears of men at all, women are not especially concerned by men's bodies as the mitigating factor. Speaking broadly and generally, what appears to be valued over a neat set of abs in a long-term partner is clever, sexy, funny and well-dressed.

So if men are not streamlining their bods in response to pressure from women then why are they doing it? It could partly be a bi-product of a general cultural obsession with youth. Although what may hold a stronger hand of cards is that it's clear that men are far more objectified and commercialised than they used to be. Half-naked men are plastered across billboards and over our internet pages - from Harry Kewell for Politix underwear or Becks and Cristiano Ronaldo for Emporio Armani underwear.

Rather than vengefully sniping over it, perhaps both men and women should be working on a way to make it so that physicality is not the defining thing about any of us - because at present it seems to be the defining thing about all of us.

Australian Cosmetic Surgery Magazine #49