THE other day, my two children and I were admiring some Eastern Rosellas, which had landed on our front lawn, resplendent in their beautiful red, yellow and blue feathers. 

“Actually, the really beautiful ones are the boys,” pipes up my son, puffing out his chest with pride.

“No way,” replies my indomitable little feminist.

“Well, I’m afraid he’s right,” I say, explaining that in nature it’s often the males that are more colourful or extravagant in appearance.

My girl pulled a face and, looking her brother up and down like a judge on “Next Top Model”, declared: “Well, so what went wrong with boys then?”

My girl had a point. It’s long seemed to me that the females of our species have traditionally put a lot more effort into their plumage than the males.

I remember, in years long gone, spending hours on hair and make-up, and agonising over what to wear before going out. In contrast, blokes just had to have a shower, maybe a shave, and shove on any shirt and jeans.

But recently driving through Civic on Saturday night, I couldn’t help but notice that times have changed. Some of the young blokes who were out for the evening had clearly spent a lot of time, and expense, on their appearance.

Even my son, just turned 10, has recently developed a passion for fine hats and an extensive collection of eclectic T-shirts. Sadly, however, along with increased appearance concerns, it seems body image issues are never far behind. A recent gymnastics competition caused him much consternation when the regulation tank top revealed his lily-white arms. He was a quivering mess of anxiety. He has a very fine set of shoulders and increasingly muscular arms, but he was quite awkward in the presence of older lads whose longer commitment to gymnastics is obvious from their bulging biceps.

This all got me wondering if maybe the male of the species is now experiencing more of the appearance performance pressures that traditionally have plagued their female counterparts.

A little research revealed a recent study that found half of Australia’s “tweenagers” (10 and 11 year olds) are on crash diets and that more boys than girls were stunting their growth by not eating sufficient nutritious food trying to keep their weight down. WA’s chief medical officer has been reported as saying young boys have been turning up at hospital “incredibly underweight” due to eating disorders.

Though thankfully not yet top of the list when it comes to boys’ fears and anxieties, it seems body image issues have well and truly crossed the gender divide. For good, and ill, it looks like both sexes are likely to be equally proud and just as insecure about their appearance in our modern world.