Men Have Mirrors Too

We aim to make men feel more comfortable in their own skin and raise awareness about eating disorders and body positivity in men.

Our Social Issue

The social issue we would like to address is negative body image in men. In addition to this, we'd also like to break the stigma towards males speaking out about their feelings towards their bodies. We believe it is an issue for both men and women.

Why We Chose It

Men Have Mirrors Too chose to tackle this social issue as it was a school-wide problem. Whether it was blatant to see that people were struggling with their body image or a little bit more subtle, we were able to gather statistics on how people perceive themselves and how they felt about this problem. We found out that a staggering 39% of students felt insecure about their bodies, 24% admitted to having an unhealthy relationship with food and over 50% said that body shaming is a major problem in male society. These statistics back up why we chose this issue.

Our Goal

Men Have Mirrors Too aims to help young men defeat the stigma around eating disorders. For years this has been a rising problem and it is evidently stigmatised as a female only issue. The real end goal for us is if we could raise as much awareness about this topic in order for men to feel okay with what they see in the reflection each day. We hope to shine a light on this issue and improve government funding as in 2023 there was no money allocated towards the development of eating disorder services by the Irish government.

Our Innovative Action

Men Have Mirrors Too have made extreme efforts in order to spread awareness about this issue. We took action in numerous ways; we were able to raise €750 for Bodywhys through selling freely- fitting YSI jerseys that were a huge hit amongst the school members. We held an athletics day for first years to show how capable our bodies are. We also took to social media to further raise awareness by creating a series called ‘’Meal of the Month’’, this series consists of recipes for healthy as well as easy to make meals every month which students can follow.

Our Impact

Men Have Mirrors Too have made many positive differences in our school. We were delighted to create a better understanding of this topic within the school walls which translates to outside of them as our school members have spread their newfound knowledge of this topic to parents, friends etc. A fantastic addition to our positive influences would be that we encouraged pupils to attempt to follow recipes and cook for themselves which would take pressure off parents at home. I personally see a change in how people have treated each other, and a friendlier environment has emerged from this project.