“I Just Want to Be Normal!”

Abstract

In this article, I explore both my personal experiences within queer men’s communities engaging with dieting practices and my journey encountering assessments for gynecomastia. Gynecomastia, a medical condition that typically describes cisgender men’s experiences with enlarged breasts and extra fat tissue on their pectorals, is an under-discussed medical condition that intersects with conversations around gender, sexuality, body image and self-esteem. Within queer men’s communities, the hegemonic emphasis on toned, ‘fit’ bodies and muscular pectoral muscles leaves individuals with gynecomastia with body image and self-esteem challenges. Accordingly, hierarchical notions of queer masculinities often position feminine embodiment, particularly that which is associated with fat and fleshiness, as lesser than. In this poststructural autoethnographic article, I engage with my personal experiences of being assessed for gynecomastia and personal histories with body image challenges. Through this, I describe the hegemonic norms within queer men’s communities that constitute feminized and fattened embodiments as inferior and place my personal experiences with body image and self-esteem challenges within a larger socio-cultural and political landscape that devalues bodies outside of hegemonic and masculinized norms. I provide implications for dietetic professional practices throughout the article and advocate for an awareness of social and cultural norms around gender and sexuality in dietetic professional practices.