This obsession with muscle building

[fred970]

There is nothing like the sort of obsession with gyms and muscle-building in Europe or Asia that there is in the United States, where every high school kid seems to feel duty bound to be in the weights room 4 nights a week. Interestingly, muscle-building and gym culture in Europe and Asia often seem to be associated with the gay community, and is part of a wider interest in personal appearance.

It is surprisingly how suddenly the muscle trend developed - very few people went to a gym before the 1980's. None of the male sex symbols of the 60's or 70's had six packs, or visible muscle of any sort. I wonder if it will disappear just as quickly in a decade or so's time.

This, a million times this. The guys from the US/UK here just refuse to believe what you just wrote.

In Europe, people and women will even see you as an overcompensating loser if you go to the gym, or someone who is too narcissistic and over-obsessed with his appearance.