The New Body Part Men Are Self-Conscious About

David Beckham's butt is a money-maker. Unfortunately, at the ripe-old age of 38, the soccer star’s behind might not have a lot of time left to spend in the limelight modeling underwear.

As men age – starting around age 30 to 40 – they lose fat from their buttocks (as well as faces and hands, while also gaining it in stomachs and chests).

But some men aren't taking their butt sagging sitting down, and are combatting the effects of aging on their behinds by going under the knife for a buttock augmentation.

Dr. Constantino G. Mendieta, a Miami cosmetic surgeon and the author of “The Art of Gluteal Sculpting,” told Yahoo! Shine that he has done about 400 tushy touchups on men in the past year. He added that, like women, guys can be self-conscious about their derrieres. But, unlike the ladies, who unabashedly discuss their interest in the procedure (ahem, Real Housewives, I’m lookin’ at y’all) and their body image issues, guys come in for a consultation about something else, like liposuction or lip fillers, and end the appointment nervously asking about – and then often committing to – the gluteal procedure.

As for what kind of men seek out the surgery, which runs in the $10,000 range, Mendieta said that nearly 90 percent of his male patients who undergo the procedure are straight, and the majority of them single. After the hindquarter recontouring, they’re invigorated, walk with a little more swagger, and carry themselves better, according to Mendieta.

Men accounted for just 6.2 percent of cosmetic buttock procedures in 2012, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, a statistic Mendieta said corresponds with the fact that men now make up about 10 percent of all cosmetic procedure patients.

For guys who may not want to go under the knife but are still looking for a little lift in the rump region, some companies are now marketing shapewear for men. Products like Calvin Klein Body Boost Butt Trunk ($22), 2(x)ist Lift No Show Brief ($24), and Go Softwear Super Padded Brief ($37.50) offer posterior enhancing without the hefty price tag of a medical procedure. Bonobos, a men's e-commerce company, has a mission statement to eliminate “khaki diaper butt” through better-fitting pants. While shapewear for women, like girdles and Spanx, have been around for decades, tummy-tucking and butt-lifting undergarments marketed to men are a much newer phenomenon.

Have guys suddenly become more self-conscious about certain body parts? Or is the media just finally picking up on something that's been there all along? While body image issues have typically been more associated with females, according to the National Eating Disorders Association, of the estimated 30 million people in the United States with eating disorders, about 10 million of them are now men.
 
Increasing prevalence of plastic surgery and shapewear for guys could indicate the stigma around men being conscious about how they look is decreasing. And is that a bad thing? I think not. Women have been nitpicking every bump, bruise, out-of-place hair, and extra pound since the beginning of time. Hey dudes, welcome to the club.