Mina Gerges became Insta-famous back in 2015 after recreating the looks of Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, and Kim Kardashian. He quickly developed a following of nearly 150,o00. But as his Instagram star rose, so did his number of haters, many of whom taunted him for his size. Eventually, the bullying got to be too much and Mina deactivated his account.
But after seeing a recent survey by the National Eating Disorder Association, which found that over half of LGBTQ youths surveyed had suffered from an eating disorder, Mina decided to reactivate his account and focus on body positivity and breaking down the stigma around male eating disorders.
“There are so many gay men who’ve been through what I’ve been through,” he says in a new interview with Paper magazine. “There are statistics about how prevalent eating disorders and body image issues are amongst gay men and I’m seeing that firsthand through the comments or DMs I’ve been getting.”
Gay men, 23-year-old Mina explains, have been programed to “idealize that fit, sculpted body” and you see it everywhere–from event posters to Grindr and other dating apps.
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“It filters into the kind of attitude people have when they write ‘no fats no fems’ in their dating app bios,” he continues, “and it’s evident when you see the Instagays who post shirtless pictures to their thousands of followers who idolize their bodies.”
Mina hopes by talking about the issue it will help bring about change.
“I hope that as a community, we can dismantle these problematic attitudes that so many have normalized and work to be more inclusive and diverse.”
Scroll down for a sampling of yummy pics from Mina’s Instagram page…
Related: How this husky guy overcame his body image issues and learned to embrace his size
am_psi
Why is he comparing himself to female models? Gay men are not women and the standards for fitness and beauty are different for men, so this is pointless.
Kangol
Disidentification: Google it. Gay men have long identified with female icons. You’re the outlier here, not him.
Brian
That’s the joke.
You seem… dim.
surreal33
Thank you! The ad nauseam campaign to feminize all gay men is tiresome and sad. Is possible that we could start a new trend to celebrate, embrace and enjoy being men?
DCguy
Oh look, one of the anti-lgbt troll screenames pretends not to get the joke so he can attack lgbts.
Ryan Field
I agree. I never identified with women, or had women icons. I don’t even understand that. As far as the “outlier” is concerned that’s still up for debate, because gay men like me have always remained silent on this topic and we just sat there wondering while the louder gay men made all the rules. Not anymore.
dustashed
@Ryan They made the rules because they were the ones brave enough to pave the way for us who were hiding in the shadows. They endured beating, riots and protests while we hid behind the mask of heterosexuality.. only to enjoy the fruits of their labor once it was “relatively” safer to do so.
They did the hard work, we got to enjoy the product of their blood sweat and tears while risking minimal damage to jobs, our reputation and social standing. They risked it all.
As someone who doesn’t identify with female icons, i still support and appreciate those that do because I am indebted to them.. the ones you call pansies, the sissies, the ones you say give our community a “bad name”.. because without their uncompromising and unyielding “gayness” we would not be where we are now
startenout
@dustashead if there were only a way for me to applaud your response. You nailed it. They paved the way being unapologetically gay because they had no choice other than to act as they felt. If it isn’t for everyone, so be it!
Lacuevaman
“She” is the archetype sissy vapid queen that many of us are fighting against. She doesn’t represent me or my kind.
galileo
Comments like that that make me snort with derision when anyone mentions the LGBT ‘community’. There might be a community at the core but there are many nasty people at the periphery whose only common goals are a taste for shared genitalia configurations, and well done you nasty little man for being one of those.
Lacuevaman
“there are many nasty people at the periphery whose only common goals are a taste for shared genitalia configurations”
What’s with some of these queen commenters and there inability to get a point across?
Kangol
Not “many of us,” but self-loathing gay people like you (and your various accounts on here). I have no issue with this gay person being himself/theirself. Your freedom does and should not hinge on suppressing and oppressing others. This is LGBTQ history 101.
Gigi Gee
Lacuevaman — Allow me to dumb it down so you’ll be able to understand: You’re an asshole. You and those like you are what’s wrong with the gay community.
startenout
If you had a brain in your head, you wouldn’t need the point clarified. It was quite lucid.
Kangol
More power to him. There is nothing wrong with his body size, his impersonations, his looks, anything about him. I sincerely wish him the very best.
Lacuevaman
gotta love that fat-shaming! woohoo!
UWSguy
Oh stop it you bitches. He’s young, earnest, sweet and sexy. I applaud his candor and bravery.
Brian
Agreed.
There are a lot of muscular men on Instagram (and I follow probably too many of them) who have zero sense of humor and zero self-awareness. If I’m gonna be scrolling through countless photos, I’d rather see a ray of sunshine.
sfcarlos65
I agree! Keep on, Mina!
Ander
Good for him. Looks like he’s having fun, and bringing some awareness to an important issue.
tham
I worry about heart disease more than anything else…but sure…it’s vanity I guess.
Kangol
Then you should head to a cardiologist ASAP. Your vanity won’t kill you, but your awful attitude most certainly will.
startenout
It’s amazing that so many of there these people who attempt to smokescreen their fat shaming as worried about their health are out there smoking, drinking and doing drugs alongside unprotected sex and more. I guess it’s jist “heart attacks” they worry about.
ShaunNJ
I think Mina is quite handsome and sexy; and I applaud his being healthy and positive about his body. It looks like he is having a lot of fun with his posts and I wish him well. The one thing wrong is hanging out with the likes of Kylie Jenner – surely he can find better people with whom to associate than a member of a vapid reality show family.
Ryan Field
So I guess this means eat as much pizza and donuts as you want and screw looking good because someone has “body image” issues. It’s not that complicated for everyone.
Kangol
Your idea of “looking good” is not universal, thankfully. Also, you have no idea what he eats, and you’re not paying for his meals or anything else of his, so why not just let Mina be happy, live his life in joy, and you live yours.
startenout
Actually what it means is be happy as you are and don’t try to destroy other people to make them feel inferior for not living up to your arbitrary standards. I guess common decency is hard to process. No idea why you have to attack someone for liking themselves as they are. Sounds like a sickness
dustashed
@Ryan Field They made the rules because they were the ones brave enough to pave the way for us who were hiding in the shadows. They endured beating, riots and protests while we hid behind the mask of heterosexuality.. only to enjoy the fruits of their labor once it was “relatively” safer to do so.
They did the hard work, we got to enjoy the product of their blood sweat and tears while risking minimal damage to jobs, our reputation and social standing. They risked it all.
As someone who doesn’t identify with female icons, i still support and appreciate those that do because I am indebted to them.. the ones you call pansies, the sissies, the ones you say give our community a “bad name”.. because without their uncompromising and unyielding “gayness” we would not be where we are now