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Cultural Expectations of Thinness in Women
Abstract
The cultural pressures on women to be thin and diet have been linked to the expression of serious eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa. The current study attempts to document and quantify the shift toward a thinner ideal shape for females in our culture over the last 20 years. Data from Playboy centerfolds and Miss America Pageant contestants indicated a significant trend toward a thinner standard. Over the same period there was a significant increase in diet articles in six popular women's magazines. These changes occurred within the context of increasing population weight norms for young women. Biosocial implications including the apparent recent increase in anorexia nervosa are discussed.
... Moreover, existing studies have relied on data that preclude generalization to the population level. Data sources were fashion media [20,21], surveys among undergraduate students and other convenience samples [16,22], and ethnographic material [23]. Results found in such samples can differ strongly from results found in representative samples [24] and may therefore not adequately reflect social body weight norms held in the general population. ...
... Specifically, the notion of a thin body weight norm was inconsistent with the low probabilities of very slender female figures being rated as ideal. In all countries and subgroups examined, ideal female body weight was firmly within the 'slender' range, whereby figures deemed ideal predominantly fell within the mid-range of the 'normal BMI' category (approximately [20][21][22][23][24][25]. However, the weight range accepted as neither too thin nor too heavy was rather narrow, supporting the notion of relatively strict social body weight norm in Western societies: Not only underweight but also slender female figures at the lower bound of normal BMI were commonly rated as "too thin. ...
Background
Which body weight is considered ideal and socially accepted in modern societies? A widely held belief is that social body weight norms are strict and thin in Western societies. This belief is supported by empirical evidence drawn from samples that do not necessarily represent common views in the population.
Methods
This study presents a population-based profile of social body weight norms using survey data collected in 2019 in the United States (N = 1,390, ages 18 to 84), Germany (N = 4,285, ages 24 to 74), and the Netherlands (N = 2,040, ages 18 to 84). Norms were measured on a validated figure rating scale.
Results
In all study populations, male and female figures representing the range from normal weight to slight overweight were generally rated as ideal and neither too thin nor too heavy. Heavier norms were found in older people and men, and more often in the Netherlands than in Germany and the United States. People generally perceived social body weight norms as thinner than what actual ratings revealed. This perception bias was most pronounced in the United States.
Conclusions
These findings provide a population-representative baseline of social body weight norms and contradict the notion of a thinness norm.
... From birth, children in the United States are socialized to believe that physical attractiveness is culturally valued (Berscheid & Walster, 1974;Dion, Berscheid, & Walster, 1972). From 1960 to 1980, thinness as a criterion for feminine beauty could be documented by tracing a trend for relative thinness of beauty pageant winners and Playboy bunnies as well as ever-increasing numbers of diet articles in popular women's magazines (Garner, Garfinkel, Schwartz, & Thompson, 1980). In the 1980s, the media reflected the addition of physical fitness to thinness as critical components of physical attractiveness in women (Moriarty & Moriarty, 1988). ...
The purpose of this study was to examine sex differences in body-cathexis associated with exercise involvement. Data were collected from exercising groups of 52 women and 23 men volunteers from a university fitness improvement class and from comparison groups of 41 women and 9 men volunteers from classes unrelated to exercise. Multivariate analysis of variance of prestudy body-cathexis scores identified significant sex differences; men had much higher body-cathexis for waist, hip, thigh, fitness, and weight than did women. Multivariate analysis of poststudy data, normalized to control for prestudy sex differences, yielded a significant effect for the exercise involvement of fitness class men and women. Regular exercise seems to have potential as a method for improving body-cathexis for both men and women. Further research on methods for improving satisfaction with weight is needed.
... The mass media is one possibility. One study has shown that there has been a significant decrease in the weight and measurements of Miss America contestants and Ployboy centerlolds over the last 20 years (Gardner, Garfinkel, Schwartz, & Thompson, 1980). Given that the mass media may be providing subtle (and not so subtle) messages about the desirability of thinness, the purpose of the present study was to investigate whether another possible source may be giving inadvertent societal messages of expected thinness to young children, namely, chddrens' school readers, newspapers, and magazines distributed through the school system. ...
This study was designed to examine whether educational textbook illustrations portray children thinner since the turn of the century. 50 undergraduates each rated 54 third-grade text pictures (3 of boys and 3 of girls in each decade since 1900) on a thinness scale. Analysis indicated a significant trend in thinness for girls but not for boys. Concerns are raised about a connection between educational illustrations of children and eating disorders.
The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of aerobic fitness, physical activity, percent body fat, and socioeconomic status on body-shape perceptions among 153 Euro-American students attending an all women's college. Using a set of nine female figure silhouette drawings arranged on an ordinal scale from very thin to very heavy, subjects chose the figure that approximated their Current, Ideal, Most Attractive shapes, and the shape they believed men found the most attractive (Male Attractive). Body Shape Dissatisfaction was assessed by the difference between Current and Ideal shapes. Several significant relationships were noted for body-shape perceptions with percent body fat, aerobic fitness, and physical activity. Overall, data indicate these relationships except for Male Attractive were confounded by percent body fat, as participants with a higher percentage of body fat preferred larger shapes and were more dissatisfied with their shape.
This study was done to examine the relationship between sex and perception of body image among athletes and nonathletes. A total of 211 men and women athletes and nonathletes completed a questionnaire which asked them to identify from a nine-figure body-silhouette scale their current image and the image that they thought was most ideal. t tests showed no significant differences for men based upon athletic participation and that both athletes and nonathletes were satisfied with their body image. However, when comparing current image and ideal image, significant differences were found for women athletes and nonathletes. These data support previous research documenting women's dissatisfaction with their body images and show athletic participation is not associated with this perception.
The compulsory inclusion of calorie information on menus has been health policy in the UK since 2022. Public opinion on the policy varies, with young women particularly likely to oppose and express concerns. This qualitative study explores the perspectives of young women with a negative opinion of the policy. Eight White British women (18–25 years) volunteered to take part in semi-structured interviews exploring their perceptions and experiences with calories on menus. Inductive reflexive thematic analysis developed three themes: (1) viewing calories fed their own unhealthy relationship with food; (2) calories don’t tell you everything that matters about food; (3) negative emotional reactions are shaped by society’s encouragement of the thin ideal. The women’s negative opinions on the policy appeared heavily grounded in, and indicative of, their own negative emotional responses to viewing calorie information. They linked these responses to sociocultural meanings and ideals related to thinness, food choice and dieting.
The study deals with women's images on digital media and the influence of these digitated images on body dissatisfaction regarding age, body shaming, weight loss, and white color. It is identified that these visuals/images contextualize oppression and construct feministic discourses. The study sheds light on the challenges and pressures of working women due to these feministic discourses. The issue has been rectified by conducting an analytical survey and interviews of working women. Research rectifies appropriateness between constructed digitated images of women regarding feministic discourses and their impact on working women’s lives. Sampling is a non-probability” convenient sampling by selecting 500 respondents’ women from “Lahore.” Thus, statistical tests give the study a vivid report of the issue. The frequent logical computed answers verify the hypothesis. Accumulated data shows that images on digital media carry particular feministic discourses that directly impact the daily life of working women regarding the construction of social sub-divisions regarding physical appearances on digital media.
SYNOPSIS
A population of professional dance ( N = 183) and modelling ( N = 56) students, who by career choice must focus increased attention and control over their body shapes, was studied. Height and weight data were obtained on all subjects. In addition, a questionnaire that is useful in assessing the symptoms of anorexia nervosa, the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT), was administered. Results of these tests were compared with those of normal female university students ( N = 59), patients with anorexia nervosa ( N = 68), and music students ( N = 35).
Anorexia nervosa and excessive dieting concerns were overrepresented in the dance and modelling students. Twelve cases (6·5%) of primary anexoria nervosa were detected in the dance group. All but one case developed the disorder while studying dance. Within the dance group those from the most competitive environments had the greatest frequency of anorexia nervosa. These data suggest that both pressures to be slim and achievement expectations are risk factors in the development of anorexia nervosa. The influence of socio-cultural determinants are discussed within the context of anorexia nervosa as a multidetermined disorder.
Psychosomatic medicine began as a social movement within medicine, designed to counteract the mechanistic and impersonal features that had accompanied the introduction of science into medical education. In its early days, therapeutic inefficacy led to a concentration upon understanding the origins of disorders in which emotional determinants played a role. To a large exten, psychosomatic medicine is still identified with such understanding. Within recent years, however, the development of increasingly effective therapeutic techniques has changed the emphasis in psychosomatic medicine from understanding to action. These developments are particularly well exemplified by the case of obesity. Social investigations have revealed that the prevalence of obesity within populations is determined to a very high degree by social factors, operating in an unplanned and uncontrolled manner...
Hypothesized that individual differences in eating behavior based on the distinction between obese and normal Ss could be demonstrated within a population of normal Ss classified as to the extent of restraint chronically exercised with respect to eating. Ss were 42 female college students. Restrained Ss resembled the obese behaviorally, and unrestrained Ss resembled normals. This demonstration was effected in the context of a test of the psychosomatic hypothesis of obesity. Results indicate that although some individuals may eat more when anxious, there is little empirical support for the notion that eating serves to reduce anxiety. An explanation for this apparent inconsistency is offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Weight loss causes loss of menstrual function (amenorrhea) and weight gain restores menstrual cycles. A minimal weight for height necessary for the onset of or the restoration of menstrual cycles in cases of primary or secondary amenorrhea due to undernutrition is indicated by an index of fatness of normal girls at menarche and at age 18 years, respectively. Amenorrheic patients of ages 16 years and over resume menstrual cycles after weight gain at a heavier weight for a particular height than is found at menarche. Girls become relatively and absolutely fatter from menarche to age 18 years. The data suggest that a minimum level of stored, easily mobilized energy is necessary for ovulation and menstrual cycles in the human female.
As one phase of a longitudinal study of gross body composition and body conformation of teenagers, a series of four questionnaires was administered to students, one each year, from the ninth to twelfth grades. The purpose was to investigate teenagers’ views on their own body size and shape, their eating practices and activities, and their interest and action in modifying any of these. The study evaluated questionnaire responses by sex, three racial groups (Caucasian, Negro and Oriental) and body fat classifications based on anthropometric determinations of lean body weight and body fat made each year. Some questions were repeated in another year to see if changes had occurred.
Responses indicate that these teenagers had a high degree of interest in their body conformation which was sustained from the ninth through the twelfth grades, and that they were generally dissatisfied with their size and shape. Boys desired mainly to gain weight and/or size, girls to lose weight and reduce certain dimensions. Boys were more favorable to exercise for figure development, girls to diet. The majority of both sexes, all racial groups and all body fat groups (lean to obese) were willing, they said, to carry out action programs for figure change. Of those who had already changed their diet for weight reduction, few had succeeded in three years, and the remainder were as likely to have gained weight as to have lost it.
Many of the teenagers revealed unrealistic views of their fatness or leanness, mainly Caucasian girls whose evaluation of their own excessive fatness differed considerably from their actual measurements.
Racial differences were noted in concepts of ideal body size and shape, choice of diet, meal preference and types of activities favored.
The information yielded will be valuable in planning and implementing a community program promoting weight control and physical fitness.