Cultural Expectations of Thinness in Women

Garner, David M.; Garfinkel, Paul E.; Schwartz, Donald M.; Thompson, Michael

doi:10.2466/pr0.1980.47.2.483

Cited by 937 publications

(439 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…This assumption, that is clearly stated in the German Charter 5 , is corroborated by the psychological and sociological literature (e.g. Garner et al, 1980Garner et al, , 2009Fallon, 1990;Wolf, 1991;Kilbourne, 1994;Smolak, 1996;Swami, 2006, andAhern et al, 2008). According to this literature, since the 1960s in Western industrialized countries attractiveness has been represented by a thin, …t body shape for females and a lean, muscular physique for males.…”

Section: "Together Against Slimming Mania"mentioning

confidence: 59%

Thinness and obesity: A model of food consumption, health concerns, and social pressure

Dragone

Savorelli

2012

Journal of Health Economics

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The increasing concern of the policy maker about eating behavior has focused on the spread of obesity and on the evidence of a consistent number of individuals dieting despite being underweight. As the latter behavior is often attributed to the social pressure to be thin, some governments have already taken actions to ban ultra-thin ideals and testimonials. Assuming that people are heterogeneous in their healthy weights, but are exposed to the same ideal body weight, this paper proposes a theoretical framework to assess whether increasing the ideal body weight is socially desirable, both from a welfare and from a health point of view. If being overweight is the average condition and the ideal body weight is thin, increasing the ideal body weight may increase welfare by reducing social pressure. By contrast, health is on average reduced, since people depart even further from their healthy weight. Given that in the US and in Europe people are on average overweight, we conclude that these policies, even when are welfare improving, may foster the obesity epidemic.JEL classification: D91, I18.

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Section: "Together Against Slimming Mania"mentioning

confidence: 59%

Thinness and obesity: A model of food consumption, health concerns, and social pressure

Dragone

Savorelli

2012

Journal of Health Economics

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“…Data for Miss America winners from 1923 to 1987 (because of a policy change, bodily measurements since 1987 are no longer reported) were obtained from Bivans (1991). To isolate the trend for slenderness, the measure employed by Garner et al (1980) was used, namely, percentage of ideal body weight based on the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Weight Table ( 1959). Percentage of ideal body weight and WHR were calculated for each subject in both groups.…”

Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many references have been made to nude paintings by famous artists (Titian and Rubens, for example), and these paintings are compared with present-day fashion models to underscore changing ideals of attractiveness in the West (Garner, Garfinkel, Schwartz, & Thompson, 1980;Mazur, 1986;Silverstein, Perdue, Peterson, & Kelly, 1986).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptive significance of female physical attractiveness: Role of waist-to-hip ratio.

Singh¹

1993

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

1,053

810

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Evidence is presented showing that body fat distribution as measured by waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is correlated with youthfulness, reproductive endocrinologic status, and long-term health risk in women. Three studies show that men judge women with low WHR as attractive. Study 1 documents that minor changes in WHRs of Miss America winners and Playboy playmates have occurred over the past 30-60 years. Study 2 shows that college-age men find female figures with low WHR more attractive, healthier, and of greater reproductive value than figures with a higher WHR. In Study 3, 25-to 85-year-old men were found to prefer female figures with lower WHR and assign them higher ratings of attractiveness and reproductive potential. It is suggested that WHR represents an important bodily feature associated with physical attractiveness as well as with health and reproductive potential. A hypothesis is proposed to explain how WHR influences female attractiveness and its role in mate selection.

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“…Specifically, the revision of cultural body ideals may promote risk by increasing body concern and dissatisfaction. [18][19][20][21] The construct of acculturation has been inconsistently defined and operationalized as it relates to risk for eating disorders. 22 Acculturation is formally and classically defined as changes in the original cultural patterns subsequent to contact between different cultures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facets of acculturation and their diverse relations to body shape concern in Fiji

Becker

Fay

Gilman

et al. 2006

Intl J Eating Disorders

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Objective: The present study examines the relation between acculturation and body shape concern in Fiji-a society undergoing rapid social change.Method: Data were from two cohorts of ethnic Fijian girls and women collected in 1998 (n ¼ 115). A factor analysis was performed to identify dimensions of acculturation. The association of these with body shape concern was examined with linear regression.Results: Three dimensions of acculturation were identified. Multiple linear regression models demonstrated that each of these dimensions of acculturation had a unique relation to body shape concern.The adjusted R 2 for the fully adjusted model relating acculturation to body concern was 0.63, indicating a substantial degree of shared variation between measures of body shape concern and measures of acculturation.Conclusion: Acculturation may have a strong impact on body shape concern in Fiji. However, acculturation is a multidimensional construct and does not likely have a monolithic relation to body shape concern. V

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Cultural Expectations of Thinness in Women

Cited by 937 publications

References 7 publications

Thinness and obesity: A model of food consumption, health concerns, and social pressure

Thinness and obesity: A model of food consumption, health concerns, and social pressure

Adaptive significance of female physical attractiveness: Role of waist-to-hip ratio.

Facets of acculturation and their diverse relations to body shape concern in Fiji

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