Men's preferences for women's profile waist‐to‐hip ratio, breast size, and ethnic group in Britain and South Africa

Swami, Viren; Jones, Jeffrey M.; Einon, Dorothy; Furnham, Adrian

doi:10.1348/000712608x329525

Cited by 54 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 48 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, these valued ideals are situated within a societal context that continually reinforces what acceptable standards of beauty are for Black and White women. As an example of shifting beauty ideals, recent work by Swami et al (2009) found that the ethnicity of a female silhouette figure influenced the breast, butt, and waist size that different groups of men found attractive. These findings suggest that race and cultural context play an important role in people's perceptions of ideal body types.…”

Section: Predictormentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Thinness: The Influence of a Curvaceous Body Ideal on Body Dissatisfaction in Black and White Women

2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study examined whether a curvaceous body ideal differentially influenced sources of body dissatisfaction in 116 Black and 222 White women at a northeastern U.S. university. We measured idealization of and dissatisfaction with three components of a curvaceous ideal: breast size, buttock size, and weight. Although most women preferred a curvaceous body shape, more White women preferred this ideal to be slender with medium breasts whereas more Black women preferred this ideal to be curvier with medium breasts and large buttocks. Women discrepant from these ideals reported more dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction with the curvaceous ideal predicted appearance concerns. Findings highlight the need to consider valued body ideals other than thinness as potential sources of dissatisfaction among women of different racial/ethnic backgrounds.

show abstract

Section: Predictormentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Thinness: The Influence of a Curvaceous Body Ideal on Body Dissatisfaction in Black and White Women

2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…European American men preferred profile images with a 0.7 WHR, while Hazda men preferred profile images with a 0.9 WHR (Marlowe et al, 2005). In an extension of Marlowe et al's study, Swami, Jones, Einon, and Furnham (2009) used British men who were classified as being European Caucasian or of African descent. They also used a sample of African men from Cape Town, South Africa.…”

Section: Ethnic Differencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Male and Female Perception of Physical Attractiveness

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and breast size are morphological traits that are associated with female attractiveness. Previous studies using line drawings of women have shown that men across cultures rate low WHRs (0.6 and 0.7) as most attractive. In this study, we used additional viewing measurements (i.e., first fixation duration and visual regressions) to measure visual attention and record how long participants first focused on the female body and whether they regressed back to an area of interest. Additionally, we manipulated skin tone to determine whether they preferred light-or dark-skinned women. In two eye tracking experiments, participants rated the attractiveness of female nude images varying in WHR (0.5-0.9), breast size, and skin tone. We measured first fixation duration, gaze duration, and total time. The overall results of both studies revealed that visual attention fell mostly on the face, the breasts, and the midriff of the female body, supporting the evolutionary view that reproductively relevant regions of the female body are important to female attractiveness. Because the stimuli varied in skin tone and the participants were mainly Hispanic of Mexican American descent, the findings from these studies also support a preference for low WHRs and reproductively relevant regions of the female body.

show abstract

“…WHR also changes over women's lifetimes (Kirschner & Samojlik, 1991) and so indicates residual reproductive value (Marlowe, 1998). It has therefore been proposed that WHR serves as an important ornament display (Perilloux, Webster, & Gaulin, 2010;Singh, 1993) and much is now known about the effects of this (e.g., Dixson, Sagata, Linklater, & Dixson, 2010;Karremans, Frakenhuis, & Arons, 2010;Platek & Singh, 2010;Singh, Dixson, Jessop, Morgan, & Dixson, 2010;Swami, Jones, Einon, & Furnham, 2009;Vaidya et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence to Suggest that Women’s Sexual Behavior is Influenced by Hip Width Rather than Waist-to-Hip Ratio

2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is an important ornament display that signals women's health and fertility. Its significance derives from human development as a bipedal species. This required fundamental changes to hip morphology/musculature to accommodate the demands of both reproduction and locomotion. The result has been an obstetric dilemma whereby women's hips are only just wide enough to allow the passage of an infant. Childbirth therefore poses a significant hip width related threat to maternal mortality/risk of gynecological injury. It was predicted that this would have a significant influence on women's sexual behavior. To investigate this, hip width and WHR were measured in 148 women (M age = 20.93 + .17 years) and sexual histories were recorded via questionnaire. Data revealed that hip width per se was correlated with total number of sexual partners, total number of one night stands, percentage of sexual partners that were one night stands, number of sexual partners within the context of a relationship per year sexually active, and number of one night stands per year sexually active. By contrast, WHR was not correlated with any of these measures. Further analysis indicated that women who predominantly engaged in one night stand behavior had wider hips than those who did not. WHR was again without effect in this context. Women's hip morphology has a direct impact on their risk of potentially fatal childbirth related injury. It is concluded that when they have control over this, women's sexual behavior reflects this risk and is therefore at least in part influenced by hip width.

show abstract

Men's preferences for women's profile waist‐to‐hip ratio, breast size, and ethnic group in Britain and South Africa

Cited by 54 publications

References 48 publications

Beyond Thinness: The Influence of a Curvaceous Body Ideal on Body Dissatisfaction in Black and White Women

Beyond Thinness: The Influence of a Curvaceous Body Ideal on Body Dissatisfaction in Black and White Women

Male and Female Perception of Physical Attractiveness

Evidence to Suggest that Women’s Sexual Behavior is Influenced by Hip Width Rather than Waist-to-Hip Ratio

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About