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A study soon to be published in the Journal of Evolution and Human Behavior seems to suggest that it is not only what we see in the media and culture that creates a preference among heterosexual men for (proportionally) thinner women – but that it might be evolutionary. In order to test the effect of the media and culture on the preference for thinner women, John Karremans & Sander Arons of Radboud University in the Netherlands compared the preferences of sighted men and men blind from birth. Blindfolded sighted men and men blind from birth were asked to touch and feel the contours of two mannequins and voice a preference. One mannequin had a waist to hip ratio (WHR) of .70 and the other had a .84 WHR. Both groups preferred a female shape with a lower waist to hip ratio. The authors believe that there is an evolutionary bias for women who produce better offsprings which accounts for this preference. They note that research has found that women with a WHR of .70 do produce more, fitter, and smarter offsprings (seems that differences in the composition of the mother’s body fat impacts the intelligence of infants who are breast fed) and that women of differing WHR produce different pheromones. They suggest that over time men have come to associate better offsprings with a certain scent, which is typical of women with a .70 WHR, ergo the preference for that shape. Those who still believe that culture has a large influence in the preference for thinner women note that, among some tribes (in Tanzania & Peru for example) isolated from media influence, the preference is for women with a greater WHR while tribal members in closer contact with the media and majority culture do tend to prefer thinner women. Karremans and Arons did find that sighted men who were not blindfolded did have an even stronger preference for the thinner mannequin, supporting the idea that culture does have some impact as well. It’s not just adult males that are focused on adult female bodies, and the implications are far reaching. A 2003 National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey found that mothers are three times as likely to notice excess weight in daughters compared to in sons (even though sons were more likely to be large). Perhaps even more distressing is the study published in Pediatrics in 2001 which found that pre-school girls whose mothers expressed high concern over their daughters’ weight had a more negative body image. Worse yet, that study also found that maternal or paternal high concern about their daughters’ weight was associated with daughters perceiving themselves as less smart and less capable, regardless of their actual weight. |
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