The subjects were first asked to complete a consent form, report on their sex and age, then asked to answer questions relevant to body image. They were presented with a silhouette of nine figures, ranging from 1 – 9, 1 representing extremely thin to 9 representing very heavy (Fallon & Rozin 1985)), (Appendix A.). They were asked 7 questions in all, although only data from the following 3 questions were used. (Appendix A.)
(a) Which figure best depicts your current figure, (current),
(b) Which figure best depicts the figure you would most like to look like (ideal),
(c) Which figure of the opposite sex they found most attractive (other attractive).
Results
Tables 1 and 2 provide mean ratings on current, ideal and other attractive.
Data taken from 60 participants, 30 of which were males, and 30 of females, that had taken the questionnaire in late 2001, showed that a higher percent of females (66.66%), would prefer an ideal figure thinner than that of their current figure (current – ideal: m = 1.00), in comparison to 69.7% of females in Fallon and Rozin’s (1985) study. 3.33 % preferred a larger figure to that of their current figure, while 30% were content with their current figure. Males preferred a figure larger than their current figure (current – ideal: m = -0.36) with 46.66% of males wanting to be larger than their current figure, in comparison to Fallon and Rozin’s (1985) study, where 32.5% of males rated their current figure as heavier than their ideal. 16.66% preferred to be thinner than their current figure, and 36.66% being content with their current figure. Furthermore, females ideal figures were thinner than what males found most attractive (ideal – other attractive: m = .74), while males ideal figures were heavier than what females found most attractive (ideal – other attractive, m = 01).
Table 1. Mean Body Shape of Current and Ideal
Figure 1.
Females Males
1. Current 3.86 3.6
2. Ideal 2.86 3.96
Figure 2.
Mean Body Shape – Other Attractive vs. Ideal
Females Males
1. Ideal 2.86 3.96
2. Other Attractive as rated by 3.6 3.86
opposite sex.
Table 2
Figure 1
Females current, ideal and other attractive*
2.86 3.6 3.86
other
ideal attractive current
^ ^ ^
2 . . . . 2.5 . . . . 3 . . . . 3.5 . . . . 4
Figure 2
Males current, ideal and other attractive*
3.6 3.86 3.96
other
current attractive ideal
^ ^ ^
2 . . . . 2.5 . . . . 3 . . . . 3.5 . . . . 4
* Means of body figure ratings of females and males current figure (current), ideal figure (ideal), and the figure they found most attractive in the opposite sex (other attractive).
Discussion
From the data collected, information on weight, height, culture and socioeconomic status was unavailable, therefore we were unable to predict differences in these areas, a further study including these topics of discussion would be desirable.
Our data on current, ideal and other attractive body figures in females replicates that of Fallon & Rozin (1985). Females prefer a thinner figure than their current figure and they presume that males would prefer them to be thinner, closer to their ideal than their current.
Females overestimate the degree of thinness that males expect them to be, or males find most attractive. Is the females overestimation of thinness irrelevant of what the males prefer them to look like? Or have they over estimated the degree of thinness that males prefer? Fallon and Rozin (1985) have hypothesized factors that may account for this, such as their data suggesting that females exaggerate the expected thinness that males found most attractive in females body shape and that females were misinformed in this area. Females could be focusing on their own expectations of their ideal male figure, or perceiving that upper class males expect females to be thinner. Their data also suggests that other factors, other than males preferences of females figures, such as having control over ones life after reaching the ultimate ideal figure, and/or thinness in females perceived by society suggests a positive personal feature, such as upper class women are thinner, (Garner, Garfinkel & Olmstead, 1983, as cited in Fallon and Rozin, 1985). These factors hypothesized by Fallon and Rozin (1985) could account for females over estimating the size males prefer, and/or we could consider other factors such as,
1. The figure scale used in this report to indicate numerical preferences on body figure scale, busts don’t seem to become prominent until figures 3 to 4, which coincides with males most attractive figure. Females could be looking at the figures illustrated not as particular areas but as a complete figure, giving a somewhat different view than the males.
In a study conducted by Brownwell K. (1991), she reported on the measurements of the Barbie doll, in relation to her own figure the measurements of Barbie, it was reported that along with changing other parts of her body her bust would have to grow a staggering 12 inches to come inline with Barbie’s bust. It was also reported by Brownwell K. (1991), that from 1981 to 1988, bust augmentation decreased by 280, with 71,720 females having breast augmentation. Could the small decrease come from the media portraying the risks involved? There still seems to be a large number of females requesting this procedure, whether to please themselves or please the males? Further research into this area would be beneficial to this future reports.
2. The scale representing male figures indicate a bulkier figure from figure 4 onwards, corresponding with males ideal figures, to more bulkier or muscular than their current. Males may prefer to become muscular, not necessarily heavier. Although to a lesser degree than females, males are still striving for the perfect figure. There is still an element of body dissatisfaction suggested in our data. Males are preferring to be heavier than thinner, and although the risks on health are minimized compared to losing weight (anorexia and bulimia), there could still be an element of risk involved in low self esteem associated with body dissatisfaction among males Abell & Richards (1996), Silberstein, Striegel-Moore, Timko & Rodin (1988). Controversially, Tiggeman (1992) found that males have higher self-esteem than females. To what degree would males take this feeling of low self esteem?
The use of body enhancing drugs such as steroids have become widely available among the general public, no longer confined to the athletes, the consequences of prolonged use of such drugs could lead to undesirable effects.
In sum, the results of this report support that of Fallon and Rozin (1985) study of females preferring a thinner ideal figure and males preferring a heavier ideal, than what the opposite sex finds most attractive. Particularly in females, this may increase the pressures put on them to become thinner than what is healthy and produce adverse affects on their physical and emotional well being.
References
Abell, S.C., & Richards, M.H. (1996). The relationship between body shape satisfaction and self-esteem: An investigation of gender and class differences. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 25, 691-703.
Brownell, K.D. (1991). Dieting and the search for the perfect Body: Where physiology and culture collide. Behaviour Therapy, 22, 1-12.
Fallon, A.E., & Rozin, P. (1985). Short reports: Sex differences in perceptions of desirable body shape. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 94, 102-105.
Garner, D. M., Garfinkel, P. E., Schwartz, D., & Thompson, M. (1980). Cultural expectations of thinness in women. Psychological Reports, 47, 483-491.
Moses, N., Banilivy, M. M., & Lifshitz, F. (1989). Fear of obesity among adolescent girls. Pediatrics, 83, 393-398.
Silberstein, L.R., Striegel-Moore, R. H., Timko, C., & Rodin, R. (1988). Behavioral and psychological implications of body dissatisfaction: Do men and women differ? Sex Roles, 19, 219-232.
Tiggeman, M. (1992). Body-size dissatisfaction: Individual differences in age and
gender, and relationship with self-esteem. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 39-43.
Appendix. A
Instruction Sheets
