Gender Differences in Body Satisfaction

"Women guessed that men would prefer a thinner shape than they actually did, and men guessed that women would prefer a larger shape than they actually did."

Men and women have different perceptions of their bodies and in what they consider a healthy and attractive body weight. Unhealthy body images can have a deleterious effect on both a man and a woman's social and emotional well being.

"Only the underweight women and men were similarly satisfied with their bodyweight and shape"- to this conclusion the Department of Psychology, Chicago Medical School came surveying 320 college-aged men and women to examine gender differences in body image perception and satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Results indicated that, for both genders, satisfaction with body weight and shape decreased as body mass index (BMI) increased. Women, however, showed significantly greater body and weight dissatisfaction than men at most weight categories. As BMI increased, women became disproportionately more dissatisfied: both normal-weight and overweight women expressed greater dissatisfaction than comparable men.

"Although men and women show similar rates of obesity, women more frequently engage in weight loss efforts, with potentially adverse health consequences."

College-aged women also attributed progressively more importance to both weight and shape as BMI increased, unlike college-aged men, who considered body weight equally important to (or slightly less important than) self-esteem as BMI increased. We discuss implications for the self-esteem of obese women and men.

Women guessed that men would prefer a thinner shape than they actually did, and men guessed that women would prefer a larger shape than they actually did (Percept Mot Skills 1996, 83(2): 569-70).

The results of a survey conducted in Massachusetts by Dr. Sharelene Hesse-Biber have shown that:

• Only 23% of female college students were under the influence of medical standards;
• While a shocking 77% were influenced by cultural standards!
• What's more, these two were quite different standards, with cultural expectations being an average 20 lbs. below the lowest medical norm (for men, the difference was only 5 lbs)!

The consequences of this social pressure for both physical and emotional health are devastating.

Especially common among young girls are eating disorders that derive from an unrealistic attitude toward what is considered the ideal beautiful body. The death toll is as high as 20 percent among sufferers (Foreyt JP, Poston WS, and Goodrick GK. Future directions in obesity and eating disorders. Addict Behav 1996; 21:767-78).

Researchers at the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, analyzed body size perceptions and weight management practices of black and white adolescent females and revealed that, "White adolescents are more likely to perceive themselves as overweight and are more likely to engage in unhealthy weight management practices than black adolescents." (J Adolesc Health 1997 Jun;20(6):459-65)

The distorted body image has a strong adverse effect on personality problems and the development of depression in early adolescent girls (Adolescence 1997; 32(127): 615-24).

The findings of the Department of Health Education at the University of Maryland suggested that body size perceptions were distorted among both underweight and overweight women and that thin was the ideal body profile for the majority of the women (J Am Coll. Health 1997; 46(2): 69-74).